How Sales Techniques Work

Want to sell your products? Well, pick up the phone, dial your prospect’s number, pitch your idea, and you are done! Sounds easy, right? The only problem is that real-life selling situations are not this easy.

But wait; you must be thinking that selling stuff is just a matter of interest. If someone likes it they will buy it and if they do not, they will decline the offer. If your sales techniques revolve around this, then you could be in big trouble since selling stuff is a complicated matter; and trust me, it is more than just pitching your idea.

It requires efforts and such techniques that focus not on the actual selling part but on the phases that lead to the consumer-seller interaction. That said, this article will focus on the sales stages and how this entire process works!

Various Shades of Sales

Selling stuff very much exists in this decade in the form of digital marketing. When marketers are not interested in this technical stuff, they get back to the traditional form. But whatever medium you choose, the essence remains the same which is to successfully sell stuff.

Sales techniques encompass 5 steps based action plan which is attention, interest, desire, conviction, and action. These steps are pretty self-explanatory because to sell stuff you need to get your consumer’s attention. Then, create interest by using your emotional speech card. Afterward, build a desire by listing all the features and specification of your services/products. Follow it by presenting statistical data and hard facts. Once the target audience is impressed, compel them to take action.

However, not everyone would be instantly sold, so it all comes down to how you close your case. There are a number of closing techniques, some of which are:

• Entice with a Deal: If the potential clients are hard to budge, you can increase their interest by using phrases like “order today and your next purchase will have a reduced price tag.”
• Time-sensitive offers: Such offers create a sense of urgency. So, making statements like “order today at a discounted rate because the prices will get back to normal the coming week” always seem to work!
• Free trials: If you can afford it, offer as many free trials as you like. Allow consumers to test your products for free. If they like it, they will come back for more!

Generally, there are many opening and closing sales techniques. All of them work fine, as long as you know how to implement them. With that said, the most important sales techniques are mentioned below.

Establishing a Relationship

According to the Harvard Business Review, making a new customer is around 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining previous customers. Also, the thing about old customers is that they can become your un-official spokesperson. If they like your services, they will not hesitate in recommending it to their peers and family members.

Forming relationships with older clients is beneficial; however, it requires extreme efforts from your side. Of course, relationships are not naturally formed since a lot of listening (to their needs) goes into it. Once you have listened to their problems, worked out a solution and offered an implementation strategy, then be assured that you have formed a life-long relationship based on hard work and trust.

Often people have unique needs and limited budgets, and at times, it can be difficult to create a solution. However, if you successfully work your way around all the obstacles, you can build even a stronger relationship.

Remember forming relationships should never be about selling. Instead, you should offer your best advice and instill in your potential customers a kind of trust that could compel them to become your client!

The Power of Listening

Listening is the most important and probably the least used skill. When it comes to selling products/services, salespersons often direct all their energy towards speaking about their stuff. At the same time, they ignore their clients’ needs and end up failing when it comes to closing the deal.

To form healthy relationships, listening plays a massive role because it allows entrepreneurs to understand their clients. Without mutual understanding, your service/product will fail to appeal to the consumer since you are ignoring to explain your merchandise in accordance with the consumers’ needs.

That said, listening also plays an important role in separating workable leads from time-wasters. To understand who has the highest potential of turning into your client and vice versa, you need to listen and ask questions to reach a conclusion. Through this method, you will not only be saving time but your energy as well.

Maintaining Contacts

Remember that potential client who you always wanted to get in touch with but could not due to other commitments? Well, that client just left you for good for your competitor! Scenarios like these happen, and they could be happening to you as you read.

Building a relationship is just the first step towards retaining clients. This is because after you have retained them, you need to up your game further to keep them interested in your products/services. This problem can be solved by maintaining contact with your potential client and staying consistent with it.

Additionally, you need to create multiple communication mediums so if one channel fails to connect, your client can use another channel to get in touch with you. The point is, always remain accessible because you never know when your potential client may need you! With that said, managing multiple communication mediums can be a little taxing. So you can look into software programs and other management systems that can manage it for you!

Additional Tips

When it comes to sales tips and guidelines, it all comes down to your needs and what works for you. It is not necessarily true that if something is working in your competitor’s favor, it will also work for you. So you need to experiment with tips and manipulate them in ways that fit your venture. With that said, here are a few things you can work with for maximum results:

• Focus on your client’s or potential consumer’s needs.
• Talk with them in a language that connects with them on an emotional level. Focus on words like ‘you’, and ‘yours’ instead of using words like ‘we’, ‘we will’, and ‘we think.’
• Help your clients see the bigger picture. The keywords here are ‘you will save money’ and ‘it will increase your revenues.’
• Put your clients’ priorities first, and treat your concern for money as the second step.

With this, we conclude this article and hope that it will help you understand the sales techniques and your clients in a better manner.