How to find customers and make a sale
Why its important to actively sell
When you’re trying to promote your business it can be hard to know where to spend your time and effort. One thing’s certain however, and that’s you need some paying customers. In the early days there’s nothing like direct selling: using what selling skills you have, or the selling techniques you’ve picked up so far. Getting out and talking to people about your business is the best way to see how people react, and to establish the most effective way to make a sale.
Selling for the inexperienced seller
Being willing to talk to people is something you’ll have to do, via the phone or face to face. Just remember that the more direct selling you do, the easier the selling process becomes. It’s often true that people prefer to do business with real people rather than faceless corporations. It also seems to be that the more visible you are, the more it will show customers that you’re serious about your business, and the more confident people will feel doing business with you.
Unless you have honed your selling skills and selling techniques with a lot of practice you should expect these first few sales calls to be a disaster, so make sure you practice on some smaller prospects first! Looking ahead, you will need to make a decision whether you are going to do the direct selling, whether you’re going to employ a dedicated trained sales resource, or whether you might decide to use one of the many telemarketing companies who offer sales advice and telemarketing services. For help in deciding what your sales strategies should be, see our article Choosing and managing your sales channels.
7 Tips for successful selling
If you want some basic sales tips on selling techniques and how to find good sales prospects, try these 7 top tips on selling:
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Sales Tip 1: Find the right customer
Speak to the companies or individuals who are most likely to do business with you. If you’re a new business there’s no point chasing large corporations or PLCs for business unless you have something very specific for that market, and have the infrastructure in place to provide the level of service and support they would expect. Similarly, if you're selling to a consumer market make sure you have the right image if you're pitching high-end luxury products to high wealth individuals, and the right experience and service levels to carry it off.
-
Sales Tip 2: Sell the benefits not the features
Put yourself in your prospective customers’ shoes. Why would they be interested in what you do? What has your product or service got to offer them? What are the benefits to them of using it? And if you’re selling to businesses, find out about the companies and industries you’re going to approach. Use online research, your local library research resources and get company reports. How is their industry going? What new challenges are they facing? How could your company help them with that? Who are their current suppliers? How are you better than their current suppliers? The answer to all these questions should help shape and refine your sales approach.
-
Sales Tip 3: Let them know what they'll be missing
Sell in the negative: Rather than promoting the benefits of your product or service, it can be very effective if you convey what people will be missing out on if they don’t buy from you. It’s human nature for people to worry about what they’re losing out on, or haven’t got, rather than what they have got. You’re playing on personal or corporate insecurities here, and it’s a very powerful message.
-
Sales Tip 4: Convey genuine enthusiasm for your products
Make yourself sound happy and energised. Standing up while you’re talking really does work! The people you speak to, from receptionist to decision maker, will pick up on your positive approach within the first few seconds of the call. One word of warning though: don’t overdo the ‘friendly’ patter as it wastes time – see tip 5 below.
-
Sales Tip 5: Take the route of least resistance
Start at the top and work your way down. You can often shorten the decision- making cycle by going straight in at the top of an organisation. If you convince the CEO or MD it’s a good idea, it’s a great endorsement and should ease your way through the rest of the organisation.
-
Sales Tip 6: Don't waste people's time
Don’t waste people’s time. Most people in business are very busy so when you’re speaking to them, whether it’s on the phone or face to face, don’t waste their time, just get straight to point. Whatever the economic climate, the key drivers for any business have not changed: people will be interested in what will save them time or money, so you need to convey how your services or product delivers one or preferably both of these.
-
Sales Tip 7: Learn to know when it's not a good deal for you
Don’t be afraid to walk away. Some people play hard to get, that’s par for the course, and you should expect to work hard to win good business. However if it’s proving impossible to contact someone after several attempts, move on to the next prospect - after all, time is money. It’s also important to have a feel for which people may prove to be a difficult customer once you do win their business. Be prepared to walk away from these too, as sometimes it’s best to just move on to someone who would be far easier and/or more profitable to do business with.
If you need professional sales and business development services try Directemark. Its consultants have more than 20 years, or 10,000 hours, of experience in business development for a wide range of industries and organisations.
How to find customers and make a sale
Why its important to actively sell
When you’re trying to promote your business it can be hard to know where to spend your time and effort. One thing’s certain however, and that’s you need some paying customers. In the early days there’s nothing like direct selling: using what selling skills you have, or the selling techniques you’ve picked up so far. Getting out and talking to people about your business is the best way to see how people react, and to establish the most effective way to make a sale.
Selling for the inexperienced seller
Being willing to talk to people is something you’ll have to do, via the phone or face to face. Just remember that the more direct selling you do, the easier the selling process becomes. It’s often true that people prefer to do business with real people rather than faceless corporations. It also seems to be that the more visible you are, the more it will show customers that you’re serious about your business, and the more confident people will feel doing business with you.
Unless you have honed your selling skills and selling techniques with a lot of practice you should expect these first few sales calls to be a disaster, so make sure you practice on some smaller prospects first! Looking ahead, you will need to make a decision whether you are going to do the direct selling, whether you’re going to employ a dedicated trained sales resource, or whether you might decide to use one of the many telemarketing companies who offer sales advice and telemarketing services. For help in deciding what your sales strategies should be, see our article Choosing and managing your sales channels.
7 Tips for successful selling
If you want some basic sales tips on selling techniques and how to find good sales prospects, try these 7 top tips on selling:
-
Sales Tip 1: Find the right customer
Speak to the companies or individuals who are most likely to do business with you. If you’re a new business there’s no point chasing large corporations or PLCs for business unless you have something very specific for that market, and have the infrastructure in place to provide the level of service and support they would expect. Similarly, if you're selling to a consumer market make sure you have the right image if you're pitching high-end luxury products to high wealth individuals, and the right experience and service levels to carry it off.
-
Sales Tip 2: Sell the benefits not the features
Put yourself in your prospective customers’ shoes. Why would they be interested in what you do? What has your product or service got to offer them? What are the benefits to them of using it? And if you’re selling to businesses, find out about the companies and industries you’re going to approach. Use online research, your local library research resources and get company reports. How is their industry going? What new challenges are they facing? How could your company help them with that? Who are their current suppliers? How are you better than their current suppliers? The answer to all these questions should help shape and refine your sales approach.
-
Sales Tip 3: Let them know what they'll be missing
Sell in the negative: Rather than promoting the benefits of your product or service, it can be very effective if you convey what people will be missing out on if they don’t buy from you. It’s human nature for people to worry about what they’re losing out on, or haven’t got, rather than what they have got. You’re playing on personal or corporate insecurities here, and it’s a very powerful message.
-
Sales Tip 4: Convey genuine enthusiasm for your products
Make yourself sound happy and energised. Standing up while you’re talking really does work! The people you speak to, from receptionist to decision maker, will pick up on your positive approach within the first few seconds of the call. One word of warning though: don’t overdo the ‘friendly’ patter as it wastes time – see tip 5 below.
-
Sales Tip 5: Take the route of least resistance
Start at the top and work your way down. You can often shorten the decision- making cycle by going straight in at the top of an organisation. If you convince the CEO or MD it’s a good idea, it’s a great endorsement and should ease your way through the rest of the organisation.
-
Sales Tip 6: Don't waste people's time
Don’t waste people’s time. Most people in business are very busy so when you’re speaking to them, whether it’s on the phone or face to face, don’t waste their time, just get straight to point. Whatever the economic climate, the key drivers for any business have not changed: people will be interested in what will save them time or money, so you need to convey how your services or product delivers one or preferably both of these.
-
Sales Tip 7: Learn to know when it's not a good deal for you
Don’t be afraid to walk away. Some people play hard to get, that’s par for the course, and you should expect to work hard to win good business. However if it’s proving impossible to contact someone after several attempts, move on to the next prospect - after all, time is money. It’s also important to have a feel for which people may prove to be a difficult customer once you do win their business. Be prepared to walk away from these too, as sometimes it’s best to just move on to someone who would be far easier and/or more profitable to do business with.
If you need professional sales and business development services try Directemark. Its consultants have more than 20 years, or 10,000 hours, of experience in business development for a wide range of industries and organisations.
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