Increase Sales and Selling Skills: 8 Techniques That Will Increase Your Sales By 300%
No matter what you sell, whether you are a business owner or a sales professional, increasing your sales and selling skills is what should always be on your mind. Sales is a fast-paced and highly competitive field in which there is always room for improvement and development in order to obtain good and sustainable sales results and profits.
After each period of time, some sales strategies become unfeasible on the one hand. And new strategies appear, new competitors, competing products on the other hand. And you can overcome these challenges and be able to keep your business thriving if you are always keeping up with modern sales techniques and new marketing methods.
Increase sales and selling skills
You will always need to improve your sales performance to ensure your survival in a world of survival of the fittest. So, if you’re ready to take the next step and move on, here are 8 tactics to boost your sales performance:
1. Target your ideal customers
There’s a lot of truth to the old adage: “You can’t sell ice to an Eskimo.” No matter how convincing you are, there will be some people who just won’t buy what you’re selling. Don’t waste your time on it. One of the biggest problems that any business may face is understanding the target market, and the ability to attract ideal customers through appropriate marketing plans.
Your product may be the best but it is simply offered to everyone, instead of targeting the ideal customer. When you understand the nature of your customers well, you will then make decisions that increase the possibility of developing the level of sales. To determine your ideal customer, you need to ask yourself:
* How do potential customers get products similar to what you sell (from the store, the Internet, friends…)
* Who is the first buyer, and who is the influential element in the purchase decision (wife, son, salesman, manager…)
* What are the habits of potential customers, and where do they get their information from (newspaper, magazine, TV, Internet…)
* What are the customers’ motives and incentives to buy (bragging, avoiding pain, outward appearance…)
2. Sales promotion
The Sales Promotion strategy is a marketing method capable of increasing sales and profits! Those motivating methods and tools that are designed to have a quick and short-term effect for the purpose of expediting the realization of the purchase of goods or services. Including:
* Provide free samples and gifts (in pre-sale and after sale)
* Experimentation (giving the opportunity to try the product)
* Offers rebates
* Buy one and get the second free
* Conducting contests and sweepstakes
3. Improving the efficiency of marketing activities
You may be able to improve the efficiency of your marketing activities. Track the results of your current marketing or advertising and be prepared to change your strategy if you don’t see the desired results. Study your intended customers to find out the best way to reach them, and plan your marketing strategy accordingly.
4. Adjust your sales strategy
There are literally thousands of different sales strategies you can try, from lead-hunting and deal-closing methods to presentation techniques and negotiation strategies, and everything in between. If what you’re doing now isn’t translating into much success and you want to increase your sales, try new ways. Simple trial and error can help you find the right mix of strategies for your type of business, market, and offering.
5. Find new markets
The decision to search for new markets can be the beginning of a very difficult process, because every market is different, and the mentality and culture of customers and buyers is completely different. Therefore, you must obtain sufficient information for this new segment and that new market that you intend to enter into, and how your potential customers think and what they are looking for, while studying some competitors in that new market.
6. Understand your competition
Understanding your competitors is an essential part of your sales strategy. It is always important to accurately identify competitors. Your relationship with your competitors is greater than the fact that you and your competitors target the same markets.
You should study the competitors well, what are their products / offers / promotional policies / the reasons for their successes and failures .. You will get a lot of data that can be used in more than one way. For example, you learn from their experience in using effective promotional methods and means. Monitor them to determine what advertising methods they use the most. If your competitors continue to use it and not others, they are satisfied with the results.
7. Think about long-term relationships
Convert new customers into repeat customers – When new customers buy from your business for the first time, do everything you can to convert them into repeat customers. This will increase the lifetime value of each customer. Companies with good sales value a customer’s lifetime.
8. Take advantage of tools and technology
There are many different sales tools and techniques on the market that can help you improve your sales performance. With a little data on sales, customers and purchases, you can come up with new ideas to take your sales performance to the next level.
Additionally, using sales and technology tools can eliminate many of the routine and tedious tasks that take up all of your time, so that you have more time to focus on your most vital business and tasks.
Basic selling skills to increase sales:
Not everyone is born naturally qualified to be a sales professional. In fact, very few people innately have that “talent”. Most sales professionals learn and practice selling skills over months, years, and even decades.
For those who are new to the field of sales, starting to learn basic selling skills will lay the foundation for their success in the future, and among the most important of these skills:
Listening. This does not mean simply remaining silent when the lead or customer is speaking. The real skill is active listening. Sales professionals who master this skill ask relevant questions and truly make the person feel that their problems, pain points, and ideas are understood.
– effective communication. Sometimes, it is not what you may say that matters but how you say it. This does not only mean the way you use words, but also includes many other skills, such as non-verbal communication (body language) which includes: facial expressions, body movements and gestures, tone of your voice, and even your breathing. Effective communication is one of the most important sales skills, but it takes time to master.
– The art of persuasion. Professional sellers do not mean that they deceive people, so they make more sales than others. They are simply experts in highlighting the advantages of the product and the benefits it brings to the customer. They are skilled in showing the solutions that the product offers in a way that convinces the customer to buy.
Flexibility. Want to excel in selling? Increase your ability to handle rejections. Being resilient and knowing what to do in the face of challenges and setbacks is key in the sales industry. Don’t take rejections too personally, but you should also make sure that feedback and criticisms are received that may help you adjust your sales strategy.
Dealing with objection. The way to turn a lead into a customer is to methodically and persuasively overcome their objections. Once there is no good reason not to make a purchase decision, most of the battle is won.
Conclusion
Increasing sales and selling skills is an ongoing process, things change quickly in sales. If you don’t adapt to change, your selling skills will become ineffective. You must commit to changing your strategies as and when required. And you must stay on top of new sales trends, best practices, tools and techniques, and sales strategies to survive and grow.