By Victoria
Check out these 10 Great Sales Tips To Drive Your Business
The day to day running of your business can suck up a lot of management time, leaving precious little left to actually go out and sell. This article will look at some clever Sales Tips to help you grow your business whilst not taking your eye of the ball.
Let’s face it. Not all companies have the luxury of having a sales team dedicated to selling your products or services. But no matter what size your business is or whatever it is you are selling, you need to sell in order to keep your business going!
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could wave a magic wand and guarantee an increase in sales? Unfortunately business doesn’t work like that. However there are a number of Sales Tips you can follow to help boost your sales success.
Follow these 10 Simple Sales Tips to change how you approach “selling”:
1. Sell solutions to problems/challenges
Sounds simple doesn’t it!!! It’s not rocket science. It’s not enough to simply know the features and benefits of your products/services and highlight these to your “potential customers” in the hope that they will want what you are selling. That won’t secure the sales for you. Instead you need to be able to find out what problems your customer has and what issues they need to address. Once size doesn’t fit all. Tailor your product or service to solve their problem and then explain what differentiates you from your competitors.
Think of your first meeting with your prospect as a fact finding mission. You aren’t going to sell in that first meeting. Instead you want to learn as much as possible about where the customer needs help and why. Once you get the concept of “selling” out of your head and focus on learning instead, you will have a much more productive meeting.
2. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open
Pay close attention to what your prospect isn't saying
Okay so you’ve got in front of your prospect. Fantastic! But don’t blow the opportunity. Too many businesses use this time to talk about how wonderful they are and simply bombard the customer with everything they have to offer. Don't fall into this trap. Use your time wisely. Let the customer talk and above all listen to what they are saying. There is a reason why we have one mouth and two ears! The more your customer opens up to you and explains their pain-points, the easier you will find it to show why they need your product/service.
Prepare!!! Do your research before your meeting. Find out all you can about your prospect. Have a look at their website and their online presence. Get a feel for their business and what they do. Put together a list of questions to ask and use this to help structure your meeting.
3. Always be prospecting
In many ways successful sales is a numbers game. You won’t convert every opportunity into a sale, but the more opportunities you have, the more likely you are to win some! Think of it like a funnel. You need to put a lot in at the top, filter out the opportunities which are worth progressing and then the successful ones will come out the bottom. That’s why it’s crucial to use every opportunity to identify a possible new customer - meetings at social functions, networking opportunities, referrals etc. Reach out to as many people as possible and think of every person you meet as a potential “prospect” who may have a problem you can help them with.
4. Sell with questions not answers
Forget about trying to “sell” your product or service and focus instead on why your prospect wants to buy. Get curious about them! Ask them as many questions as you can. Ask about the products and services they're already using. Are they happy? Is what they're using now too expensive, not reliable enough, too slow? Find out what they really want. Remember, you're not conducting an impersonal survey here, so don't ask questions just for the sake of it. Instead, ask questions that will provide you with information about what your customers really need. Once you know what your customers need you can tailor your offer to their exact needs.
Showing people how you can “help” them is a much better tactic than simply hitting them with with every possible thing you can “sell”.
Image yourself as the buyer. What information do you need to know? What would help you? How could you benefit from the product/service? Develop a list of probing questions which you need your prospect to answer. Prioritise the questions and be able to identify your top 10. Let's face it, if you get 5 answered during your first meeting you are doing well. So make them count!
5. Connect with the decision-maker
Identifying a prospect is only one small part of the sales process. It’s one thing to know that a business might be interested in your products/services but getting in front of the right person is even more important. You’ve only got one attempt to engage and make an impression. Ideally you want to find out who can make a decision to purchase and has the budget to do so. Aim high! Remember it’s easier to speak to the MD, identify that you can help their business and then be referred to the appropriate individual or team to progress the opportunity, than it is to work your way up through an organisation.
Do your research and find out the management structure of a potential prospect. Don’t be afraid of calling the company to establish who is responsible for the area of business you are interested in. It’s better to invest time in getting to meet the right contact. You can always ask your contact for an introduction to the key decision makers.
6. Manage your selling time
Don’t get sucked into endless meetings and phone calls with potential prospects who like to talk and talk. You need action! Yes it’s important to spend time listening and learning about the customers needs and challenges. But once you have an understanding of their problems, you need to present your solutions and work to close the opportunity. Remember the funnel concept? You need to maximise your time identifying new opportunities and sifting through the “good” and the “bad”.
Does the customer have a budget in place? Can they make a decision now? Do they have an immediate need? Remember it takes the same amount of time and energy to close a £1,000 sale as it does a £50,000 deal. If they are keen great! You have a clear need, have presented how you can help and now it’s over to them. Yes you need to follow up. Yes you need to have perseverance as not all sales come easily.
But don’t invest hours and hours on an opportunity who just isn’t prepared to make the commitment. There are too many other valuable opportunities to go after!
No matter what size your business is, invest in a sales pipeline management process. Record every “prospect” in terms of the customer name, the opportunity, the potential value and the date of the opportunity. Focus on reviewing your sales pipeline on a weekly basis, tracking all your actions. Your aim is to see progress on each opportunity - otherwise it’s wasting your time and energy in chasing.
7. Understand your buyers
Once you have assessed their needs and fully understand the customers' issues, you are ready to pitch your services. Remember the importance of demonstrating value to the customer. It doesn’t have to be financial. What is it that makes you and your business different to your competitors? How can you really help the customer? Putting yourself in your customers shoes is key. The more you can show them that you feel their pain and can help them, the more they will trust you and value your advice. Money isn’t always the reason customers make a decision to purchase. Showing empathy is just as important and often leads to longer lasting relationships with your customers.
Remember no two buyers are the same. Each buyer will have a different “persona” and you need to be able to understand what type they fall into and adapt your style accordingly. Try and identify the key triggers for the buyer. Is it a well presented sales proposal with lots of information? Or do they want a short succinct email to summarise the key recommendations? Some buyers like to make quick decisions. Others will need lots of facts and customer testimonials. Understanding your buyer’s approach will really help.
8. Address the 'why' questions
Okay so you have identified a clear need with the customer. Tick in the box! But no matter how compelling your solution, the prospects will always have a lot of “why” questions in their heads. Why is your solution more expensive? Why do they need your product/service when they have survived without it up until now? Why should they believe you? The key issue is that they usually won’t be upfront with these questions. Instead they are the reasons why many prospects don’t make that giant leap of faith and purchase. Don't wait for your prospects to ask these questions, as you will probably be waiting a very long time! Instead be proactive and address the questions and concerns head on. Empathise with the customer. Think about the key questions they may have and make sure you provide them with all the information they need. Don’t be scared to ask “do you need any more information to help you make a decision”. Remember getting in front of a potential new customer is golden. Don’t waste the opportunity and walk away thinking “if only I had asked them”…….
Think about the “why questions” your customer will have. List the questions and plan your answers. Put yourself in your customers' shoes. Can you address their key concerns? Have these questions in front of you when you meet with the customer and try and make sure all of them are covered before you close the meeting.
9. Get your prospect to take some form of action
You should be able to walk away from a meeting knowing you have covered all potential reservations the prospect may have. Provided you can do this, it’s then over to the prospect to consider your solution and to make the decision on whether to buy or not. But don’t end a meeting without agreeing the next steps. Try and put the focus on the customer. What do you need them to do? It could be to discuss your proposal with colleagues. Or they may need to secure budget.
Whatever the action required be clear. What needs done, by whom and by when. Get your prospect to commit to an action. Too many sales people only think of the actions they need to take. Remember this is a journey for your prospect. You want to support them all times but need them to make decisions!
Don’t close a meeting until you have recapped everything discussed and agreed the key next steps which both parties need to take. Think about the actions your customer may need to take - setting up a follow up meeting, sharing information with colleagues, etc. and ask them to a commitment in the meeting. Always follow up the meeting with a short email to confirm the actions which need taken. Fingers crossed! Both parties will progress their actions, helping you work through the sales process.
10. Don't ignore your existing customers
Above all don’t forget the importance of looking for new business from your existing customers! Too many businesses focus all their energy on winning new customers and forget about those people who have already made a commitment to you. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that customers will come back to you if they want something. Most won’t…. Customers need to feel loved. They appreciate follow up to see how things are going, what’s working and more importantly what’s not working. They are already receptive to you (or they wouldn’t have purchased in the first place) and they want follow up and engagement. Just remember it’s alway’s easier to win business from existing customers than it is to win new customers!
Top Sales Tip #10
Cross -Sell!!! List your existing customers and what they have bought from you. Think about what else they might be interested in. Are there new services you are now offering which you didn’t have when they purchased? Could they help you with a customer testimonial? You don’t need a reason to reach out. Simply asking your customers for their feedback will open doors. Grab a coffee with them and ask how they are getting on. Your customers will open up to you more easily, given that there is already a relationship. Who knows what it might lead to?
So there you go, our Top 10 List of Sales Tips to help you drive your business forward. We hope you have found these Sales Tips useful, although I am sorry to tell you there isn’t actually a magic wand to do it all for you!
The good news, however, is that you are probably doing a lot of these Sales Tips already and just need to sit down and think the process through.
Read through the list of Sales Tips again and find the areas you think you need to work. Maybe ask a colleague to give you some feedback based on their experiences, but above all have a go!
Sales does takes some effort but implementing these Sales Tips will almost certainly help you win more business.
Let us know below which Sales Tips work best for you. We’d love to hear from you!
Victoria
Victoria is commercial director of Enlighten IC and following a successful career in sales working for the likes of DELL Computers, she joined the firm to head up the sales and training division. Victoria sees it as her mission to ensure as many leads as are humanly possible convert into new clients
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