The Quick and Painless Guide To Selling

The common myth about selling is that selling is difficult. Most people believe this and think that to be successful you need to be an actor change your personality. This is absolutely false and the kinds of people who do are horrible sales people who come across as sleazy, self-serving and fake. The best way to sell is to act naturally as if you were talking to a friend and telling him about the benefits of something that you have. To be successful as a salesperson you need to take on an advisory role and lead your customers through the process of understanding the benefits your product will bring them (needs based selling). Make sure that your role as an expert and adviser is credible by knowing everything about your product and industry and by being honest. Sincerity is vital in being highly successful (discussed in “The Problem With Outsourcing“) therefore it is important that you believe in your product and in most of its features. If your product is mediocre and has no real redeeming qualities compared to your competition’s you are better off cutting your losses and dumping the product before your reputation is tarnished forever.

It is hugely important to take a tailored approach to selling and to adopt the mentality that every customer’s needs are different. A scripted approach will only lead to your customer either feeling alienated or annoyed by your sales pitch. What is vital at the beginning of every sales pitch is a Q&A with your customer to find out more about them and to see whether your product can indeed help them out. If it cannot then don’t waist too much time on seeking an impulse purchase, but rather focus this time on qualified buyers who are going to benefit from what you are selling. Once you have enough information about your client from the Q&A, you want to move to your tailored sales pitch that will lead to his understanding of the benefit he will specifically get from your product. A lot of sales people when they sell tend to not gather enough information about who they are selling to and will often promote product features that the consumer is completely uninterested in. This leads to either consumer impatience (sales pitch too mundane) or consumer intimidation (sales pitch too technical) which means the client will walk.

The last important step is to ask for the close. Never expect that the client will tell you that he wants X amount of what you are selling. You have to ask the client directly how much he may want so that the sales pitch can move further down the funnel. If you know the amount that will maximize their utility then take the role as an advisor and suggest the amount they should buy and back it up with your reasoning.

Note: If you get a rejection when you ask for the close do not walk or run away from your pitch and the time you have invested in you consumer’s education. Instead quickly re-evaluate your consumer and your approach and then start from a different approach. It is important to note that if you have gotten far enough into your pitch that you have asked for the close, it means that you customer is genuinely interested and contemplating the purchase of your product. It is up to you to find out what the barriers to that close are and to address those as quickly as possible. You’ll know if there is a lack of interest in your product if you get a rejection soon after you start your pitch. If manage to get to asking for the close though sometimes you will receive several rejections from your client before you finally succeed in closing them.