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Over the past few weeks, I've been very fortunate to have some great conversations with fellow forum members about the topic of sales. A few people here reached out to me for advice on sales as they know my Slowlane job is in sales. I wanted to take a little bit of time to throw together a Beginner's Guide to sales for people who have never had any significant experience. Also, I'll open this up to an AMA on sales techniques and approaches.
Disclaimer:
I am not claiming to be THE expert in sales and have every answer, but I will do my best to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge and experience. I have spent the past 5 years working in the Pharmaceutical industry in field sales. In the past year I was given a secondary position as a field trainer, responsible for the entire Southeast US. I train new hires, managers, as well as tenured reps. I also have about 5 years experience in retail commission sales prior to this.
Sales is one of the most valuable and important skills you can have
There it is, my polarizing statement. It has been said by entrepreneurs more successful than I, that sales is one of the most important functions and skills you can have to run your business. I will cite both Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as well as Ready, Fire, Aim as my back up. Of course, if you're building an SaaS platform, a website or app, you need the technical and design skills to create the product, but what next? You're a great author and want to publish your book, you know this has Pulitzer written all over it. Ok, you launch to crickets. Why? Because its the New York Times best SELLER list, not best Author list.
At the end of the day, you need to get your product to people, business, enterprise, who ever you're selling to and they need to make the decision to buy. At the end of the day, that is the foundation of every business. Yes, you need to provide value and that alone will lead to some movement, but even the most valuable products and services need sales to drive business.
How to start selling
When you boil it down to its bare roots, sales is a conversation. This conversation can either happen via email, in person, over the phone, through a video presentation, written copy or advertising. Whether your product needs to have some or all of these elements to drive sales is up to you as an entrepreneur. The most important factor is to start.
Cold Calling: We have some great fastlaners here that excel and thrive in the cold calling world. Cold Calling is one of the quickest ways to get over your fear of rejection. If you’re running a Cold Calling campaign, expect to be told no 1,000’s of times. After that first 100 times, it suddenly wont matter and you will not fear it.
In person sales: Whether you are doing door to door sales, following up warm leads, or networking at events, this is my favorite form of sales. Lots of factors come into play here: Body language, tone, and instant feedback. Body language plays a big role in conversation, so if this is a week point, study up on it. I have seen several sales pitches crash and burn because a rep did not interpret the customer’s body language.
Online Sales: Get your landing page and copy up and running! There’s no excuse to avoid this type of sales. Copywriting is only a form of sales. A great tool to have is an FAQ. FAQ’s aren’t there to answer dumb questions, they’re there to overcome objections. After you’ve spoken with enough customers, you should know what objections they have over your product, answer them in your FAQ! This will already cover all their fears.
The Pitch
I am a fan of being straight to the point and being succinct. People have very short attention spans and if you want to tell your life story, your product’s life story, and every feature and benefit (that they may or may not want), you’re going to watch their eyes glaze over. You never want to talk for more than 30 seconds, you’ll lose them after this.
Control the conversation. I get it, you’re excited, you love your product, they should too, right? This is a problem I routinely have and have to be hyper focused on during a sales call. I want to tell you EVERYTHING. You should let your customers do the 75% of the talking. I’m going to steal a line from my old employer Verizon. Earn the Right. At the end of your pitch, you need to earn the right to close the sale. How? Your recommendation needs to have a foundation to stand on and you build that foundation one brick at a time by LISTENING to your customer.
Ask questions. This is one of the most important parts of sales and often over looked. Play stupid, stroke their egos. “Hey Mr Smith, you’re obviously the expert on widgets, can you tell me what some of the common problems you run into when installing widgets?” You’ll get their life story about widgets. And if you pick up on the conversation, you’ll find opportunities to tie your sale back into. “Suzy, what do you typically look for when buying a new back pack?” Suzy says, “Well I use my packs primarily for hiking, so I need them to be comfortable. A lot of packs are comfortable, but most don’t focus on lower back support, and the ones that do are always so boring and bland” Here’s what the final pitch looks like just from that sentence, “Well Suzy, I know you need a great pack to take on your next hike, here’s why I think the Hiker 5000 is the best option for you. You said that comfort is your number one priority, these cushions here feel great after those 20 miles, plus they’re breathable too. Also, we focus on back support which you said is important too. Oh, and did I forget to mention, we have a fully customizable pattern, no more bland packs for you!”
Objections
You will not close every sale, but you can do your best to find out why they wont buy. Every person has objections when looking at a product or service. The problem is, many people won’t tell you. Worse off, they use what’s called a “smoke screen”. Smoke screens are generic objections like “Oh I don’t need a new one right now” or “I’d buy it if it wasn’t so expensive”. What you’re seeing here is that you did not sell them on the benefits well enough.
An easy way to overcome these objections is to probe deeper. My favorite probe is, “Mr Smith, lets pretend that cost isn’t a factor right now, what else would hold you back from XYZ?” Take their objection off the table and pretend like it doesn’t exist. A lot of times this is enough to get the real reason out. You need to follow the age old WIIFM, whats in it for me. Customers need to know how this benefits them. And many times you need to show them the benefits outweigh their worries of cost, difficulty, interruption, or complacency.
Over time you will naturally see objections surface during your sales pitches if you’re doing face to face, email or phone marketing. The best course is to follow the above guidance, to dig deeper into the conversation, ask questions and get these out of the way early.
Coffee is for Closers
Ok, great, you survived the sales pitch, now its time to get their money! Not so fast. The close is still a very delicate part of the sale that can make or break you. Here are my favorite types of closing techniques.
Presumptive Close: Proceed as if you already got the yes. This can look something like “I’m glad you like the Hiker 5000 Suzy, lets get this bad boy ready for hiking season. What’s a good shipping address” This gets the buyer in the mindset that they’re ready to buy. But be warned, if your pitch was not solid or you didn’t overcome all objections, you will get some bad feedback on this.
Soft Close: Ask permission here. “Mr Smith, we’ve talked about how our new ABC widget will improve your business, would you like to order 20 for next week?” It’s a passive type closing, but you’re asking permission. This one works well, if you use the next type of close early on.
Trial closes: These will help you get to that soft close above. Throughout the conversation throw in little questions like “Does that sound good to you?” Always use yes or no questions. “Does this sound like it will be a benefit to your company?” If you get yes, you move on one step closer to the soft close. If you get a no, circle back and ask why, this is an objection moment.
Hard close: This is only to be used when proper rapport is established. Never use this close on a first time sales pitch. This is your “sympathy close” or “scratch my back, Ill scratch yours” close. “Mr Smith, you’ve been a great customer to us over the years, but I’ve noticed you haven’t ordered any widgets since November, lets place an order for you with a 20% discount” or “John, this month has been really rough for us and partner is breathing down my neck, could you do us a favor and order 5 more next week?” It works, but do NOT abuse this or use it without rapport.
This enough for now, I’ll include some more sales techniques over the next few days. I hope this can help some of you.
Disclaimer:
I am not claiming to be THE expert in sales and have every answer, but I will do my best to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge and experience. I have spent the past 5 years working in the Pharmaceutical industry in field sales. In the past year I was given a secondary position as a field trainer, responsible for the entire Southeast US. I train new hires, managers, as well as tenured reps. I also have about 5 years experience in retail commission sales prior to this.
Sales is one of the most valuable and important skills you can have
There it is, my polarizing statement. It has been said by entrepreneurs more successful than I, that sales is one of the most important functions and skills you can have to run your business. I will cite both Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as well as Ready, Fire, Aim as my back up. Of course, if you're building an SaaS platform, a website or app, you need the technical and design skills to create the product, but what next? You're a great author and want to publish your book, you know this has Pulitzer written all over it. Ok, you launch to crickets. Why? Because its the New York Times best SELLER list, not best Author list.
At the end of the day, you need to get your product to people, business, enterprise, who ever you're selling to and they need to make the decision to buy. At the end of the day, that is the foundation of every business. Yes, you need to provide value and that alone will lead to some movement, but even the most valuable products and services need sales to drive business.
How to start selling
When you boil it down to its bare roots, sales is a conversation. This conversation can either happen via email, in person, over the phone, through a video presentation, written copy or advertising. Whether your product needs to have some or all of these elements to drive sales is up to you as an entrepreneur. The most important factor is to start.
Cold Calling: We have some great fastlaners here that excel and thrive in the cold calling world. Cold Calling is one of the quickest ways to get over your fear of rejection. If you’re running a Cold Calling campaign, expect to be told no 1,000’s of times. After that first 100 times, it suddenly wont matter and you will not fear it.
In person sales: Whether you are doing door to door sales, following up warm leads, or networking at events, this is my favorite form of sales. Lots of factors come into play here: Body language, tone, and instant feedback. Body language plays a big role in conversation, so if this is a week point, study up on it. I have seen several sales pitches crash and burn because a rep did not interpret the customer’s body language.
Online Sales: Get your landing page and copy up and running! There’s no excuse to avoid this type of sales. Copywriting is only a form of sales. A great tool to have is an FAQ. FAQ’s aren’t there to answer dumb questions, they’re there to overcome objections. After you’ve spoken with enough customers, you should know what objections they have over your product, answer them in your FAQ! This will already cover all their fears.
The Pitch
I am a fan of being straight to the point and being succinct. People have very short attention spans and if you want to tell your life story, your product’s life story, and every feature and benefit (that they may or may not want), you’re going to watch their eyes glaze over. You never want to talk for more than 30 seconds, you’ll lose them after this.
Control the conversation. I get it, you’re excited, you love your product, they should too, right? This is a problem I routinely have and have to be hyper focused on during a sales call. I want to tell you EVERYTHING. You should let your customers do the 75% of the talking. I’m going to steal a line from my old employer Verizon. Earn the Right. At the end of your pitch, you need to earn the right to close the sale. How? Your recommendation needs to have a foundation to stand on and you build that foundation one brick at a time by LISTENING to your customer.
Ask questions. This is one of the most important parts of sales and often over looked. Play stupid, stroke their egos. “Hey Mr Smith, you’re obviously the expert on widgets, can you tell me what some of the common problems you run into when installing widgets?” You’ll get their life story about widgets. And if you pick up on the conversation, you’ll find opportunities to tie your sale back into. “Suzy, what do you typically look for when buying a new back pack?” Suzy says, “Well I use my packs primarily for hiking, so I need them to be comfortable. A lot of packs are comfortable, but most don’t focus on lower back support, and the ones that do are always so boring and bland” Here’s what the final pitch looks like just from that sentence, “Well Suzy, I know you need a great pack to take on your next hike, here’s why I think the Hiker 5000 is the best option for you. You said that comfort is your number one priority, these cushions here feel great after those 20 miles, plus they’re breathable too. Also, we focus on back support which you said is important too. Oh, and did I forget to mention, we have a fully customizable pattern, no more bland packs for you!”
Objections
You will not close every sale, but you can do your best to find out why they wont buy. Every person has objections when looking at a product or service. The problem is, many people won’t tell you. Worse off, they use what’s called a “smoke screen”. Smoke screens are generic objections like “Oh I don’t need a new one right now” or “I’d buy it if it wasn’t so expensive”. What you’re seeing here is that you did not sell them on the benefits well enough.
An easy way to overcome these objections is to probe deeper. My favorite probe is, “Mr Smith, lets pretend that cost isn’t a factor right now, what else would hold you back from XYZ?” Take their objection off the table and pretend like it doesn’t exist. A lot of times this is enough to get the real reason out. You need to follow the age old WIIFM, whats in it for me. Customers need to know how this benefits them. And many times you need to show them the benefits outweigh their worries of cost, difficulty, interruption, or complacency.
Over time you will naturally see objections surface during your sales pitches if you’re doing face to face, email or phone marketing. The best course is to follow the above guidance, to dig deeper into the conversation, ask questions and get these out of the way early.
Coffee is for Closers
Ok, great, you survived the sales pitch, now its time to get their money! Not so fast. The close is still a very delicate part of the sale that can make or break you. Here are my favorite types of closing techniques.
Presumptive Close: Proceed as if you already got the yes. This can look something like “I’m glad you like the Hiker 5000 Suzy, lets get this bad boy ready for hiking season. What’s a good shipping address” This gets the buyer in the mindset that they’re ready to buy. But be warned, if your pitch was not solid or you didn’t overcome all objections, you will get some bad feedback on this.
Soft Close: Ask permission here. “Mr Smith, we’ve talked about how our new ABC widget will improve your business, would you like to order 20 for next week?” It’s a passive type closing, but you’re asking permission. This one works well, if you use the next type of close early on.
Trial closes: These will help you get to that soft close above. Throughout the conversation throw in little questions like “Does that sound good to you?” Always use yes or no questions. “Does this sound like it will be a benefit to your company?” If you get yes, you move on one step closer to the soft close. If you get a no, circle back and ask why, this is an objection moment.
Hard close: This is only to be used when proper rapport is established. Never use this close on a first time sales pitch. This is your “sympathy close” or “scratch my back, Ill scratch yours” close. “Mr Smith, you’ve been a great customer to us over the years, but I’ve noticed you haven’t ordered any widgets since November, lets place an order for you with a 20% discount” or “John, this month has been really rough for us and partner is breathing down my neck, could you do us a favor and order 5 more next week?” It works, but do NOT abuse this or use it without rapport.
This enough for now, I’ll include some more sales techniques over the next few days. I hope this can help some of you.
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