10 Things That Will Help You Sell MORE!

I have a quick question for you.....

Do you want to sell more?

If the answer is "no", then perhaps this isn't a post worth reading. I'd like to think there aren't many sales people out there who don't want to sell more, but you never know!

If the answer is yes however, then this may just be the single best blog for you to read this year. I'm going to show you 10 simple things that will help you sell more today, this week, this month, this year and for years to come.

The reality is there will be hundreds, maybe even thousands of things that could help you sell more, some simple, some complex. For today I want to show you the 10 easiest things that if applied properly, could help you transform your pipeline, increase your confidence and catapult your name to the top of the leader board!

Let's kick start this with a slightly controversial tip number one...

1) DON'T close the sale.....

This may sound a little obscure right? Don't close the sale?! If you're not confident in closing or if you have a customer who's difficult to close then this could be a very good tip to apply. Instead of trying to close the deal, get them to close the deal. You can do this by getting them to answer their own questions. If they ask you why your product is the best, ask them why they think it's the best. If they ask you why it's more expensive than the competition, ask them why they think it's more expensive than the competition. Ask them why they think they should buy your product. When it gets to the end ask them is there anything blocking them from buying. Give them the power, encourage them to answer their own questions and suddenly it will be their own idea to buy from you. It's 10 times harder to convince someone than it is to guide them to figure it out themselves. Check out the brand new sales book "The Lost Art of Closing" by Anthony Iannarino for some amazing tips on closing more deals.

2) Do regular pipeline audits

We all fall into the trap of putting opportunities into our pipeline that have a low probability or ones that are quite weak. The problem comes when we then invest time in those opportunities or leave them there clouding our vision for the month/quarter/year. Whether it's daily, weekly or monthly, by performing regular honest reviews of your pipeline you can ensure your time is invested in the right opportunities and not wasted on the wrong ones.

3) Think bigger....

Your mindset will have a huge impact on what you do and achieve. If for example you are focused on achieving 5 sales in a month, you'll probably land on 3 or 4. If you were focused on achieving 10 you'll probably land on 8 or 9. The bigger you think, the bigger you'll finish. I've met a lot of sales people who are so focused on numbers set to them by their managers or business leaders that they can't see past it. Don't be afraid to think big, just because your manager tells you your target is 5 doesn't mean you can work to achieve 10. Don't leave it to luck, if you want to hit 10 then make that your focus. A friend of mine made a commitment at the start of last month that he would finish on 10 sales. He'd done it before a few months back but wanted to top the leader board again. Across the month it became very clear that it was more difficult that he anticipated, but he was focused and he was driven. He did everything in his power, worked harder than ever before and didn't give up. Where most people in the team finished on 4 that month he finished on 11.

4) Start doing win/loss reviews

To learn you must first know what you need to learn. As they say, you don't know what you don't know. If you lose a sale but you don't know why, how can you learn from it. Start writing up reviews on deals you win and why you won them and deals you lose and why you lost them. This exercise can help you understand what is working and what isn't working allowing you to put more energy into activities and actions that generate success and less time on those activities and actions that don't yield a result.

5) Look for marginal gains

The methodology that created massive success for the British cycling team, marginal gains has become the backbone of businesses all across the world. By looking at all the small components of success and looking to improve each one marginally, you then create the formula for much larger success. For example your sales process may include research, phone calls, emails, pitching, listening, problem solving and many other components. If you then look at each component individually and work on improving each one, it will all help drive a better result. You could start by improving the research part you do on a prospect by utilising social media, reading their case studies, looking at their structure of staff etc. Then focus on the initial call, look at the time you call, what you say, your tone, the focused outcome. You may then move onto the email, looking at the title you use, how much information you include, all these little details contribute to overall success.

6) Eat better, do some exercise and sleep more

This might be a more challenging one for some but I can't stress enough how beneficial this can be. I'll be honest in that this is one that I have struggled with. It's very difficult in the high pressured busy world of sales to eat healthy, find time to exercise and to always be able to sleep the recommended amount. What I don't think many people realise is that impact that these choices have on their sales results. Reading Jeb Blounts new book "Sales EQ" he goes into great depth about the impact they have. Simple things like impacting your energy, confidence and appearance all connect to your ability to sell.

7) Read more sales books and sales blogs

In a similar way to eating healthy, exercising and sleeping, finding time to read can also be very challenging. Again by ignoring this you'll only be limiting yourself. Making time to read every day or every week will open you up to new tips, new insight, motivation and inspiration. All these things will help give you the tools and energy needed to sell more. I make sure I find time every day to read a few sales blogs and a few chapters in a book. It's through this that I often find several tips that I then apply to myself and my team, tips that had I not found time to read I would not have found. Check out "The Top 50 Sales Experts and Influencers" for a comprehensive list of sales book and blog authors that provide amazing sales knowledge.

8) Believe in your product and price

The 2 things you need to firmly believe in are your product and it's price. If you are to stand any chance of convincing your customer to believe in the value of those things you need to be a massive advocate and firm believer in them. I've seen too many sales people who don't believe in their product or who feel it's too expensive. If that is what you think how do you expect to convince your customer to think differently? You need to be more than sold on your product, you need to be a passionate believer in. Think about how you feel about your favourite TV series, favourite film, favourite band or sports team. Think about how passionate you are about them and how passionate you probably get when you speak about them. I'm sure there are a fair few people out there talking about this weeks Game of Thrones episode with real passion and excitement! Those who don't watch Game of Thrones will be drawn in by this energy. If you can harness that belief and energy for your product you will pass that energy and belief onto your prospects. Then make sure you have the same belief and confidence in the price. If you think you're price is expensive it will affect the way you present it to the customer. If you genuinely believe it's good value, they'll see that and believe it.

9) Learn from those who are successful now

One of the best ways to sell more is to find those who are successfully selling right now. I've included the "now" part because it's probably not worth spending too much time listening to people who may have been successful last month or last year. Focus on those who are selling right now as they will have the best, up to date and most relevant insight into what's working. There will be plenty of people who had a good month recently or even a long time ago that will want to tell you what to do, and there will be some points that I'm sure will be valid and relevant. My top advice is to seek out those who are doing well right now. That person, or those people, will know what is working right now and that is the golden insight that is valuable to you. As they say if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. If you didn't hit target last month but keep doing the same things, how can you expect to achieve a different result. Find those that are clearly doing something right, learn it and then apply it.

10) Stop planning to fail....

A lot of sales people come in every day planning to fail, you may even be planning to fail and not even realise it! What I mean by this is that by failing to plan you are essentially planning to fail. If you aren't planning your day then chances are you are missing a lot of opportunities to be successful without even realising it. Invest time into planning your day, week and month. By creating a plan you stand a far better chance of achieving more, avoiding distractions and achieving success. I've seen a lot of sales people who are ultimately "busy fools", they're always busy but never achieving anything. They don't have a plan, they react to everything, offer to help and do everything but the activities that generate sales. If you want to sell more stop wasting time on activities that don't generate sales, plan your days, weeks and months with activities that DO generate sales!

And there it is, my top 10 things that will help you sell more! Each one has the ability to help, you may be already doing some, you may not. My hope is that at least one of those things will help you. Now I need your help though......

If you could give one tip to help someone sell more, what would it be? Please add it into the comments box below and let's create a comprehensive list of sales tips that will help sales people around the world sell more. I will use the list to create an ultimate sales tips e-Book and will add your name against the tip you add!

I hope you found this blog helpful and informative! If you enjoyed this post please do click LIKE and click SHARE to share it with your network, thank you.

If you enjoyed this post please take time to read some of my other recent posts.

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Successful Salespeople SELL With Why...

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About the author: Daniel Disney is the Founder and Owner of The Daily Sales. With 15+ years successful sales and sales management experience, Daniel is the author of one of the most popular sales blogs in the world. With an overall social audience of over 150,000 followers and content reaching 7,000,000+ every month Daniel is one of the leading influencers in the sales industry. Daniel is available for Keynote Speaking, Sales Training, Sales Coaching, Social Media Consulting and Influencer Advertising. Check out his profile for more information.

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