Successful Sales and Marketing

Do you exceed your sales target every month? Do you close nearly all your conversations? Are colleagues jealous of your commission? If not then you could benefit from Sales Training.



Here are 7 tips for successful selling which you can use to improve your sales figures right now.



1. Identify Potential Customers

You need to identify potential customers. This is the same whether selling in a shop or over the phone. Questions regarding how the product or service will work for the customer should be picked up on. Questions like "Will this printer work with my computer?", "Do you have them in blue?", "Can you deliver it tomorrow?" are all buying signals.



2. Preparation

Preparation is vital in sales, and the old saying "fail to prepare, prepare to fail" should be remembered. Product knowledge and an awareness of the market and competitors are essential.



3. Effective Communication

As a sales person, you need to communicate effectively by listening to the customer's needs, asking the right questions and looking for buying signals. Customers may not know the technical terms or latest product or brand names, but this doesn't mean that they don't know what they want.



4. How and why people buy

Knowing how and why people buy will ensure that you use the right sales techniques with the right sort of products and people. People buy out of desire or necessity. Your approach to selling a plasma TV to a young professional couple will differ from selling plumbing services to somebody with a flooded kitchen.



5. Establishing customer needs

Customers buy for different reasons. Some people need to have the latest products; others only buy when they can't repair or make do with what they have already. Just because somebody is not the typical buyer of the product, doesn't mean the product isn't right for them.



6. Objection handling

Objection handling is the process of dealing with potential customers who give reasons not to buy at this time. The product might not be what they want or need, the price is not right, or they might need to compare other products or suppliers before deciding. An objection can be a very strong buying signal - it is the only reason they are not buying right now.



More questioning to ensure that you have fully understood their product requirements or budget may be necessary. Perhaps the customer hasn't fully understood all the features and benefits of the product or service, or wants more information.



7. Closing the sale

Some sales people don't identify buying signals, and miss out on sales. Make sure you ask questions to encourage buying signals. "Would you like to order today?", "Do you prefer the red one or the blue one". However, trying to close too early on in the sales process can put a customer off.



As a successful sales person, especially in a retail or telesales environment you will need to be able to cross sell and upsell. Cross selling is selling items such as batteries for electrical devices, warranties, and accessories. Upselling involves convincing the buyer to spend a little bit more money to get a better or more suitable product.



If you are an employer why not offer sales training or telesales training to your sales team? If you are a sales person why not ask your boss for sales training to make you even more successful?






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