Selling is tough. It’s probably the single hardest aspect of business, yet it’s also the most lucrative and rewarding. If you’re struggling to meet certain sales thresholds or find success, it may be that your approach is off.
5 Tips for Better Sales Performance
There are three major forces that impact sales results: (1) the product, (2) the salesperson, and (3) the pitch. Any successful sales optimization strategy will account for each of these elements. But in this article, we’re going to focus on some of the ways you can improve your pitch. Here are a few tips and suggestions:
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Overcome Your Main Fear
What’s your number one sales fear? In other words, what terrifies you the most about going into a sales discussion, pitch, or presentation? For most people, it’s one of the following:
- Getting rejected
- Looking stupid
- Disappointing someone
At the end of the day, we’re all afraid of failure. You can either let this fear destroy your performance, or you can leverage it as a form of motivation.
It takes work, effort, and discipline, but you have to overcome your main fear. When you’re able to put it in the rearview mirror, it no longer controls the way you talk or act. It eliminates the feeling of desperation that drives your attitude and frees you up to engage prospects in a transparent manner.
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Stop Pitching
In the sales world, we often talk about pitches. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with a pitch, it doesn’t always put people in the correct frame of mind to succeed. It negatively affects both the salesperson and the prospect on the other end. Done the wrong way, it easily feels like manipulation or persuasion.
As sales expert Wendy Weiss writes, “Salespeople sometimes think it means they should talk at someone, but that’s not an effective way to communicate. A good pitch is one where you ask questions, listen to the prospect, and offer them a solution to a problem.”
In other words, stop pitching and have a conversation with your prospects. A genuine conversation where both parties are engaged is far more useful. It won’t always result in a direct sale, but it certainly primes the pump for future conversions.
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Listen Before Speaking
The best way to have a conversation – rather than a pitch – is to listen before you speak. While some sales coaches teach their students to control the conversation, it’s possible to do this without talking the entire time.
As a general rule of thumb, try talking just 20 to 25 percent of the time. In other words, 75 to 80 percent of your time should be spent actively listening. Active listening means you don’t just let the other person talk – you actually soak in what they’re saying so that you understand what they want, need, and feel. Thus, when you actually get the chance to talk, you can do so in an informed manner.
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Use Sales Booklets
Not every sales prospect responds to the same type of delivery. In addition to having an idea of what you want to say, it’s also wise to be prepared to show people something. This is where sales booklets come into play.
According to Printing Center USA, a printed sales booklet is easy to design and cost-effective to produce. You can hand them out as you discuss technical products as a way of engaging your audience and helping them better understand what you have to offer.
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Maximize Time
There’s nothing worse than a lingering salesperson. If your prospect has to glance at her watch and wonder when you’re going to leave, this doesn’t bode well for your chances of closing a deal. Make it a point to be as efficient as possible with the time you have. Engage in small talk when appropriate, but don’t drag on. Respect your prospect’s time and get straight to the point.
What Changes Can You Make?
Nothing kills a sales strategy quite like complacency. When you get stagnant, you go through the motions and fail to embody the energy and excitement that’s needed to close deals. While you probably won’t introduce all of these tips and strategies into your approach, there are almost certainly a few changes you can implement right away. Give them a shot and you’ll discover all of the positive things that can happen when you’re willing to optimize and improve.
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