 Selling is the lifeblood of business, and a good sales team will make a massive difference to your bottom line. Selling is a learned skill that can be improved with constant practise. Here are six selling tips we commonly use to make many business boom.
Steve Jensen
Steve is the CEO of Impact Training Corporation
and the National Sales Academy.
Find The Right People
Constantly be on the lookout for people who have the potential to make good sales people, even if a position is not currently available in your company. Happy, friendly, approachable people should top your most-wanted list because job skills can be taught, but personality and attitude cannot. Other qualities include honesty, good work ethic, enthusiasm and an ability to show initiative and be self-motivated.
Your existing staff members are a good place to start looking for potential candidates. Include job advertisements with their pay slips or display a notice in your staff room. The advantage of recruiting internally is that you don't have to worry about whether they will fit into your club culture and the way you do business.
Train Your Team
'It is more expensive not to train your people and have them stay, than to train your people and have them leave.' Zig Ziglar
All staff, not just your sales team, should know about the eight-step selling cycle: prospecting, initial contact, qualification, the tour/explanation, price presentation, overcoming objections, closing the sale and referrals.
When people understand the big picture of a business they feel pride in their knowledge and are more likely to become informed advocates for your company. Also, have your sales staff tour and present to other staff, and have the other staff educate the sales people about their roles; when people experience other job roles first hand, they develop a healthy respect for each other and are more willing to work as a cohesive team.
After any type of workshop training or seminar, continual reinforcement is the major catalyst to ensure the new sales techniques and strategies are implemented. To make any training effective, it must be implemented and reinforced in an ongoing process by senior staff and management.
Establish Commonality
Finding something in common in the first two minutes of conversation will increase the probability of a sale, because the prospect will open up to you and tell you the truth. Many sales people say they understand how to create commonality, but when you take a good look at most sales professionals in action, this skill is done poorly, with commonality not really being established sufficiently.
Sales people who are able to master this skill and combine it with a sales process are usually more successful and have the highest closing rates. An easy rule to follow is to make commonality a priority. This will assist in creating massive rapport with the prospect and once massive rapport is established, the prospect will buy from you easily.
Always Qualification Strongly
The number one motivator of human behaviour is to avoid pain and move towards pleasure. So, once the prospect has told the sales person their pain, and the product or service will be the solution, then the sale will usually occur. A great question to use after the problem has been established is "How good will it be once (solution) has been achieved?" Listen to the response and then ask, "How would you feel in comparison if everything stayed the same?" Listen again, then say "Don't worry! By (using your product or service) you will be well on the way to rectifying the problem." This can only be done successfully if massive rapport has been established. Qualification is responsible for the success of approximately 80% to 90% of every sale.
Give the Client What They Want
Remember to always give the client what they want. Many sales are lost because the sales person thought they knew best. Instead, listen to what your prospect tells you, then tailor each tour or explanation of your product or service to give them a personalised solution. Every purchase is an attempt by the prospect to find a solution to their problem. If a person comes to a club and, after rapport is established, they tell you they want to loose weight because they think they are too large for their liking, all you need to ensure is that they really want the result, and then show them how your club will help them achieve that solution. By solving their problem you are giving the prospect what they want, and naturally, they will buy. The tour of the club will make or break your sale if the prospect has been qualified.
Ask For the Business
Sixty eight per cent of sales are not made because they are not asked for. Time and time again sales are lost because the sales person is uncomfortable about asking for the sale, because they fear rejection. If everything else has been done well, then closing the sale should be a natural progression in the conversation. One easy thing to do to increase closing rates, is to test the close throughout your presentation. This is done by asking questions to test the "buy temperature". The more small agreements you receive along the way, the easier it will be for the prospect to make a larger decision later on. And the more specific you make a test close, the more effective it will be; for example, many people use the test close "Can you see yourself training here?" However, this is not effective because it is not tailored, nor specific. To improve this test close make it specific, such as, "So Christine, can you see yourself working with your trainer at the club to reduce weight around your tummy and thighs, so you're ready for your holiday in December? How good is that going to be?"
The plain fact is, closing is done by just asking a few questions once the solution has been presented. When closing the sale, always give the prospect two options to buy as this will increase your success. Use alternative choice questions like "So,which program are you leaning more towards? Is it the (A program) or the (B program)?" and then ask for the sale. Never ask them to pay, as this will move the prospect towards logical thought, which can evoke objections. Instead, always ask the prospect to "Fix it that up", "Take care of that" or "Look after that" and again, during this process also give them two options. "How would you like to take care of that? Cheque or savings?" The complete closing should be practiced daily and must be second nature for a sales person to perform well consistently.
So, the complete closing sequence would go like this:
"So John, which program are you leaning more towards? Is it the A program or is it the B?" Wait for the decision then say "Great! All we need to do now is fix up a little but of paperwork to get you ready for your holiday in December. So John, how do want to take care of that? Is it cheque or savings?" Listen, and when they say "savings" you then reply "So it's savings is it?" They will then say "yes", and you would continue by saying "Ok, I'll take care of that now and let's get you ready for your trip! Are you excited?"
Always conclude the conversation by returning to the pleasure they want, as this will have the prospect thinking emotionally, which increases the probability of the sale and reduces the possibility of receiving an objection.
Selling is a skill that can be learned and needs practice daily. To maximise any businesses income potential it is necessary to learn all the basic selling skills and perform them well. Become a continuous student in the art of sales and communication, and watch your sales skyrocket!
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