By Ian Ash
There is no doubt that selling these days is harder now than it ever used to be.
Competition is high and customers are now better informed, have access to the internet to compare products, prices and benefits and certainly don’t like to be sold to.
Yes, the days of ‘have I got a deal for you!’ are now long gone.
So the need for good salespeople is higher now than it has ever been, so what are the keys to sales success?
Here are my top five habits of great salespeople:
1. Focus on customer needs
Good salespeople understand how their company’s products and services solve customer problems. They can identify and empathise with their customers’ pain points and know why the solution their company can provide will help alleviate the pain. This does not happen by chance– great salespeople have great listening skills so they really get to know the issues that the customer is dealing with and hence can better articulate an appropriate solution.
2. Build effective relationships
Customers don’t always share their pain points openly for fear of this looking like a weakness, but they are more likely to be open when they are with someone they know, like and trust.
Often this cannot be achieved quickly, so great sales people will take their time to build rapport with their clients and will continue the relationship after the sale as well. This opens the way for further sales and also prevents a customer from feeling that they have been ‘sold to’.
3. Persistence
Probably a quality that applies to just about any worthwhile endeavour, it is certainly a requirement for effective selling. I can recall soon after I started my own business meeting up with a prospective client who seemed interested in using my services. I tried setting a date to start but he was busy so we agreed I would call back next week but yet again he did not have time to see me. To cut a long story short, after literally dozens of phone calls, we eventually started six months after the original contact, and he continued as a client for over seven years. Don’t give up!
4. Systemise the sales process
Whilst there are often many very good, people-oriented sales people, it is not unusual to find that money can be left on the table simply through lack of a good sales process. There are many facets to this, but the key ones are as follows:
* Define a sales plan – this documents the required strategies and tactics to show how revenue targets will be achieved. Comparison against previous years can help enormously.
* Review and update a sales pipeline – this is simply a list of (usually qualified) opportunities along with their prospective value, expected contract date and next actions. It can be used to calculate the sales conversion rate as well as ensure that opportunities don’t lapse.
* Use a CRM (customer relationship management) database – houses key information about customers and contacts and the business relationship with them.
5. Meet commitments
If a sales person fails to meet their commitments, this can send a very bad message about the company’s ability to deliver. So being open and honest about what is and is not possible is critical to the sale and the customer relationship long term. Once lost, trust can be hard to win back.
Ian Ash is the managing director of OrgMent Business Solutions – ombs.com.au
