Ten Ways to Make Sales Success

Ways 1: Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. This is crucial in the first few minutes of any sales interaction. Remember:

1. Don't talk about yourself.
2. Don't talk about your products.
3. Don't talk about your services.
4. And above all, don't recite your sales pitch!

Obviously, you want to introduce yourself. You want to tell your prospect your name and the purpose of your visit (or phone call), but what you don't want to do is ramble on about your product or service. After all, at this point, what could you possibly talk about? .You have no idea if what you're offering is of any use to your prospect.

Ways 2: Sell with questions, not answers. Remember this: Nobody cares how great you are until they understand how great you think they are.

Forget about trying to sell your product or service and focus instead on why your prospect wants to buy. To do this, you need to get fascinated with your prospect; you need to ask questions (lots and lots of them) with no hidden agenda or ulterior motives.

Ways 3: Pretend you're on a first date with your prospect. Get curious about them. Ask about the products and services they're already using. Are they happy? Is what they're using now too expensive, not reliable enough, and too slow? Find out what they really want. Remember, you're not conducting an impersonal survey here, so don't ask questions just for the sake of asking them. Instead, ask questions that will provide you with information about what your customers really need.

When you learn what your customers need and you stop trying to convince or persuade them to do something they may not want to do, you'll find them trusting you as a valued advisor and wanting to do more business with you as a result.

Ways 4: Speak to your prospect just as you speak to your family or friends. There's never any time that you should switch into "sales mode" with ham-handed persuasion and tag lines. Affected speech patterns, exaggerated tones, and slow, hypnotic sounding "sales inductions" are never acceptable in today's professional selling environments. Speak normally, (and of course, appropriately) just as you would when you're around your friends and loved ones.

Ways 5: Pay close attention to what your prospect isn't saying. Is your prospect rushed? Does he or she seem agitated or upset? If so, ask "Is this a good time to talk? If it's not, perhaps we can meet another day." Most salespeople are so concerned with what they're going to say next that they forget there's another human being involved in the conversation.

Ways 6: If you're asked a question, answer it briefly and then move on. Remember: This isn't about you; it's about whether you're right for them.

Ways 7: Only after you've correctly assessed the needs of your prospect do you mention anything about what you're offering. I knew a guy who pitched a mannequin (I'm not kidding)! He was so stuck in his own automated, habitual mode; he never bothered to notice that his prospect wasn't breathing. Don't get caught in this trap. Know whom you're speaking with before figuring out what it is you want to say.

Ways 8: Refrain from delivering a three-hour product seminar. Don't ramble on and on about things that have no bearing on anything your prospect has said. Pick a handful of things you think could help with your prospect's particular situation, and tell him or her about it. (And if possible, reiterate the benefits in his own words, not yours.)

Ways 9: Ask the prospect if there are any barriers to them taking the next logical step. After having gone through the first eight steps, you should have a good understanding of your prospect's needs in relation to your product or service. Knowing this, and having established a mutual feeling of trust and rapport, you're now ready to bridge the gap between your prospect's needs and what it is you're offering. You're now ready for:

Ways 10: Invite your prospect to take some kind of action. This principle obliterates the need for any "closing techniques" because the ball is placed on the prospect's court. A sales close keeps the ball in your court and all the focus on you, the salesperson. But you don't want the focus on you. You don't want the prospect to be reminded that he or she is dealing with a "salesperson." You're not a salesperson; you're a human being offering a particular product or service. And if you can get your prospect to understand that, you're well on your way to becoming an outstanding salesperson.