What’s the key to being successful at sales when starting?
Number one: set your first, easiest goal, and don’t make it a sale if you haven’t gotten one yet. Make it something doable on your part. 50 prospects called per week, 100 emailed per day, something like that. Don’t make it about other people doing something, such as paying you or agreeing to a Skype call. Make it something you do. Over time, through this consistent progress, you will get your first few solid conversations leading to a deal, and then boom, you’ll have your first one and after that, you’re basically off to the races.
The key to being successful in sales, be it starting or later, is to provide value to the customers in whatever way you can. You should only close sales on people who truly need or stand to gain from what you sell, and if you approach them from that angle, of “You need this.” rather than “I need this.” without coming across as arrogant, you’ll close a sale pretty often.
Let’s explore five key points to sale success when starting out.
#1 Research your product/service, identify its USPs:
A USP is a Unique Selling Point. Basically, how are you distinct from your competitors?
However, there is actually another, better kind of USP: Urgent Selling Point. As in: why should people buy from you and your company, right now, not later? 90% of the time, lack of knowledge about your product plus inertia toward making a purchase is the main thing in your way, your true competitor. To fix all that, you need a selling point to solve an urgent problem. Even something as mild as a small itch you can’t reach on your back could be an urgent problem if you agitate it intentionally. Ask them about their ‘itch.’ Maybe you sell weight-loss coaching, and their itch is that they dread ever having to wear form-fitting clothes, to expose their true torso shape. They’ve felt that displeasure with how they look every day, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but for years.
When you talk to a person about their most prevalent psychological itch, listen calmly, just sit back and watch without speaking. Don’t say anything and let them talk, until a question or awkward silence. They start to sell themselves on your product.
#2 Simplify the process:
Customers have a lot to think about. It shouldn’t take effort or patience to finalize your transaction if at all possible. Maximum convenience, while still respecting your time.
#3 Focus on GIVING The Emotional Reply That You Want From Them
Trust is really important in sales, and trust often comes less from logical rationalizations and more from gut instincts.
Obviously, you want your prospects to trust you, and then like you, as soon as possible. The mistake most salespeople make about trust, though, is they don’t treat it as a two-way street. They think that they just need to get trust. Even if you have an extremely generous offer and are a nice person, if you speak to a person with the subtle energy that you are demanding their trust (or any sort of emotional reaction for that matter), you stand a higher chance of rejection.
Human beings, in general, love to respond in kind, if it’s done gracefully. Once you’ve started a decent conversation, express whatever emotion that you want them to feel about you, to them. The easiest way is just to say “I trust you.” in some context where it works. But there are other ways to introduce the idea. For instance, if I want a prospect on a sales call to trust me, I say things like “I trust a guy like you to make whatever choice is most logical for long-term growth.”
There’s a line between doing this naturally, and kind of playfully, and it looks phony. Use moderation, but don’t be afraid to try it.
#4 Focus on building long-term relationships:
Some customers are going to stick around and make you a lot of money if you give them the chance. It’ll take time, it’ll take filtering through some duds and rejections, but if you give value in your conversations and build rapport, the right ones won’t get away. The same customer who didn’t give you a sale on the first contact might be a customer later, and one who recommends you to his contacts. That’s always fun.
#5 Tactfully handle objections from customers:
Objections are how an impression is sealed, good or bad, and it’s all about how you deal with them. Ideally, the faster you can shoot down any potential objection, whether about price, logistics, you name it, the faster and more reliable your sales process is going to be. Check my website if you want to see a post that described the 5 most common customer objections.
The suggestions for this answer have helped many people fresh into sales. They’ll work for you as well. Sales is largely about experience, and a lot of this stuff becomes second nature.
Feel free to reply if you have questions.
Good Luck!
Thanks,
Cleo
