©Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation, 2012
You will be successful in sales if you master and use four key sales skills. As you read through them, think about what other things are missing that most sales books and trainers spend a lot of time trying to convince you are also important in selling.
So what are the top four sales skills that you must master if you want to be successful?
#1 – Asking Questions
Selling is all about helping people get what they want. The only way you are going to know what they want, and if you can help them, is to ask questions. Show that you are sincerely interested and ask questions to put yourself in their shoes and live in their world. Ask probing questions while resisting the urge to tell them about your products and services.
#2 – Active Listening
After asking the questions, you need to really listen to what they say. There is gold in what they say and don’t say. Once prospects feel that you are sincere and really listening to them, they will enthusiastically open up and give you everything you need. But if they sense that you are not really listening to them, they will close up and only provide mostly superficial answers.
#3 – Problem Solving
Selling is about helping people get what they want, which is basically solving problems for them. By asking the right questions and really listening to the answers, you will have everything you need to brainstorm how best to solve their problems. Don’t offer a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution. Use all the information you have to come up with a solution that is tailored to solving their specific problems. When you present a customized solution for their problems, they will really listen to you as you did to them and will honestly try to understand and accept it.
#4 – Nurturing Relationships
A great quote by Jeffrey Gitomer sums this up: “You can earn a commission by using a sales technique and making a sale. You can earn a fortune building friendships and relationships.”
If you master the first three skills, people will be attracted to you and will start to like you and trust you. Notice it says “start” because that is only the beginning. Now you need to put a system in place so you will consistently keep in touch and build on the relationships.
Most sales people just stay in touch to keep telling people about products and services. This does not build the relationships, which is entirely different and should be treated as such. You need to regularly nurture the relationships you have with your clients and prospects. It is about caring for and encouraging the growth of those relationships over the long term.
I have a hunch you have lost some additional sales from clients as you did not nurture their relationships. I also believe you have missed out on even more sales from potential clients because they don’t remember you since you didn’t make the effort to keep in touch and nurture their relationships. That’s a scary and troubling thought, isn’t it?
Selling Made Easier and Fun
Have you thought about what skills were missing besides these four that you expected to be there? Notice that objection handling skills and closing skills were not mentioned. That is because if you master the four key sales skills, there will be few or no objections. If an objection does come up, it will typically represent a request for more information.
If you learn the four key sales skills, you will not need to specifically work at closing the sale. The client will automatically make the decision to buy from you because it will be the obvious next step. You will find that selling is much easier than you previously thought or as often taught by others. As you routinely use the four key sales skills, it can also be a lot more fun!
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The Ultimate Nurturing Tool | |||
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To find out about what I know to be the ultimate nurturing tool watch this 3 minute and 20 second video.
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Is This For You? | |||
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