Do you get anxious or lack confidence in your ability to sell yourself or your product? If so, then you’re right up there with about half of the people selling products on the market right now.

We aren’t all-natural born salespeople, but the good news is, it isn’t hard to learn to become confident in your ability to close the sale. That’s what most of selling is about — your confidence and attitude. People look for an easy answer, just do A, B, and C and bam! You can’t keep your shelves stocked.

There is no A, B, C, and bam, because selling is about not about what you sell, it’s about your attitude, your confidence, and meeting people at their level. You have to know what a person needs before you can sell it to them.

Like the Job

First and most importantly. You must like what you do. Some people hate sales but continue because it pays the bills. Their misery usually makes them minimally successful. Really good salespeople find their job exciting and fun. They rise to the challenge of closing a sale. They are confident they can convince anyone to buy their product. They are not discouraged by people saying no because they know that “yes” is coming.

If you don’t like selling it’s best to learn that ahead of time before it becomes a weight around your neck.

Know Your Product

Know everything there is to know about your product. How it’s made, who makes it, where it’s made. If your product is a service, know the service from end to end. Know the benefits of the product. If a prospective buyer asks you a question about your product and you don’t know the answer, they will find someone else who can answer it for them. Selling something without product knowledge is like trying to drive a car with a flat tire. You’ll slowly keep moving for a while, but at some point, you are going to grind to a stop.

Make it About Them

How many of your products offer descriptions? How many of those descriptions talk about what the product does without ever mentioning the benefit to the customer? If you expect buyers to give you their time and money, you need to know why they should buy it. Ask past customers why they purchased the product and find out if they liked it. If so, what did they like about it?

Check social media for comments and read product reviews. Read relevant blogs. When you know why people want and like your product you can work those reason into your proposition.

Find out what your potential buyers need. What problem do they need solved? Listen to their answers and address each concern relating how your product solves their problem.

In his book “You’ll Never Get No For An Answer, “ Jack Carew gives a strategy for putting the customer first and building the relationship. It’s called LAER. Listen, Acknowledge, Explore, Respond. Listening to what they say and acknowledging it makes people feel heard and validated. When you validate someone’s feelings, you begin to share an experience. Explore further to find any other pain points then respond by solving their dilemma.

He says “You will be able to say you have done your best at selling when you satisfy your customers’ needs on a steady and consistent basis. As a professional salesperson, you can’t satisfy those needs unless you know what they are and appreciate the person who has them.”

Always Be Selling

So, after all the convincing you tried to do, someone said no. They aren’t
interested. There is no point in trying to convince them further why they should be interested. That will only set off warning bells in their brain and bring up their defenses. Give them time and space to come to see they need your product on their own.

In the meantime, the next customer is only a click or a phone call away, and there is always email. Send off a few cold emails to some new prospects detailing how they would benefit from your product.

Be Honest and Friendly

Professional salespeople have integrity and are always truthful with their
customers. Don’t try to trick or push them into a sale or persuade them they need something they don’t. Your potential customer knows when something isn’t right for them, and if you try to sell it anyway you will lose the customer altogether. Be honest and agreeable. Tell them you agree it isn’t right for them, but you have something that might be better suited to their needs (if you do).

Build a rapport with your buyers. Be personable and sincere. It doesn’t have to be all business all the time.

Control the Supply

If you know your product, and you have made the pitch all about the customer, and you were honest and friendly, but your product or service is still sitting there without customers, make it exclusive.

Sometimes if you control the supply of your product and make it difficult to obtain it will increase in demand and therefore sales. You can also offer “for a limited time” deals. People want things they believe they will be unable to get in the future.

Make it Work for You

Effective salespeople don’t get discouraged by their mistakes or unmet sales quota. Instead, they seek ways to correct what went wrong. You can do this. Selling is a series of daily setbacks and personal triumphs. These ideas or strategies are only as good as you make them. Ultimately, you make the difference in the customer’s decision-making process. Sometimes the only thing different about the product being sold is the person selling it. Genuinely put customer interests above your own, it opens the door for communication, caring and responding.

Getting better at these skills is how you sell your products to anyone. It does take practice. Always be willing to grow and learn. If something you try doesn’t work, cast it out and reel in something new.

You can’t blame undesirable results on a bad product line, or a bad month, or poor leads. You have complete control of your destiny. Now, go out there and sell something.

References

• Brudner, E. (unk). How to Sell Anything to Anybody. Retrieved from Hubspot: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/how-to-sell-anything-to-anybody
• Carew, J. (1990). You’ll Never Get No For An Answer. Unk: Amazon.
• Connick, W. (2018, December 24). How to Sell Any Product. Retrieved from Careers: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-sell-any-product-2917619
• Roja, A. (2019, January 24). How to Sell Anything to Anyone (7 Creative Sales Techniques). Retrieved from Alejandro Roja: https://alejandrorioja.com/blog/how-to-sell/