How to get really good at sales

Sales is a science, yet most people look at it as an art. It is complicated with multiple moving parts but can be simple to learn. If you want to get into sales and consider yourself an introvert, don’t worry, this article may be just what you need to get the ball rolling. If you have been in sales and always found yourself struggling to get deals across the finish line, this article will definitely help you with your conversions. Lastly, if you are a sales lead and want to get your
team members to up their sales skills, this article will be loaded with tips and tricks that can be used by any individual to get them to the next level and closing deals.

What does being really good at sales look like?

Imagine converting clients that were not interested in your product into believers in the brand and the value you provide, or closing deals that other sales reps would consider impossible, what about earning enough money from your sales commission to not only pay your rent and eat the cheapest food on the market, but you are able to save, invest, and even build a beautiful home for your family.

Being a top sales person will drive you to the next level not only financially but also in terms of influence, stature and other things your heart may desire. This is why everyone thrives to become a top sales rep.

The day the organization you work for showed you the potential of your earnings when you closed on deal, your mind immediately started racing. This simple commissions chart turned your head upside down and you started picturing how many 100s and 1,000s of deals you could close in one day. You pictured the car you would drive, partner you would attract and home you would build. All this to say, your imagination ran wild.

Now, take that imagination and consider this. The top 1% of sales people are earning that amount you imagined and they are able to earn it continuously and consistently.

So how do sales people become so good? How do you ensure that you get the results that they get? Lets dive in.

How to get you really good at sales!

Sales is a science and everyone can learn the basics of sales. We just have to get those basics done right. Let’s break it down into 3 simple steps that you need to get right.

Step 1 Lead generation:

Basic Steps to getting really good at sales:

Generating leads is so under appreciated and yet this is the back bone of your sales funnel. Let’s start from the beginning. Remember, to have many sales consistently you need to have many people to sell to. Regardless of the product, you can not rely solely on referrals to drive your sales numbers up. You need to actively look for people and get in front of the type of people that would most likely buy your product.

To better understand this lets discuss a bit of math that the top sales people look at when calculating how many people they need to talk to on a daily basis in order to keep their sales pipeline healthy.

Let us consider your conversion rate. A conversion rate is the amount of leads you need to talk to before you get a deal signed. For example: You may need to talk to 20 people in order to close one deal. That means your conversion rate is 5%. That’s not bad.

So by this logic, if you want to close 2 deals per day, you will need to talk to 40 people per day on average. Simple right?

If you can generate the right number of leads you will be able to close the right number of deals. As a rule of thumb, start with a minimum of 20 and increase as you figure it out.

Understanding lead generation is simple enough. Who is it that is most likely to buy your product. Without a strategy here, you are simply shooting in the dark. A focused approach comes from understanding your product (Which will be discussed below) and the value your product will give your clients. Understand your potential buyers and what they would value from your product or service. Once you have this logic it will direct you to the right people.

NOT EVERYONE IS YOUR CLIENT!

You can start by creating a buyer persona. The problem with most sales people is that they will try to sell to everyone. There is no qualification done prior to pitching. These types of sales people believe that if they don’t talk to everyone they might be missing out on a deal. Sadly this leads to poorer conversion rates as low as 0.5%. At this point you are just trying to be lucky.
You may as well go gamble.

With a proper qualification process in place and clear guidelines as to whom your ideal buyer is you can improve your conversion rate. Imagine talking to 20 people that actually want and need your product or service? You may find yourself with a 40% to 80% conversion rate (Not everyone will buy from you and that’s okay).

So contacting the right people is the first basic step to help you get really good at sales.

Step 2: Understand your product and how it can solve your leads different problems

Understanding your product is one thing and can be easy to do. Understanding how the different aspects of your product can solve different problems is critical. Yes, you know the features and how the product works. All the specifications are at the tip of your tongue. You even know the different pricing tiers and which ad-ons can be acquired along with the product. This is great. However, this alone will not help you get more sales.

People buy solutions to their problems. There are many products that can do the work. There are 100’s of payments platforms, millions of mobile phone models, thousands of software CRM’s, Inventory systems, school management systems and insurance sales reps. The market is usually saturated. You may never be the first to enter the market or approach the lead with the solution.

If people buy solutions to their problems and not just products, the winner is of the business will usually be the sales person that can communicate, with some form of proof, how their product or service can solve the specific problem the lead is facing.

A short story. I wanted to buy life insurance. Different insurance reps from different insurance companies would come to my office and pitch people in my company. As a person with a need i gave each of them unlimited attention. The problem came in when they could not translate their product knowledge into language that resonated with me and my problem. I eventually picked the best presenter and they didn’t have to do much. Just explain the product you know in a way I understand and show me how it will solve my current problem.

The problem with most sales reps is that they love the product so much they end up selling what they love about it and not what the clients need from it.

If you want to sell more, talk the language of the person you are selling to. Translate the technical language the product developers teach you and speak in simple terms. Understand the needs of the person you are selling to and use your superior product knowledge to get them to invest into solving their problem with you.

Sometimes product knowledge also includes company knowledge. Understanding how your company provides customer care, additional support, and the culture of the company. These can all lead to a person buying. Sometimes all they want is a contact person that picks up the phone when they have an issue. Instead you are telling them about the premiums and the amount of returns they should expect.

Step 3: To becoming really good at sales: Know when its time to close and follow up.

Sometimes as sales people we talk too much. We continue pitching and pitching and pitching. As Jim Rohn says in one of his videos, we talk ourselves into the sale and then talk ourselves out of it. The client throws you buying signal after buying signal and instead of going into the closing steps, collecting payment, filling the form, starting the service delivery, we go into more features, benefits, modules and other things that are no longer needed.

In as much as you are one perfectly placed statement away from closing the deal, you are one poorly placed statement away from missing the opportunity.

Sometimes we over complicate things. We have a picture in our heads of how a deal should be closed we forget that every situation may be different. We remember the feature that closed the previous deal and we want to pitch until we get to that feature. If this is the case make sure to re-read basic step 2 above. Remember your leads will have different problems that can be solved by your service. It can never be one size fits all.

Once you get the buying signal its time to close and start the follow up process. Closing depends on the product or service you are offering though generally we are asking for the payment. Will that be Momo or cash?

Your problem may be different. You may actually be afraid of asking clients to pay. Its actually very common for sales reps to fear asking clients for money so they continue pitching in the hopes that the prospect will just get the money out of their pockets. If this is you, I would suggest you schedule a one on one call with me and we walk through the fear. I have had experience training people with this exact fear and helping them get over it.

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