Four Basic Things Every Person in Sales Needs to Do to Be Successful

Selling is a very detailed process. There are four basic things that every person in Sales needs to do to be successful. These four things are: belief in your products and services, knowing how to prospect/knowing your target market, knowing how to engage prospects and customers with a message that is compelling and the ability to persist in the face of rejection and knowing how to get past objections.

       1      Belief in your products and services

• Once you decide that you want to go into sales, you need to pick a product that you want to sell. The product should be something that you use yourself or if it is a technical product the product should be one that after doing some research that you could stand behind. When you make a sales presentation to a prospect, it is imperative that you believe in your product. Believing in your product means that you think it is the best on the market and that you would buy it. Belief in your product is key because your presentation will fail to impress the prospect if you do not. Believing in your product or service will enable you to speak about them enthusiastically. This will give you a chance to get the prospect excited.

        2    Knowing how to prospect and identifying your target market

• When you decide on the product and services you are going to sell, it is important to know who would a good fit for your offering. For example if you were selling Dental equipment like I was, you would look for Dental professionals in your sales territory, you would not call on other medical professionals and offices that do not have a need.
• Once you identify people who are a good fit for your products and services you need to obtain a prospecting list. This list should be created or generated by zip code and should include the names and the addresses of businesses in your area.
• Once you have this list, you should develop a sales plan that determines: how many calls you will make per day and the specific businesses you will call on and how often you will see them. For example, I would call on customers and prospects every two to three weeks.
• Knowing how to get past the gate-keeper and finding the decision maker

        3  Knowing how to engage prospects and customers with a message that is compelling     

           In order to engage prospects and customers with a message that compelling it is important you have the following:   

• Build rapport with prospect when you call on them and get to know their needs
• Develop and maintain a strong knowledge of your products
• Develop and maintain a strong knowledge of your competitors
• Know what areas your company beats them and what areas they beat you and develop a selling strategy based on this
• Know current trends and happenings in your industry these details can be obtained by attending trade shows and reading industry trade magazines.

        4 The ability to persist in the face of rejection/Knowing how to get past objections

• In selling you will face a lot rejection. I was selling in New York City where I was thrown out of offices and told to not go back to certain places. Rejection is tough to take at first but it is important to keep in mind that the prospect is rejecting your product offerings and not you.
• In order to succeed you need to keep making calls and keep a stiff upper lip.
• Getting past objections.
• It is important to know what customers true objections are to uncover what motivates them to buy.
• Objections in many cases are buying signals because if you do not get asked any questions  by a prospect, it means they are not interested.

          These are the four basic skills you need to be successful in sales. I will be covering these skills in more detail in later posts.

          Please send me your questions so I can start my ask Dan section. The next post will cover the basics of marketing products and services.

          Until then, thank you for reading!