Selling, any type of commerce transaction makes the financial world go around. Selling something, anything, is the economic juice which rotates and stimulates your business and the economy.
So regardless if you sell goods or services to customers, or you’re presenting a brilliant idea to your boss, everything that you do involves steps of the selling process.
Any business for it to sustain involves the transfer of goods or ideas in exchange of revenue for survival.
So whether you yourself are responsible for selling something to your clients, presenting your brilliant startup idea to investors, knowing how to properly sell, to effectively getting your point across is the key.
Most people however have absolutely no idea how to sell. Selling also generally isn’t considered a highly regarded occupation, as what immediately comes to mind is a tacky car salesman with the plaid sports coat. People just don’t want to be deceived.
But selling is the only method of connecting with others where the rubber hits the road, getting them on your side by they agreeing with your idea, then negotiating the best price and then closing out the deal.
If you are new or are forced to sell, there are a few established concepts which you need to implement, and once understood and followed, it should then become a process where you can sell anything to almost anybody.
The idea is to review and then learn them, practice the steps, and then tailor them into your own personality, your situation, and the ultimate goal that you need to achieve.
Doing The Groundwork By Researching
Understand what makes your customer tick, your listening audience, whomever that you may be selling or presenting to. Know what their roles are, what their objectives may be, what’s in it for them. Realize what if anything is their primal motivation.
It’s also important that you know your direct competition, what you’re up against, and know what their strengths and weaknesses are. Know if they present any potential hurdles or challenges which you may need to overcome with your client.
What’s as equally important is knowing exactly what you’re selling or representing. Know all of the details stone cold. Regardless of whatever it may be, make sure that you know your product inside out, including all of the numbers. Make it a priority to know more about your product than anyone else, especially more than who your selling to.
There’s nothing more embarrassing and time consuming than getting beat up by your customer, or your boss, this since you didn’t do your homework while wasting their time. Not being prepared is a certain kiss of death.
Sales In A Nutshell Always Be Closing
So once you’re satisfied that you did your homework, and feel that you’ve prepared yourself and are passionate and eager to let your presentation fly, then take a deep breath.
Take a step back since you may risk coming across badly, such as being too eager, aggressive, or too timid. The world doesn’t need, want, or appreciate to be pushed.
Doing so makes it appear like it’s all about you, and it never is. It’s all about the person or the of group people who are sitting across from you, it’s all about filling their needs and goals.
So stop and ask yourself how you can help them. Begin by asking them what their goals or concerns are. Listen intently while asking leading questions and then absorbing what and how they say it, watch their body language. Make sure that you continue to keep listening until you have an understanding of the complete picture.
Never badger them since you should be listening more, then give back a little, going back and forth. You want to be as flexible as possible while not coming across as pushy. The key is finding a way to get your client to speak first since information is king.
Listen behind their words to find out what really matters to them. They might be saying a lot, so look for clues to find out what’s in it for them, the reason why they’re meeting with you and your product, and what the obstacles are that you need to overcome.
Selling is similar to cracking a nut. You’re tempted to just get a hammer and shatter it into small pieces, but if you can find its sweet spot, it will then automatically open up clean. This is what sales is in a nutshell.
Need To Make That Connection
You may have the greatest idea, product, or service that’s available, but if you’re not able to make a genuine connection, then it’s worthless. It doesn’t need to be a deep relationship, but some type of mutual connection.
The key to connecting with someone is that you need to get your message across in a way so that it will resonate with them. If you did your homework, then you can push all of the right buttons while listening for feedback, then you should understand exactly what they’re looking for. This will give you an edge on how you can overcome their concerns while meeting their goals.
The best way to do so is by communicating with them by using analogies and anecdotes which can cut through and somehow connect with them. This since individuals are motivated by logic and factual information first, but are then wanting to relate emotionally, so you need to feed their ego.
People like to hear more about the benefits and the features of a product, the ideas, or the performance once they know the statistics. They’re wanting to hear about what it can do for them.
So once you put forth your best effort covering all the steps, and they’re about to make a buying decision, it’s always the emotional connection to the stories as well as the people that they always remember. That’s the motivational button that they need for them to go for it and make a purchase.
Making Sure That You’re On Their Side
So there you are, sitting across from someone physically, but mentally, you need to be sitting on the same side. The sooner that you adopt this mindset, the more efficiently that you’ll begin closing more deals.
The majority of those in sales see the selling process completely wrong. They don’t understand that they’re actually working for the customer since it’s their job to understand and then serve to their needs.
So your duty is to make the customer realize that you’re there to help them. You’re there strictly to lead them towards achieving their goals and not yours. Show them you’re willing to do whatever you can for them. Adopting this mindset is what gets the deals done.
Once your audience, your customer, realizes that you’ll jump through burning hoops for them, once they pick up on your vibe and the genuine desire that you want to help make them successful, that’s what gets the deal closed. That’s how you become successful in selling, this by convincing them that you’re with them until the end.