Sales as a profession is one of the most challenging, pressure-driven balancing acts there is in business. Unfortunately, there are some who perceive this as a mediocre job since compared to the likes of engineering, medicine, mathematics, nuclear science requiring specialization and sometimes, years of internship. What many fail to understand is that sales management is actually a lot more than what meets the eye.
In this competitive business environment, the fate of each company depends mainly on the sales force. They are the driving force that bring revenue to the company to support its internal operations, and marketing campaigns. Without the revenues coming in, there is very little chance of survival regardless if the product or service being sold is good. I am not one to count but more often than not, companies fold because they have failed to hire the right people for the job.
Now what makes a good sales person great? While there are substantial information that companies, lectures and trainings can teach a person, sales people are not made, they’re born. You just have to smell their potential from afar and hone that potential and arm them with the right values and knowledge for them to turn out to be great assets.
If you are a novice sales personnel revving to hatch from your sac but don’t know where to start, be sure here are my top five tips to help you make it big faster:
1. Know the business.
Having great confidence is essential in this field, however, having no knowledge of your company’s offerings when facing a client is like going to battle without a gun. And like going to any battle unarmed, you’ll end up dead and bloody in no time. Knowledge is power. When you are equipped with sufficient knowledge about your company’s roots, goals, products and services as well as your competitors’, you gain more confidence. You will be amazed at how morecomfortable you will be in front of the client knowing that you are able to answer his questions.
2. Have clear goals.
Having clear goals is like weeding out the important things from the not. A clear vision lets you stay focused on the task at hand, being devoid of the complexities along the way which saves a lot of time and effort for you.
3. Target Your Client’s Emotions and Not Their Logic. This means knowing what they want and what they need, even if they don’t know it yet.
Knowing the ins and outs of the business in theory makes for a great trainer however, being a good sales person doesn’t stop there. Having the gift of gab revolves around the idea of being able to touch that side of the client that he mostly, cannot control. Say, when you’re selling business software solutions, which is an IT product, what most amateur sales personnel will do is to hard-sell by pinpointing its features, price and support, which logically, the client may reject especially if it’s not on budget or if he is not actually looking for such.
On the other hand, if you attack his emotional side, say, you dig a little deeper into their company history and you find out that the IT manager you’re selling to is just new and he needs to prove himself to the company. You may want to take advantage of this scenario and let him know that more than anything else, you would like to make his task easier but more effient and less costly which shows that you care about him keeping his job and making his contributions to the company more notable. Instead of explaining about the facts, you explain the benefits and advantages and how you can dedicate yourself into helping him secure his place in the company and help him bring benefits as well. This works wonders more often than not.
4. Use the Right Tools and Methods.
Make your life easier by investing time looking for solutions that work. In sales, part of being a good sales person is knowing the ins and outs of the sales process and being able to respond to the clients’ requirements the soonest time possible, in the most accurate and effective way. Business Software Applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions, calendars, and other sales and marketing tools boost sales turnaround by up to 30%, according to a study conducted in the US using a specific brand of cloud-based software. This contributes to having an organized way of doing business, enormous time and money savings, whilst keeping customers happy and loyal.
By applying these simple and clear tips in mind, you will be able to start your journey ahead to being a confident, able-bodied and successful sales person. The road is long and it takes a lot of experience, patience and forward-thinking attitude. If you’re cut for the job, you will know because your heart should be there; it is never an overnight success, like any. But if the passion and the ability is there, everything follows eventually. It is a never-ending investment of time and always a work-in-progress, but soon enough, you’ll reap the benefits.
