Selling skills
The flow of a business meeting
- Preparation
- Introduction - 50/50 communication
- Finding out Needs - 80/20 communication - we talk 20% of the time, asking questions (how much, why, when). Potential customer talks 80 % of the time.
- Offer - 20/80 communication - we talk 80% of the time, presenting our product, but don't make it a monologue. We ask questions and let the customer speak at least 20 % of the time to fit our offer for their needs
- Objections - 50/50
- Conclusion
- Analysis
22 great ways to become a sales superstar
These ideas were carefully selected by questioning hundreds of the most successful salesmen in the world and asking them to define how exactly they sell and what led them to their huge success.
Try to work on one of these rules the whole day, a week or even a month. Don't try to work on all of them at once, because then you will not work on any of them.
1. Cause and effect rule
If you want a certain effect, find someone who already has it, find out what he did to get it, and then do what he did until you get the same effect ( result).
2. I like myself
A successful person likes himself and is confident. Talk to yourself every day that you like yourself because then you can also like other people more, and since you like them, they will like you and want to work with you. The more you like yourself, the better you do. The better you do, the more you like yourself :-)
3. I am the best
Be ambitious - set high goals and decide to be the best in your field. And do everything you can to make it happen. Every successful person started out at the very end of the line, but DECIDED to become the best and HELD ON in his endeavor.
4. I can do it
Have the courage to overcome fear of rejection and criticism. Everyone is afraid, but courageous people confront their fears, and they do so until they are fearless. If you don't do what you fear, fear will control your life. Do something every day that you are afraid of or something that is unpleasant if it leads to success. Fear is nothing but the idea that we can't do it. Let's exchange this idea with the idea that we can do it.
5. I love my job
Commitment - believe and be sure that our "product" is the best they can do for themselves. "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
6. I am what I say that I am
Professionalism - people believe me to be what I say about myself. For example, I want to give them advice and to help them. People take you as you introduce yourself: ("Thank you, Mr. XY, for your time, sit still, I'm not going to sell you anything or lure you. I will ask a few questions to see if this opportunity is for you and how cooperation with us could help you, and I will then give you the information you need to make a decision.")
7. Preparation
Prepare every detail for a phone call and meeting:
a) survey before the call - on the internet, find out as much as possible about the client
b) The goal of the call - plan in detail who I am going to call/meet, what I am going to ask and what result I expect from it
c) Analysis after the call - write down as much information as I can as soon as the phone has been hung up. When I go to the client again, I just read it and immediately know all the details. It looks very professional.
8. Ongoing Education
The best salespeople are the ones who have learnt the most.
a) get up one hour earlier each morning and read anything about selling for one hour. Then practice what you learned for the whole day. You'll be ahead of most of the others.
b) Always have audio-video recordings playing when you travel by car/bus
c) attend all sales seminars that you can
9. Responsibility
Accept 100% responsibility for your life. Act as if you owned the company. Act as if you invented it yourself and if you don't like something, do something for a change.
10. AIDA model
The process of sales:
Attention - to get the attention of a person. Everyone is busy today, so he has to hear a specific thing that will interest him so much that he will listen to you.
Interest - demonstration and explanation of our service functioning (how it works)
Desire - explain what it will bring (benefit) and if he wants it very much, every price will be low. If he needs to think about it, the benefit is not interesting enough for him.
Action - the customer has to do something, make an order, close the deal.
11. Relationship Selling
The customer looks at the product the same way they feel towards you. The longer they will be using the service, the more important the relationship with the client is. The relationship is defined by the level of trust. You build trust by asking questions and listening to the answers. One who creates a customer relationship sells much more.
12. Consultative selling
Act as an advisor, helper, solve people's problems in the area of languages and communication. Advise them on how can they save or earn more. You're like their unpaid employee helping them.
13. Educational selling
No force. Ask questions and listen. Lean forward and write notes. Your job is to teach the client how to use your product better and profit more from it.
14. Get a "credit"
Give more than your competition, be someone. How to build credit:
a) the seller - or you - how you dress, how you care for yourself and what accessories you have. You need to dress for success, just as successful people do.
b) the reputation of the company - how big it is and how long it exists
c) references - from satisfied customers
d) presentation - good client-centered presentation
You must clearly indicate that the customer will certainly be better off with this service than without it. Everything in the presentation either improves or worsens your chances of selling.
15. Handling objections effectively
A successful seller has twice as many objections as a not successful seller. Why? Because when your client is interested in your service, he is thinking about putting your service into his life and has questions about it. If he has no questions, then he is usually just waiting for you to stop and leave.
- Hear them out completely without interrupting.
- Compliment the objection "That's a good question."
- Respond: Pause, smile and say: "How do you mean?" OR "Obviously you have a good reason for saying that, may I know what it is?" OR "I understand exactly how you feel. Others felt the same when they first heard the price. But this is what they found when they starting using our service:..."
16. Closing the sale
Ask for the order at the end of the presentation:
Mr. XY, do you have any questions or concerns, that I haven't covered by now?
- Trying close: "Well then, why don't you give it a try?" OR "If you like it, why don't you take it? I will take care of all the details."
- Directive close: "Well then, the next step is this: ..." and wrap it up as if he said that he is buying it.
- The authorization close: Mark space where to sign, give it to the prospect and say "Well then if you just authorize this, we'll get started right away."
The future belongs to askers - ask for what you want.
17. Your most valuable asset
Your ability to earn money is your most valuable asset. Take care of yourself and don't take it for granted.
18. Use your time well
Time is your most precious resource. The very best use of your time is for you to get better, so you can earn more.
80/20 rule - 20 % of your activities will account for 80 % of your results. Determine what is that 20 % and focus all your energy on those activities/customers. Every day, start with your 20% tasks and stay with them until they are complete.
19. The sales funnel
There are 3 parts of the sales funnel:
- Prospect - You need for example 20 prospects (potential customers) to get 6 meetings
- Presenting - You need to meet for example 6 prospects to get 3 follow-ups
- Follow-up and closing - You need to follow-up and close 3 prospects to make 1 sale.
This means, that you need to call 20 potential customers to get 1 sale.
The rule is to keep your funnel full. You should have far more prospects in your funnel that you are able to see at a meeting because you have to go through a lot of prospects to get a few sales.
20. Clear income and sales goals
You can't hit the target that you cannot see.
If you want to earn 12000 Euros next year. Your earn an average of 5% commission on sales. This means, that you will have to sell 240000 Euros worth of your product in order to earn that.
You now take that number and break it down by the number of months that you intend to work. You will find out that you need to sell 20000 Euros of your product in a month in order to earn 1000 Euros per month.
It is 50 euros per day or over 6 euros per hour. Now you know how much you need to earn per hour. From this moment onward absolutely refuse anything that pays less than 6 Eur per hour. That means you need to determine the numbers in your sales funnel and according to our numbers, you need to have at least 200 paying customers on your list. If you would like to get 200 customers now, you would need to contact about 4000 potential customers and if you work for 8 hours a day and contact 10 customers each hour, it will take you 50 days until you reach your goal.
BUT if you don't work, don't blame anyone else but yourself.
So go to the phone, make a long list, start calling to 80 new customers daily and in 3 months you will be earning more than 1000 euros monthly. Then, if you don't stop, your income will only get higher.
21. Manage your territory well
Take your sales territory and divide it into four parts. When you make appointments, put them close to each other. Don't spend too much time on roads and make everything you can over the internet (online video meetings instead of on-site face-to-face meetings).
22. Seven secrets to sales success
1. Get serious - make the decision to join the top 10 % of the most successful people
2. Identify your weak skill and decide to get excellent in it
3. Get around the right people - positive people
4. Take excellent care of your physical health - live to be at least 80 years old
5. Visualize yourself as one of the top people in your field
6. Practice continuous positive self-talk. Talk to yourself the way you want to be - I like myself, I'm the best, I can do it, I love my work.
7. Take positive action towards your goals every single day. If you are not happy with your income, get out there and get face-to-face with more customers. Do it now. Move quickly. The faster you move, the more energy you'll have.
The field of selling offers you all the joys and benefits of life. The salespeople are among the most important people in every company. High sales are the number one reason for the company's success. When you take these ideas, practice them over and over again, then you can become the most paying person.
Selling tips from the best sellers
The benefit is where the need and offer meets.
Find out what benefits are
If one has no goal or dream, let's give them imaginary language skills. (You speak English as if you were born in England. How does it change your life?) and ask for details. Communicate with him about his dream (not about language learning, but about what that skill brings). Learning the skill is only work.
Don't talk about your amazing product. Talk about his goals and ask him how you can help him.
The logic is 20%, the emotions are 80%. They will understand our product with their logic, but their dreams will evoke emotions. And emotions sell much better than logic.
Consent is much more than pressure and force (not pushing anyone into anything).
A good businessman has a 95% success rate.
Act prepared and don't point out what you don't know. Don't ask questions like "what else was there?"
Keep all materials close and do not look for them during the meeting.
ASK MORE, explain simply, explain by asking questions.
Use stories and personal experiences. Give names to people in examples.
Do not explain technical matters in detail. "This is not the subject of our meeting. I can explain the details of the system another time."
Do not write negative terms on the paper, e.g. as 0% travel expenses.
Customer's thoughts
- 95% of our thoughts are about ourselves
- 5% of the thoughts are about things and people around us, but only in relation to ourselves
Therefore, you have to make it clear that the customer wins. He is important, not you or your business:
- talk about him, not about yourself
- arouse his interest at all costs
- ask
- dialogue is not a monologue
- the customer is always right
- offer benefits - what will he get from it?
- do not impose your opinion on anyone
- avoid the words "buy" and "sell", or "you have to"
- avoid the unspecified words "something", "thing"
When there are no questions, there are no answers. On the contrary, when you ask, let him answer and listen.
Immediate Influence
0. Self-determination support - he should understand that it is up to him (no "you should" or "it would be good if you did this" - but "it's up to you" "it's your life and your decision")
1. Why could you want to have it? - "why would you want to learn a language with us now and not in a month? Do you see any other reason? " Can I ask you a few specific questions?
2. How much are you ready to buy? Try to rate from 1 to 10 (1 the lowest, 10 the highest)
3. Why didn't you say a lower number?
Imagine that the (benefit) has already occurred to you. "Imagine that you are already fluent speaker, that you have done something and that you have results. What has it brought you? What else? ...And further?"
5. Why are these results important to you? Why...? Why...? (5x why, always a differently formulated question - "what do you get with this?" "What is the outcome?")
6. What will be the first step, if any?
If it has negative answers, we will propose a solution and ask if it is OK for him that way. (until he says yes). We are not solving negative things with him.
10 rules of sales psychology
1. Reciprocity
The seller shows little favor to the customer. The customer feels committed and rewards the seller with a "trade" (he buys). The seller uses a counter-service mechanism.
2. The attractiveness of a shortage
The seller submits a time-limited offer to the buyer. The value of the product increases when it is considered short of supply. What is rare is what a buyer wants to have. Always bear in mind that it is not enough to define time limit - you must also explain the fundamentals.
3. Trying to be consistent
The customer needs to be consistent. If he says "A", he says "B," too. The seller first tries him to make a small promise. The customer later comes with a big promise (order).
Create a YES response string.
4. Activity and cooperation
The seller lets the customer count, write, and analyze. It creates a feeling of sympathy and belonging, thus activating the customer.
5. Motivation by labeling - matching
The seller will "stick" a sticker to the customer, e.g. that he has a good sense of humor, is smart, has a clear goal, has ideas, is dynamic, purposeful, cooperates. The seller gains influence by telling the customer how positively he is seen by others.
6. The prophecy that was fulfilled by itself
The seller must believe in his business success! Only then he advises thoroughly and speaks convincingly. The seller appears competent and trustworthy. This is the power of trust. He makes a "prophecy" (so you will buy this and this will happen...") and the prophecy will be fulfilled because the customer will believe in the prophecy.
7. Pygmalion effect
Every customer believes "Who is like me must be a good person." The seller notices hobbies, interests, clothing, favorite customer's wine brands. He clearly establishes belonging between him and the customer.
8. Paradoxical challenge
Customer's fear and insecurity are often intensified when the seller shows them too many numbers, examples, arguments. Tell to the stubbornly opposing customer: "This product is not for you!" At that point, the customer buys - from the opposition.
9. Dominance of emotions
The seller uses pictures, examples, stories, models, and graphics to show the customer the benefits of the product and offerings.
Pictures bring customers emotional shopping experiences that are as effective as arguments. Feelings dominate in every sales conversation - even if you don't show them to the customer.
10. Social proof
The seller shows the customer that the product is "best selling" or "very popular". The power of social proof will multiply when customers that love the product are prominent personalities and companies.
Trust
What you sell is yourself. If you have any kind of mistrust in yourself, you will pass it on to the product. You need to inspire credibility. So you must be absolutely sure.
- I have the perfect product.
- It's perfect for that person.
How to gain trust?
A) SMILE - Enter the door positively tuned, with smile number 4 (natural smile).
B) EYE CONTACT - with all participants of the interview. People then listen more. If you are too close, look at the root of his nose. Keep eye contact while thanking. If I think, I do not look onto a wall, but into his eyes.
C) CALLING PEOPLE BY THEIR NAMES - I am called by my name mostly by my family and friends, so it feels credible. By addressing the potential customer by his name, we can replace the words like "so, as I said" and insert it as if in front of a second sentence.
Never lie to anyone.
If we keep telling the truth, we don't have to think about what we are saying.
Success is decided upon during difficult times, not during easy times.
Become friends with the customer.
Develop a REAL CUSTOMER INTEREST.
Shake hands for as long as we are introducing each other.
When we are giving written materials to the customer, we give it in a direction so that he can read it while taking it. Give it to him as soon as you start talking about it.
Don't say "I" sentences.
Don't be afraid to ask for a name a second time. This can be avoided by using his name in the next sentence.