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If you want to make selling easier for you in 2013, my recommendation is to focus on some of the soft skills which make selling easy rather than the deceitful and manipulative tricks that you get in many sales books.
These soft skills are actually life skills and they are all learnable. I know this because I had to learn them and continue working on them to this day! And the great thing is you can use everyday life as a teacher.
Hiring sales people can be a risky business, even for large companies with sophisticated recruitment processes, let alone a smaller business run by an accidental sales person with no background in sales management. Hiring a good sales person can be one of the best things you do for your business but equally it can turn out to be an expensive mistake and the source of a lot of heartache. Here are 7 of the biggest mistakes to avoid:
Mistake # 1 - Assuming all sales people can sell
When I first began as an accidental salesman over 15 years ago I quickly discovered that my communication and influencing skills were lacking.
Don’t get me wrong, I could get on with people but found it all a little awkward, especially meeting new people and knowing what to say and what not to say!
I soon discovered that developing communication skills is probably one of the most important things that we can do to boost our sales results.
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‘Make Customers Love Your Marketing' is a short e-book packed full of tips on how to use your marketing to improve relationships with your clients.
Well worth a read.
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sales time management can be difficult, especially for an accidental sales person juggling sales activity with running a business, and delivering services.
How can we become more productive and create more time for vital sales activity, especially when we are busy with client work?
In this recording, leading productivity expert Richard Maybury explains how to better manage our time and maximise the results we get from each and every day. You may want to listen to this more than once. If you get a chance then take notes.
A question I get asked a lot is how to hire a salesperson who does not end up being an expensive mistake. This is an area area many accidental sales people waste a lot of time, money, and emototional heartache on. It's a great idea in theory but unless you have realistic expectations it can be more trouble than it's worth.
What is procrastination costing you? Leads? Clients? Sales? Procrastinating on generating leads, following up or even closing can be a costly habit in sales. So it might be worth finding out what's behind procrastination and what can we do about it.
Many times when I am coaching someone on their business proposition I find that they are missing massive opportunities whilst pursuing a line of business that they are struggling to sell. I tell them of a story called 'Acre of Diamonds' which makes the point very nicely and gets them to focus more on what they REALLY should be selling.
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Dexter Moscow is a leading expert in how to make an effective sales presentation. For the last 11 years Dexter has been a freelance presenter for QVC The TV Shopping Channel appearing live and selling a myriad of different products. Dexter also trains other QVC presenters in how to craft their pitch and he trains regular sales teams in how to present to win.
After you have read a few sales books and have attended a sales training or two you think you know the score. Get a USP, focus on the benefits of your product and service and remember that people don't like to be sold to but they do like to buy. Just because everyone is saying it does not make it true.
In this recording, Grant Leboff explains why traditional sales thinking can hold back your success and how to think about sales interactions in a way that will increase your sales results.
