Sales is a beautiful profession if done correctly

All departments are essential in an organization. However, sales are the earning member whereas others are cost centers. No matter how advanced your technology is. Irrespective of your operational efficiency. You can have the most forward-looking management or impeccable financial goals; you still need a sales mechanism, or else every other aspect becomes useless.??

Besides being necessary to the organization, sales are equally important to the user as these people help customers decide. I started my career in sales way back in the late 1990s & developed a habit of looking at various aspects of products from customers perspectives. It has been one of the critical attributes helping me to grow in my career.??

Sales is a vast subject & covering it in such a short piece is impossible. Even though there has been enough written about sales; still, many of the contradictions exist. These inaccuracies can lead to stress instead of enjoying the sales journey. Through this piece, let's look at a few of the do's & don't.?

Let's go through some of the vital traits that make the journey much easier & pleasant. To the best of my belief, a person can develop mentioned attributes with practice.

1.??Excellent listener:?Most people think that selling is all smooth-talking, but most effective salespeople are those who are excellent listeners. In an ideal sales call, the salesperson should only speak 20% & make the customer talk maximum. The idea of this is to ensure the consumer shares their exact requirements, expectations, pain areas & emotions.?

There are six must-do points for holding an effective & meaningful conversation.??

• Slow down your conversation: The conversation's speed should be attractive for the customer. Going too fast or slow can derail the conversation.
• Never interrupt: When a customer is talking, allow him to complete as during this time customer would give the clues for you to pick up. Besides, interrupting is rude behavior.??
• Never assume but always ask questions: Making assumptions is the worst thing a salesperson can do. The more questions you ask better the clarity you get.
• Listen to emotions: In many cases, words don't reveal all information. Words are often carefully chosen, but emotions can help salespeople understand the exact requirement/pain area. The more you practice better you become in understanding & deciphering emotions.
• Clarify & paraphrase:??It is essential to listen and equally necessary to make the customer know that you are paying attention. In some instances, making a note can also be a good idea; however, you must take permission before jotting down the points.??
• Summarize:?When concluding the probe, summarize the points discussed & requirements understood. Besides bringing salespeople & consumers on the same page, it helps you lay down their expectations & needs, thus making it easy to offer the right product/services.??

This information helps you to offer the right product, thus ensuring a win-win scenario.

2. Power & knowledge of saying NO:?It is pretty difficult for a salesperson to say no to a potential business, mainly because they are under constant & significant pressure to achieve targets. However, an excellent salesperson knows when & how to say NO. Following are the times it is crucial to say NO.?

• Your product doesn't match customer requirements:??There are times when it is wiser to lose a battle to win a war. If you figure out that your product doesn't match customer requirements, it is better to be honest in sharing the limitations of your product. By doing this, you'll win the customer's trust & respect. Such customers usually recommend you to people in their circle, thus helping to grow revenue.?
• Offering too little a price:??Price is a value to the solution you are bringing to the table. In some instances, if the customer is willing to pay too little, it is good to say NO politely. It would make the customer see value in your product.??
• Unreasonable expectations:?If customer expectations are unreasonable, it is always better to say NO, as unfulfilled expectations would fester into dissatisfaction later. Resulting in not only losing customers but also getting adverse comments from the buyer

However, saying NO is an art & a tricky area. Saying NO must be with confidence while keeping a friendly tone. A salesperson must explain the reason for saying NO while maintaining empathy for both sides.?

3. Know your product in & out:?Clear & complete product information is essential. The customer gets frustrated if they feel that the salesperson in front doesn't know his product &, in many cases, equate it with incompetency. The reason in-depth product knowledge becomes important are??

• Brings Confidence:??More knowledge better chances of getting sales as it allows a salesperson to communicate effectively about the product/services. It also allows him to understand & equate customers pain areas with the product strength, thus enabling the customer to see the value.??
• Helps to manage customers queries/objections:??During the sales process handling objection's is the most crucial part & usually, objections revolve around the price & capability of the product/services. Better knowledge usually helps the salesperson manage objections and show value in using your product/services.??
• Gain the customer's trust:??In today's world, customers are much better aware & thanks to google, that all information needed by customers is available. A better-informed salesperson capable of explaining his product & its USP besides handling objections gains customer trust. It is the difference between gaining or losing an order
• Understand competition better:??A person with in-depth knowledge of his product can easily understand his competition. Knowing about your competition is an asset, especially while navigating through objections & negotiations.

4. Respect yourself as much you respect customers:??It is usually a habit of many salespeople to behave subserviently & then expect their customers to respect them. Throughout my career have observed that customers prefer to deal with people they admire. Therefore, while dealing with a customer, it is vital for you genuinely respect yourself, your product & organization.?

?During various training, interactions & discussions with multiple people throughout my career have come across many misnomers. These beliefs make one feel that making sales are complex &, at times, a painful profession. However, when you take a deep dive into sales, realize that most misnomers have no standing.??

Let's examine few fault lines that exist & we must guard ourselves against them.?

1.?A good salesperson can sell a comb to a bald person:?A wrong metaphor describing capability. Sales provide buyers with tangible or intangible goods, services, or assets?required by them?in exchange for money. In contrast, selling something by fooling someone is thuggery & not sales.?

2.??Customer is a god:?To my knowledge & belief, god knows everything & can order the right product at the correct cost from the right source without consulting anyone. It is not the case as all consumers need to consult various salespeople, go through different quotes, technical write-ups & more before taking a final call. In most cases during my career, I met customers who had a broad idea of their requirements &, through probing, uncovered exact requirements. However, it is essential to remember that we as a salesperson can help to reveal their requirements & expectations. Still, the final decision is always of the customer.

3.?Selling is all Skill:??Selling is a process of uncovering the customer's requirements & expectations, having the right product & communicating it effectively. There is no doubt that it needs skill, but it also depends on various other factors. Even the best salesperson with a lousy product/service in the wrong market would fail, whereas an excellent product in the right place with an average salesperson would flourish. A salesperson is a catalyst & surely not a magician.??

4.?Out of box thinking:??One metaphor commonly used across the organization has been "OUT OF BOX THINKING". For all practical reasons, it means thinking unconventionally or having a brand new idea; however, in most cases, the answers to the issues usually lies within the box. The methodology used for maximum research on innovation is?"THEORY OF INVENTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING".??

G S Altshuller and his associates investigated some 200,000 patents. Their work resulted in discovering that ninety-five per cent of all patients used seven tools. Of those, five per cent came from breakthroughs in science and brand-new ideas. Now, if you bring it to general business, the results shall be?5 Levels of Solutions

• ?Apparent or Conventional Solution: 32%: Solution by methods well known within a specialty.
• Small Invention Inside Paradigm: 45%: Improvement of an existing system by making few changes?
• Substantial Invention Inside Technology: 18%: Improving current system/process.?
• Invention Outside Technology: 4%: New generation of design using sciences technology
• Discovery: 1 %

The point here is that over 95% of solutions are found by looking within the box & weeding out inefficiencies through various available tools.??

The beauty of being in sales is the chance it gives you to learn about different things, hear different perspectives by interacting with your customers, this too when you are getting paid for it.??

??NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL SOMEBODY SELLS SOMETHING – HENRY FORD