How to Ask the Right Questions in Sales

When you are selling yourself or a product, you need to ask the right questions.  The goal is to not talk the whole time, but to guide the questions in a way that they reveal the right information to you with little effort.  You need to be able to prepare yourself by doing your homework before the meeting.  You will need to know What you are going to ask, Why you are asking the question, and How you will ask the question.  The point of this is that any question you ask can be tweaked slightly to get more information from your prospect.  As a sales professional, you need to uncover the prospects needs before you can give a proper presentation.

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How to Start a Sales Conversation Comfortably

Sometimes starting the conversation off, especially if it is over the phone, can be very difficult and nerve-racking. One thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to sound like a pitchy salesman, you want to sound natural, like you are talking to a friend.  Start off you conversation like you would a friend by saying "Hi Tom!" while shaking his hand if you are face to face.  The last thing you want to do is say "Hello Mr Jones."  You want to start off on a level playing field, and being conversational is the best way to do that.

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Closing: Make the Sale or Don't

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Closing is the second most important step in the sales process behind Finding Needs, and it can lead to making the sale or losing it.  Closing can mean a couple of different things depending on whether you are trying to make a large sale or a small sale.  During a small sale, a successful close will always lead to making the sale and having them sign on the dotted line.  For a large sale, mostly business to business types where there are multiple people involved in the decision making process, you will most likely not be able to close that day.  When this is the case DO NOT USE TYPICAL CLOSING TECHNIQUES!  Doing this will offend your prospect and make them think that you are too pushy.  Remember:  in sales you need to form a relationship with the buyer, and being seen as pushy or uncaring of their needs will make them not want to form that relationship.

Communication Skills in Sales

Most people know that "smooth talking" is a trait that most salespeople possess, but a sales professional needs more than this to be a good communicator.  These skills are necessary in all of the steps of selling starting at building rapport. Here are a few tips on how to better communicate to your prospects:

1) Speak directly.  When talking about your product avoid using words or terms such as "probably" or "sort of."  These words make you sound insecure either about yourself or your product.   Be sure of o0yourself and what you have to offer.

2) Avoid product "jargon."  Your prospect will not understand you if you talk about the "PCF" valve on the "UAV." Even if they do, they might have to explain that to their boss or purchasing manager.  You would be doing them a favor by using terminology any 5th grade graduate would understand.

3) Avoid ambiguity.  You could confuse or potentially insult the person you are talking to.  You may also seem unintelligent.

These tips should be used in any form of communication, whether it is face to face, email, text messaging, or otherwise.  There are many more ways to communicate more effectively, so try to learn as much as you can in this subject to be more successful.

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Listening Skills vs. Swift Talking in Sales

Most people that think of a salesperson is somebody who can talk people into buying their product even if they don't need it.  I have heard the term "He can sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves."  While the ability to be convincing is important in sales, the ability to listen to your prospect is much more important.  How does a good sales professional know how to gear their presentation?  They spent time listening to the customer's needs and adapt the rest of the sales process around those needs.  After you have listened enough to discover their needs and analyze what type of buyer they are, the "swift talking" skills can be applied more efficiently.

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Selling in today's online world

Today, selling can be a difficult profession to be successful in with the growing online market.  Instead of coming into the store, consumers are doing more and more research and purchasing online.  Some businesses are giving consumers a discount or extra incentives to buy online because they don't have to pay their salespeople for the sale.  I have seen this at places like Verizon and Staples, and the list is growing more by the day.  How will the sales profession survive in a climate like this?

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Features and Benefits

Take a look at this video about selling Features and Benefits, and how important it is to the entire sales process.  If you do not do this correctly you will have more objections and you are selling your product short.  Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need some more examples.

steve@dadesalesandmarketing.com

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Follow These Steps to Make a Sale

As a salesperson, you should be able to control a conversation.  This does not mean that you should dominate the conversation, but you should be able to steer the direction in a way that will give you a better chance of making the sale.  Many salespeople think that they need to just spit out a bunch of features and the customer will see how great their product is and buy it, these people are peddlers.  A true sales professional takes as much time listening to their customer as they do talking, and there are certain steps you should take to present yourself and your product in a way that will make your customer want to buy.