Experts agree : To succeed in business, you must learn to sell. From the first-time job hunter “selling” himself to the human-resource manager, to the CEO “selling” the board of directors on the acquisition of a billion-dollar company, to the sales agent “selling” her client on a major purchase. business is all about selling.
No matter what you are selling, you stand a much better chance of closing the sale if you keep in mind a few basic pointers.
Study and plan before you try to sell. The more you know about the person or company you are tying to sell on something, the better your chances of making the sale. Job hunters who have researched a company before going for an interview have a much better chance of getting a position than do those who haven’t done their homework. Similarly, a sales agent who has taken the time to research a potential client’s needs will be prepared to answer questions and explain how a particular product can benefit the client.
Be prepared, but be flexible. While it’s a good idea to rehearse what you want to say and to prepare a list of points to cover, the successful salesperson knows how important it is to “go with the flow”. Flexibility means not only tailoring a presentation to fit a particular customer, but also making chances if it becomes apparent that the customer wants to talk about something other than what you anticipated. If you are talking about how fast your firm’s new printing presses are but the customer is worried about how long it takes to set up a press for a new job, you must be able to change your presentation to address the customer’s concern.
Keep your presentation lively. Often salespeople making a major presentation bring with them printed packages of materials, then cover those materials point by point. As a result, clients may drift off in boredom. Bringing in more stimulating materials ad going beyond the printed materials are crucial to maintaining client interest. Sales reps may grab their customer’s attention by demonstrating their product on the spot or by presenting graphs that highlight how much a competing firm’s sales increased when it bought the touted product.
Listen to the customer. This is the rule that underlies all other personal selling rules. Listening to the specific words a customer uses can help you to express the benefits of your product in those terms, and listening carefully to any objections the customer raises can help you overcome those objections. The most successful salespeople are those who take the customer’s point of view, develop empathy for the customer’s needs, and then meet those needs.
Ask for order. This may seem like an obvious point, but an astonishing number of salespeople are reluctant to press for a decision. If you have listened carefully, you should be able to identify the point at which customer has enough information and is ready to decide. Many sales agents say the first sign of movement toward closing a sale comes when the customer poses objections, essentially saying to the agent, “Convince me”. Whenever that moment comes, remember : Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Don’t give up hope. In sales, as in so many other aspects of life, persistence pays off – as long as you’re not obnoxious about it. Even when they don’t make a sale, savvy salespeople stay in touch with would-be customers, asking them how a product (and even their sales pitch) could be improved. Like the job hunter who writes an enthusiastic thank-you note to a company that has said “No thanks”, this approach can pay off in a future sale – and a future in sales.