IT’S not quite true that a great salesperson can sell anything to anyone. For a start, they might not need it — and sales is all about meeting needs. However, selling is one of those things that can happen to anyone, no matter what their job description, so here are the basics.
1. Share the love. But not in a smarmy way. “You have to be able to establish an empathy with the person to whom you are selling,” Don Hales, founder of the National Sales Awards, says. “People don’t buy if they hate you or distrust you. There has to be trust.”
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2. Don’t let them be misunderstood. “You have to understand the needs of the other person,” Hales says. “It’s then up to the salesperson to demonstrate that the benefits of their goods or services match the needs of the customer. If you can’t do that you don’t have a sale.”
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3. Ask clever questions. You need to do more than ask customers what they need, says Tony Hughes, the chief executive of Huthwaite International, a sales performance improvement company. “Find out what their problems and issues are and think through what they need, rather than simply asking them what they need.”
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4. Know your stuff. “Obviously you have to understand your product and the marketplace in which you are selling,” Hales says.
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5. Don’t swamp them with details. You need to know all the ins and outs of the product you’re selling, but your customer doesn’t. He or she simply needs to know how it will make their lives better. “Tell them only about the bits that are important to them,” Hales says. Think of it as a conversation. There’s no point simply listing your product’s features, Hughes says — the customer can get that from the internet. “The conversation needs to create value for the customer.”
6. It’s not you, it’s them. Selling “is about value for the customer, not about what the salesperson says. A good salesperson is one who can recognise where the customer can see value, not where his marketing department or sales manager sees value,” Hughes says. Don’t get carried away by all the whizzy extras: “Over-enthusiasm about the product sometimes means that you can’t understand why people don’t see the same value in it that you do. Step back and stay customer-focused.”
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7. You don’t have to be born to it. There isn’t a particular “sales” personality, Hales says. “Some people will tell you that you need an outgoing personality, but I don’t necessarily agree with that. Customers come in every personality type . . . and it’s more important for the salesperson to be able to reflect the customer’s personality.”
8. But you do have to be resilient. There are a lot of knockbacks in sales. “It doesn’t matter how good you are, you will get rejected,” Hales says. The important thing is not to get hung up about it.
9. Relationships aren’t enough. “They are very important, obviously, but people very rarely buy on it these days,” Hughes says. Most companies have strict procurement protocols that emphasise value for money.
10. Learn. Hales recommends visiting the websites of three British sales gurus: Alan Fairweather, www.howtogetmoresales.com; Frank Furness, www.frankfurness.com; and Clive Gott, www.clivegott.com
NATIONAL SALES AWARDS