Selling for Beginners

Speak to almost any self employed professional and most of them will say that they love their job but don't care much for selling their services. Here's some advice to help all those reluctant professionals who need to sell to clients.

We have identified 9 basic selling skills that will help you to sell your product or service. Ensure that you and your sales team master these skills and you will be successful at selling.

Research shows that fear of selling is one of the greatest barriers to business success and, often, professionals are the worst of all. But whether you are an accountant, advertising excec or business coach you still have to sell to keep the business coming in.

We have found a few ideas that will help you to become successful at selling yourself. The main idea is to know your product, know your client and be prepared and professional. The following tips will greatly enhance your ability to sell.

Acknowledge the value of selling

Be positive in attitude, love selling. It is widely accepted that the excitement and enthusiasm of the salesperson accounts for around 50 per cent of success in selling. In a world in which everything counts, the excitement and enthusiasm of the salesperson affects the customer's responds.

Manage your sales activities effectively

As a salesperson, you are responsible for results. You can achieve the required result by setting it as a goal, and then resolving to pay the price that must be paid to achieve the goal. You need to establish clear sales goals. The subconscious mind responds to clarity. Having established the sales goals, it is necessary to determine the actions or activities which must be undertaken to achieve those goals.

Know your product

Know your product, its benefit and competitive advantage Why does your customer buy the product or service? What benefit do you sell? It might look like a haircut, but it's probably admiration. It looks like a motorcar, but it's probably status. It might be called a bungee jump, but it's probably excitement. If you're selling to other companies, the benefit is probably increased sales, lower costs or higher profits.

Identify your customers

Why should anybody buy your product or service? What is the benefit or improvement in their condition? Whose life will be enriched? Who will get the greatest improvement from your product or service? With which customers does your competitive advantage make a difference? With which customers does your competitive advantage make the biggest difference? Customers want to be more, have more, do more.

Identifying customer needs

Do not focus on trying to sell the product which you produce. Warehouses throughout the country are full of products nobody wants to buy. Ask questions, ask questions, ask questions! Find out what benefit your customer desires. Talk to your customers. You will be surprised how often price is not the priority. They may be looking for a local supplier, excellent service, a guarantee, any risk of loss to be assumed by the supplier, immediate delivery, staged payments. If you know your customer, then you have a far greater chance of forming a lasting relationship which should lead to permanent relationship selling.

Be Great at making presentations

Giving a presentation is one of the most feared events in Western society. In surveys of people's fears, death is usually ranked around number six. Giving a presentation is usually number one. To be excellent at selling, you have to give presentation.

Be prepared to handle objections

"We don't want it, we can't afford it, we don't believe you, we've tried it before and it didn't work, we are perfectly happy with our present supplier and it's not in the budget." Your initial reaction could be that you are not going to make the sale. This is incorrect. You have to understand that an objection is a request for more information. As long as the customer is objecting, you are selling.

Close the deal

A customer is someone who is willing and able to purchase the benefit you offer. In a successful sales presentation, you eventually reach the point when it is time to ask for action, time to close that deal.

Always follow up your sales efforts

You may not sell on the first visit or first occasion. Make a decision to go the extra mile, make the second effort, follow up your initial approach. Contact the prospective customer once again within three days. You can always reopen a negotiation with new information, new price, new terms, a better offer following discussions with your boss. Keep your customer informed. Educate your customer to appreciate the benefit you offer and your competitive advantage. After making a sale, contact the customer within four weeks with a view to making the next sale. Follow up direct mail with a telephone call

You are free to reprint this article in your ezine or ebook, or on your website, as long as the contents in the article and the resource box are not changed.

Copyright 2003 - 2004 www.My1stBusiness.com

About The Author

Ben Botes is the head Coach at www.My1stBusiness.com a web portal dedicated to 1st time business leaders and entrepreneurs. Visit the site for hundreds of free Micro Modules, Teleclases, Resources and Coaching designed for you to succeed with your business.

ben.botes@my1stbusiness.com

---

How to create your own Unique Selling Proposition

Why would a prospect buy from you rather than from... Read More

An Introduction to Store Fixtures

Everybody is familiar with the old retail chant, "Location, location,... Read More

How to Create Material That Will Get You Sales Now!

WHY ARE YOU WRITING THIS BROCHURE OR SALES LETTER? A... Read More

Selling Your Business ? Step by Step Process

So it's finally come time to sell the business. After... Read More

Caring - The Secret Sales Strategy

Sales information resource Just Sell, calls caring "sales love". Here's... Read More

The Relationship Between Colour & Sales

Make no mistake that emotions are the driving force behind... Read More

Leads, Prospects, and the Huge Gap Between

The leads marketing delivers to the sales team never seem... Read More

How to Set Appointments

The Importance of setting appointments is crucial to running a... Read More

10 Important Things To Tell Your Prospects

Hello everyone, hope your day is going well! I know... Read More

How Can Fundraising Consulting Help Us Raise Money?

If you need to hold a fundraiser and don't know... Read More

The Damaging Admission - A Persuasive Technique

We would all like to think that our product or... Read More

Value Based Pricing, Not Price Cutting

Special Requirements for Reprint: we ask only that you include... Read More

Top Seven Ways to Write An Order-Pulling Sales Letter

Ready to put your Web pages up? Ready to sell... Read More

How Can a White Paper Support Sales and Marketing?

A white paper supports PR, marketing and sales because it... Read More

Buying Mortgage Leads - Three Things to Consider

The time comes for all mortgage brokers and loan officers... Read More

An Introductino to Insurance Lead Generation

It is vital that insurance salespeople have a steady stream... Read More

9 Ways to Keep Clients Coming Back For More

A lot of effort is put into getting new clients.... Read More

The Trusted Advisor Relationship: What Is It, and What Should It Be?

For the past months, maybe a year, I've been hearing... Read More

How to Sell: Selling Tips of Master Moms

"If you don't think well of yourself, no one... Read More

Create a Magic Connection with Clients, Leads, and Business Associates Part II

Part I of this article explored how strategies of Neuro-Linguistic... Read More

Open Your Introduction With A Firecracker Moment

The number one requirement, whether you are a business owner... Read More

People Buy People So Sell On Relationships

(Objection handling tips excerpted from Objections! Objections! Objections!)People buy people.... Read More

Another Warm Lead

Saturday morning, I sat in my pajamas, sipping strong, black... Read More

Lead Generation Sins - 7 Of Them!

I really just don't get it.How can so many businesses... Read More

The Doors Of Opportunity

Alexander Graham Bell once said, "When one door closes another... Read More

How to Generate Leads on the Internet

In the last decade, the Internet has become a major... Read More

Creating Your Perfect Pitch!

Why should you describe your business to others in 5... Read More

Three Ways to Increase Mortgage Applications

If you are in the mortgage business, the very first... Read More

What Not To Do With Your Leads

Anyone that works in sales knows just how important it... Read More

Build & Protect Your Confidence

I can remember the first time that I had to... Read More

Cold Calling Reluctance

Most salespeople I know consider cold calling a dreadful, but... Read More

3 Ways To Sell and Have Fun Doing It

There are many ways to sell and have fun doing... Read More

Selling: an art of a skill?

Selling is as much an art as it is a... Read More