Can’t Sell, Won’t sell? – Of course you can and will!
Those of you reading this in the UK may remember the TV show ‘Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook’, in which members of the public who either couldn’t or wouldn’t cook were shown by a chef how they could easily and quickly prepare tasty meals once they had been shown a few simple tips. It was interesting to see how, with just some basic tips and techniques, these hapless contestants could produce a tasty meal.
With selling, it’s easy to believe that it’s all an art and no science and that either you are a ‘natural salesperson’ or you are not. The image of the super smooth sales person that ‘has the gift of the gab’, seems to be one that many business owners have in their minds when they think of selling and for that reason, many of them think that they either can’t or won’t sell. Of course being engaging and not being an introvert are two quite helpful personality traits for someone in a sales role, but it is easy to underestimate how organisation, hard work, process and some simple sales techniques can turn ‘I can’t and I won’t’ into ‘I can and I will’.
Here’s some key points of focus for any business looking to improve their sales number:-
Funnel metrics – start with the sales target and work backwards. So, what’s the target, what’s the average deal size, conversion rate of opportunities to deals and leads to opportunities? By understanding these numbers, it’s easy to work out how many ‘raw leads’ are required at the top of the sales funnel. Once you have a target number of leads to obtain, you have something tangible to work against
Qualifying – By improving how opportunities are qualified, the conversion rate can be improved as the quality of opportunities improves. It’s as important sometimes to ‘go for the no’ as it is to move an opportunity down the funnel – qualifying out an opportunity which is unlikely to close saves more time for the ones where there is a better chance. Resist the temptation to start talking about your products and services until you have a really clear understanding as to how you can deliver real value to your prospect in a way that is specific to their individual requirements. If you can’t see the value to your prospect then the chances are you’re better off spending your time elsewhere.
Who’s the Man? – Whilst on the subject of qualifying, make sure that you are talking to someone who has the Money, the Authority to buy and the Need for your product or service. It’s a simple sanity check when qualifying an opportunity that can stop you from wasting time. In bigger deals, this might not be possible as your sponsor might need board approval, in which case make sure you understand exactly what their sign off and purchase procedures are.
Remember the ABC’s – In this case, ABC stands for ‘Always be Closing’. A common mistake is to think that closing only means asking for the order. It doesn’t – closing should be happening throughout the sales process and involves seeking confirmation from the customer as to the value that your product or service offers. Some examples of closing questions might be as simple as:-
Do you think that would be useful?
How much time do you think our product / service might save you?
If we could demonstrate that we could save you x amount would you be interested in moving to us?
Of course, there are numerous other sales tips and techniques that a business can use to improve how much business they close, but I hope that these simple sales tips will help you to understand that sales skills are something learnt and practiced, and therefore available to everyone! Why not come on one of our sales for non-salespeople courses to discover your own hidden sales skills?
