Selling is a delicate yet organized art form with a lot of space for errors.
Your ability and tenacity will determine the success of your sales efforts, but there are several tactics and practices you can use to ensure your sales job is as successful as possible.
No need to read countless articles on the art of selling – I’ve summed up all you need to know to master the art of selling, so keep reading!
What are the 7 steps of selling?
Generally speaking, there are 7 steps in the selling process, and here’s what they are:
Step #1 – Prospecting
Prospecting, in basic terms, entails locating and recognizing clients who have expressed an interest in your product or service.
Prospecting your lead is done in a variety of ways – through social networking, live streaming at an event, trade exhibitions, referrals, cold phoning, and shout-outs, among other methods.
Step #2 – Preparation
Regardless of whether or not you have the correct lead, your salesman must take the initial move in breaking the ice. Email, phone calls, and social media are all good options.
The goal of the contact is to learn more about your prospective lead and see whether they are a good fit for your product or service.
Step #3 – Approach
This is when you ask a series of predetermined questions to potential clients in your target market. Questioning them serves two purposes: first, it makes you appear more professional; second, it assists you in understanding the critical nuances of their requirements.
It’s preferable to ask open-ended questions since it encourages people to speak. Rather than talking about the product, salespeople should focus on listening to the customer’s needs and expectations.
Step #4 – Presentation
When presenting your product or service to your target market, you should emphasize the product’s efficacy and how it will bring value to their life.
The simplest approach to achieve this is to build a link between the customer’s demands and the product or service’s features.
Make sure your sales pitch covers all of the attributes that your target market’s buyers were looking for.
Step #5 – Addressing Objections
It would be fantastic if you could deliver your product or service to your target audience with no objections or inquiries. However, there are situations when your concept of best differs from their notion of best.
If you have any objections – which you will – write down all of your responses and solutions.
Respond to their objections attentively, and then share this knowledge with your staff so that they know how to respond to similar inquiries.
Step #6 – Closing
This is the last and most crucial phase in the selling process. It will be successful if you have carefully completed all of the preceding stages.
To clinch the transaction, keep in mind a few crucial elements, such as how to handle objections, how to provide discounts and agree on a price, and how to display the product’s description correctly.
You’ll complete the sale if all goes smoothly.
Step #7 – Follow-Up
It’s important to remember that just because you’ve closed a sale doesn’t imply your work is done.
Customers should be able to contact you to discuss their experiences. If a customer is satisfied, he will tell his friends about his experience. Your sales will improve as a result of such referrals.
You should also keep them up to date on new developments, goods, and services.
The art of selling yourself
Selling yourself is a part of every selling process. Follow these tips on how to do it:
Be confident
It will be a lot simpler to be confident in your sales calls and meetings if you know you’re selling something fantastic.
Remember that, at the end of the day, selling is all about connecting with people. Even the finest product on the planet will not sell itself.
The way you deliver it to someone might be the difference between a huge flop and a success.
Tell a convincing story
“People aren’t interested in what you do; they’re interested in why you do it.”
If you offer accounting software to small firms, for example, don’t build your marketing and sales presentation on the fact that you sell the greatest accounting software available.
It should be based on the notion that you wish to assist small firms that waste a lot of time and money by keeping their own records every year.
Always begin with the customer and the issue you’re trying to solve for them.
Keep it simple
“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself,” is a quote credited to Albert Einstein that summarizes how you should convey your product or service.
Consider your customer as a six-year-old, and go from there.
While using fancy language and technical terminology may impress a few clients, the majority of your audience will be turned off.
It takes time to master the skill of simplifying difficult phrases. It’s not about sounding clever; it’s about getting the client to understand who you are and why they need to buy from you.
The more straightforward the language, the better.
Be a walking a FAQ page
The questions you get following your pitch are one of the most difficult aspects of sales calls and meetings.
Knowing what questions to expect may make a big difference in how you’re seen and whether you make a sale.
Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts available in this situation.
There will always be questions that you cannot anticipate. However, after a while, you should be able to anticipate the most typical questions that keep popping up.
What are five basic principles of selling?
Selling is all about relationships
It doesn’t matter what you sell; being able to close the deal always means being able to create some sort of relationship with the customer.
People purchase from people, and in a world full with competition, your ability to develop a stronger relationship can frequently be the deciding factor.
This entails a combination of establishing rapport, determining needs, demonstrating genuine interest, establishing trust, and adding value.
Consumers only buy products that benefit them
The first thing you ought to understand is that customers don’t buy from you because you are an excellent salesperson.
It’s imperative that you understand and embrace this reality in your business: customers buy items because they “think” that they will benefit them in some manner.
To be successful in business, you must be certain that your product or service will benefit the consumer.
This means you must focus on their problem or reason for purchasing rather than your product. Their requirement should always come first with your product, followed by the solution to their problem.
Price and value go hand in hand
You may be selling a product whose characteristics don’t vary much over time, but the price does.
The value you produce for the product and what it can provide the potential consumer is what determines the pricing.
If your prospect believes your product is pricey, it’s because you haven’t given it enough value.
Every industry has competition, and it doesn’t matter how much the price difference is if you can’t offer value.
Many salespeople become fixated on the price, viewing it as a roadblock to their ability to sell. In actuality, if you can build up the value for the consumer so they don’t feel it’s pricey, the price is unimportant.
There is no sale unless you close it
We all love to talk about the wonderful possibilities we’re working on, the clients we’re pursuing, and the hard work we’re putting in.
Unfortunately, one of the most important selling rules is that there is no sale unless it is closed.
Your capacity to thrive in sales will always come down to your ability to close transactions and really sell, regardless of what you’re selling.
Those who listen, win
We’ve all heard the saying “two ears, one mouth,” but it’s a strong and fundamental premise for sales success.
You can only establish connections by listening, you can only detect problems and customer pains by listening, and you can only locate purchasing signals and seal the deal by listening.
The greatest salespeople are good listeners who can still manage the discussion while asking the proper questions and listening effectively to gather the information they need to close the deal.
Final word
Mastering the art of selling cannot be done overnight – it requires serious dedication and a lot of experience.
That being said, there are a few things you can do to speed it up. Have confidence in yourself, listen to your clients and their needs, and make sure to do what is necessary to close the deal.
Let’s be honest – only a closed deal is a successful one, but the journey doesn’t end there.
Follow-ups are just as important if you want to keep long-term clients and build an excellent reputation.
Hopefully, these tips have helped you learn what to do (and what not to do), so you can start closing deals ASAP!