SALES AND SELLING TECHNIQUES

Sales and the selling techniques you use to get them are the foundation of all business and just as a building without foundations, a business without sales must fail.

To be in business is to be in sales. The owners of most successful small businesses have often had to spend up to 60% of their time on marketing and sales. That’s at start-up, from then on you will need to spend at least 40% of your time on your marketing and sales – and that’s for ever! The selling techniques you use can help with your small business sales and are not difficult but must be learnt.

Considering the time you need to spend on sales and marketing to succeed, many new businesses spend too little time on selling or only market and sell when they are desperate. You cannot succeed if you are selling out of desperation.

Being in business means making time to sell, all the time. Selling must become a major part of your day, every day.

Who does the selling?

In most cases, with a small start-up company, you are the only salesperson. As you grow and employ salespeople, your selling days are not over; you merely become the coach to your sales team. You are never out of sales until you are out of the business!

You as the sales person

To get started lets take a look at selling and the selling techniques needed to succeed.

Despite any indications to the contrary, everyone can sell, even if they think that they are unsuited to selling and hate the very idea of selling.

If you are prepared and understand that to sell you must:-

• Relate with the customer as an individual.
• Listen to their needs.
• Ask questions and make suggestions to meet those needs.
• Ensure that both of you come out of the transaction satisfied.

In fact as owner of your own business you are better positioned to sell then anyone else, you know more about your product or service, production and delivery times, its use and care. All you need to do is learn the selling techniques to make you a good sales person.

How to be an effective sales person.

Good preparation makes good sales people, so be prepared if you want to be able to sell well.

You must understand the following points:-

• Most products or services are not unique; they are similar to many other products already being sold. So what would make you want to buy the product you wish to sell? Once you are convinced that it is a product worth owning, you are ready to answer that question and sell. As a selling technique, it is essential that you have faith in your own product.
• What makes your product, although it might be identical, different from the competitions? Is it better packaging, after sales customer service , better delivery, pricing or any one of the many different ways in which you can make your identical product stand out from the crowd? You need to know this difference.

  This then will be your ‘unique selling proposition’ or U.S.P. What makes your identical product or service different?

• Decide on those potential customers who you are going to sell to. It should be obvious to only try and sell to those people who are most likely to buy. They must be interested and have the money to be able to afford the product. Sell where you have the best chance of making sales. Common sense but often overlooked!
• Remember to sell the benefits of your product or service, not its features. People want to know if your product will provide a solution to their needs, and if so, how.

  If you can get people to desire your product, you will sell it. Price is often overcome by desire.

• Always try and understand why your product is selling, by asking your buyers. What is it about your product or service that makes them buy? Some market research would not go amiss here.

When you are new, this is not easy as you have not yet made many sales, so check out your competitors to see how they are selling and why people are buying from them.

Preparation is the basis of all successful selling techniques, whether you are cold calling or making a presentation.

Here are some selling strategies to note:-

• Get to know as much as you can about your customers business, they will expect it and it shows your interest.
• Always talk to the final decision maker. Is the potential buyer the one who will give you the order or do they need further permission?
• Have with you your notes that make your sales presentation relevant to the particular buyer you are dealing with.
• Your first job on meeting the potential customer is to build rapport. Have you anything or anyone in common? Can you complement them on some newsworthy item? Build rapport through sincere interest not false flattery.
• Begin by asking questions and listening to the answers. What are the needs, problems and motivations of the customer? Note their response. Again listen carefully.
• Ask further questions and get answers until you are sure you understand the customer’s needs. When you get objections, understand and point out how you have dealt with similar objections from other customers to their satisfaction. Jointly find answers to any objections. If you can provide a solution to a problem you generally have a sale.
• Explain clearly the cost of your product or service. All the costs - hide nothing.
• Always listen for the one major need that, if you can satisfy with a good solution, will clinch the sale.
• Once you are convinced that the customer wants your product, don’t forget to close the sale. The decision to buy needs to be reinforced by stating the worth of the decision and how it will benefit both.

  Selling is always a lot easier if you know that your product is good and you show that you have confidence in it.

  Finally remember that the best of all selling techniques is honesty.

Sold, now what?

The sale is made, the product delivered, end of story! Not if you want to remain in business. After sales service is as vital, to long term survival, as obtaining the sale in the first place, never forget it!

Keep your customers satisfied with you by:-

1. Contacting him/her after the sale and thanking them for their business.
2. Letting them know that you are available to solve any problems.
3. Responding to any complaints promptly. Remember to ask about any problems or complaints so that you can rectify them.

Your Sales Team

You have now outgrown the days when you did all your own selling. You now have a team of salespeople but you are still the coach. Don’t forget to pass on all those selling techniques that you have learned and that are relevant to your business.

Let us take a look at starting and building that sales team and the type of people you need.

What you need for the team.

The best you can afford and to do this you are going to have to poach!

One caveat however, don’t poach from the companies that you do business with, they will remember it to your cost.

The best salespeople are all already in employment, so you will have to track them down by asking for referrals from the best, or by phoning your competition and asking to speak to their best salesperson.

Check them out well before you hire. Are they:-

• Likable?
• Confident in themselves? Self-esteem makes a good salesperson.
• Go-getters? Do they strive to achieve goals?
• Good listeners? Customers like being listened to by someone caring.
• Passionate about the product?
• Experts in their field. Customers like expertise.
• Persistent? Can they wade through the no’s to get to the yes’s?
• Adaptable. Can they adapt their selling techniques to meet the needs of your business?

How you coach them.

• You have a good team, but sales are not what you expect, why you ask yourself?

  You have heard of management haven’t you, well who is managing them? You can’t; your business is too big now to allow you to manage your sales full time. So if you can’t, who is?

  Sales people need good managerial leadership to perform well; a manager who will be able to look at the whole market, who can train the newbie’s and guide the veterans. Without that day to day management, your team will drift.

  A sales manager is not a salesperson, so don’t promote your best salesperson to manager. You lose a good salesperson and gain a bad manager. Hire a manager.

• Good salespeople are not clock watchers, so make it worth their while to get the sale. Pay well, basic plus good commission or no commission but really good pay.
• Motivate by measuring results. Competition between colleagues can be healthy for profits and compensation.
• Train your team constantly. Pass on your selling techniques. They must understand everything about the product and how it is of benefit to the customer and can solve problems.
• Set goals, goals agreed by the salespeople and management. Goals must be tough but achievable.

Getting your selling techniques right is essential to any business, so spend the necessary time on both your own selling and that of your team. Put a strong selling system together and you will have one less worry in business.

Whether you do all your own selling or use a sales team, good selling techniques must be practical and in place at all times if you are to succeed in growing sales.

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