As you know, no business can thrive without excellent sales strategies in place. Many successful business owners are great at selling their product, but have a hard time passing on their techniques and skills to their sales teams. Other executives are great leaders, but leave it to their employees to develop sales strategies and maximize their closing ratio. No matter what type of business leader you are, these strategies will help you and your sales team close more business.
1. Know your client
Sales and marketing often go hand-in-hand here. Understanding who your client is and what demographic you are reaching out to can help you create sales presentations and give information that is accessible to the customer. You certainly would not sell a child’s puzzle and a chiropractic visit in the same way, would you? So, be sure you really understand who you will be talking to.
2. Train your team
The huge difference between you, as a business owner, selling your product and a salesperson doing so is that you know the product inside and out. When a new sales team comes on board, they need to know and understand your product. The first step is to teach your team all that they need to know about your product. Have their manager walk new salespeople through your company, familiarizing them with every aspect of your product.
Many companies create training workshops for new team members so that they understand the entire company before they begin work. This can be an incredibly valuable experience for all new staff – not just your sales team.
3. Build a script
Once your sales team understands your company and product, it is time for them to follow in the footsteps of other successful salespeople. If you are the best salesperson in your company – while also being the owner – it’s time for you to write down your best practices and create a script for other salespeople to follow.
4. Consult your team’s understanding
No one wants to hear a salesperson read a script robotically at them, do they? That’s why, once your sales team has received their script, they must practice it over and over until they can deliver the information naturally – and answer any questions or sort out any off-script concerns.
5. Control the conversation
One of the reasons a usually successful script might fail is the salesperson allowed the conversation to get out of control. It is very easy to get off-topic in any sales environment and talk about the kids or the client’s newest growing pain. Teach your sales staff to control conversations.
One way to get staff better at controlling a conversation before they get in front of a customer is to have them go through dummy runs of the script with each other. One person acts as the salesperson and the other as the customer. The “customer” can try to throw off the salesperson and the salesperson’s job would be to gently and calmly bring the conversation back under control.
6. Provide truth and factual information
Salespeople want to please their clients. This can lead a salesperson to provide hyperbole or to talk up a product and make exaggerated claims. Teach your salespeople to only give facts. They may be great, fantastic facts that make your product ten times better than the competitions, but they must be true. A client with impossible expectations will not be happy with your product and may return it or give it a negative review.
7. Put the accent on observation skills
A successful salesperson is a listener and observer. Being able to see who is in front of you, ask questions and both listen to and understand the answers is incredibly important. Judging a person by appearance and not listening or observing other facts about that individual can ruin a sale. Make sure that your salespeople work on their observation skills and practice listening and taking in information. This will prove incredibly valuable to them as they sell.
8. Get experienced in handling price concerns
Price is a factor that gets brought up in most sales. Even if the potential customer makes plenty of money and can easily afford the product, the cost of your product or service is most likely going to be brought up as a sticking point. You, as the business owner, know this is not the real problem. Get your sales staff experienced in drilling down to the real reason the potential customer is concerned.
9. Make sure your prospect is qualified
There is a process called “qualifying your prospect”. During this time you find out if your potential customer can afford or even needs your services. This is why it is so important that your salespeople understand the demographic that needs your services and can observe the situation in front of them. For example, there is no need for your roofing company’s salesperson to go to apartments to talk about the renter’s roofing issues. These individuals are not qualified to buy your product. So, be sure that your salespeople both don’t dismiss potential customers off-hand, but also find out if a person is qualified at the beginning of the sales discussion.
10. Work with your team consistently to make them better
A salesperson can always become better at his or her job. They may be able to improve their customer relationships by using social media or email updates. They may learn new closing techniques that can help the whole team. There are many ways these individuals can get better at their jobs. Encourage your sales team to attend seminars, go to conferences, and read up on sales techniques. This can only help your company expand.
Is your company working hard to sell, but you aren’t getting the closing ratio you want? Contact us today to find out how to hone your team’s sales skills.
