Being into sales, I feel this is a hard time for sales persons to convince our potential customers. Recession, bad economy has given us a solid challenge and we are trying hard to reach our targets. Companies are looking for magic cure so as they can increase their sales. However, since there is no magic cure available (As far as I know) I believe (based on my search) that there are few steps if we follow can have a positive impact on our sales efforts.
1) Fill the sales pipeline: I have seen and met many sales persons who experience tremendous peaks and valleys in their sales because they do not consistently prospect for new business, may be they are busy in servicing existing client or any other reason. They neglect to prospect because it is the least enjoyable aspect of their job but when the sales drop or business with their current clients ends, they scramble to generate new business. If we invest time in filling our pipeline on a regular basis, we will seldom have to worry about reaching our targets.
2) Ask high-quality and relevant questions: I believe that majority of sales people (even seasoned pros) fail to ask their prospects and customers high-quality questions. This can only happen if either they are not trained about the product/service they are selling or they think that they do it. Unfortunately, this leads to mis-pitch the product, service or solution which causes the prospect to raise more objections.
3) Have patient Ears: I believe that the best listeners are best sale people. If we invest time asking great questions it is critical to listen to what the other person tells us. Many things can get in our way and prevent us from accurately hearing what has been said. The best approach would be to summarize your conversation at the end of discussion and share that with prospect to check the accuracy of your summary.
4) Focus on presentation: In sales, presentation is only focused on customer, his needs and the solution you can provide. It's not about us, our company or our product. I have seen that virtually every sales presentation starts with talks about company, stats about how long they have been in business, who they have as clients, etc. In fact I in the start of my career my approach was the same. However the correct approach is to prepare a presentation in way that it meets the specific needs of each individual customer.
5) Challenge to build Trust: I personally believe that if people don't trust us chances are they won't buy from us. We all know that our prospects are inundated with calls and emails from other people like us who are trying to sell them something and tell several stories. Due to large number of these calls, decision-makers are getting more reluctant to trust someone they don't know. That means we need to demonstrate exactly why a prospect should trust us. We have to show them our worth in a professional manner, treating them with respect and dignity and respecting their time.
6) Show value: The best way to demonstrate value is to show exactly how our solution will benefit our prospects. However this doesn’t mean talking at great length about it or telling prospects everything there exist about our products or services. This means discussing the aspects of your solution that are most relevant to each customer or prospect in a simple way.
7) Value your own Words: My personal experience has taught me that sales people frequently fail to follow their commitments. To make a sale, they commit something which they can’t deliver and this leads to quick loss of trust and lack of respect.
8) Time to Stop: I have seen sales people who continue following a lead even when it is clear that a sale will not happen. This usually happens when pipeline is not active with prospects or they are new into sales or have tremendous pressure to achieve the targets. I feel that, If we know we have done everything we can to move the sales process forward, we should take a break and think whether it is the best use of our time to keep trying to make it happen or just to let it go.
There must me many other things which I have missed here and hence would request you to share your thoughts based on your experience.
1) Fill the sales pipeline: I have seen and met many sales persons who experience tremendous peaks and valleys in their sales because they do not consistently prospect for new business, may be they are busy in servicing existing client or any other reason. They neglect to prospect because it is the least enjoyable aspect of their job but when the sales drop or business with their current clients ends, they scramble to generate new business. If we invest time in filling our pipeline on a regular basis, we will seldom have to worry about reaching our targets.
2) Ask high-quality and relevant questions: I believe that majority of sales people (even seasoned pros) fail to ask their prospects and customers high-quality questions. This can only happen if either they are not trained about the product/service they are selling or they think that they do it. Unfortunately, this leads to mis-pitch the product, service or solution which causes the prospect to raise more objections.
3) Have patient Ears: I believe that the best listeners are best sale people. If we invest time asking great questions it is critical to listen to what the other person tells us. Many things can get in our way and prevent us from accurately hearing what has been said. The best approach would be to summarize your conversation at the end of discussion and share that with prospect to check the accuracy of your summary.
4) Focus on presentation: In sales, presentation is only focused on customer, his needs and the solution you can provide. It's not about us, our company or our product. I have seen that virtually every sales presentation starts with talks about company, stats about how long they have been in business, who they have as clients, etc. In fact I in the start of my career my approach was the same. However the correct approach is to prepare a presentation in way that it meets the specific needs of each individual customer.
5) Challenge to build Trust: I personally believe that if people don't trust us chances are they won't buy from us. We all know that our prospects are inundated with calls and emails from other people like us who are trying to sell them something and tell several stories. Due to large number of these calls, decision-makers are getting more reluctant to trust someone they don't know. That means we need to demonstrate exactly why a prospect should trust us. We have to show them our worth in a professional manner, treating them with respect and dignity and respecting their time.
6) Show value: The best way to demonstrate value is to show exactly how our solution will benefit our prospects. However this doesn’t mean talking at great length about it or telling prospects everything there exist about our products or services. This means discussing the aspects of your solution that are most relevant to each customer or prospect in a simple way.
7) Value your own Words: My personal experience has taught me that sales people frequently fail to follow their commitments. To make a sale, they commit something which they can’t deliver and this leads to quick loss of trust and lack of respect.
8) Time to Stop: I have seen sales people who continue following a lead even when it is clear that a sale will not happen. This usually happens when pipeline is not active with prospects or they are new into sales or have tremendous pressure to achieve the targets. I feel that, If we know we have done everything we can to move the sales process forward, we should take a break and think whether it is the best use of our time to keep trying to make it happen or just to let it go.
There must me many other things which I have missed here and hence would request you to share your thoughts based on your experience.
