7 Necessary Sales Skills: Wrap-Up

March 9, 2008 by

So you’ve overcome all the customer’s objections and asked for the sale. And you made the sale! Congratulations! Now what? You’ve got a little bit more to do to be a truly skillful salesperson. You’ve got to wrap-up the sale.

How do you wrap-up a sale that is already done? Well, you can start by thanking your customer. Always thank your customer. It also doesn’t hurt if you compliment the customer on the wonderful choice they just made by buying your product. And even though you may think it goes without saying, invite the customer to return. Offer them something that will help keep your name on the forefront of their mind when they are looking for products. A business card of sorts. Maybe you can get them to sign up for a “special deals” mailing list.

Much like all of these skills, the wrap-up seems overly simple. If you’re like me, you’ve been looking for the catch the whole time. There isn’t one. These really are some basic sales skills that will help you make a sale every time and improve your bottom line from here forward.

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7 Necessary Sales Skills: Overcome Objections

March 8, 2008 by

If you’ve been doing a little closing and have asked for the sale but not made the sale, chances are you’ve run into an objection that hasn’t been overcome yet. If you find out what the objection is, you’ve still got a potential customer on your hands. All you’ve got to do is find a way over it.

Overcoming objections can be broken down into a few smaller steps. You’ve got to make sure that you know exactly what the objection is. Summarize the objection and repeat it to your customer. Give your customer to clarify the objection if necessary. Take that objection and then re-sell the customer on the benefits and facts of your product that specifically take care of the objection. If you think you’ve overcome the objection, ask for the sale. Repeat if necessary.

In some cases, you’ll go through this cycle several times before making the sale. In a few rare cases, you’ll go through the cycle several times and still not make the sale. It’s important to know and remember that some objections aren’t put there to be overcome and you can’t overcome them. In those cases, the customer really didn’t want the product. If you overcome the objections properly, you’ll make a lot more sales than you’ll lose.

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7 Necessary Sales Skills: Closing and Follow-Up

March 7, 2008 by

Affleck Ribisi Boiler roomAll the listening, questioning and supporting in the world won’t do you a darn bit of good if you can’t close. Ever seen the movie Boiler Room? Ben Affleck’s character give a little speech towards the front of the movie on sales tactics. He mentions the old standby. ABC; (A)lways (B)e (C)losing. If you aren’t closing the sale, you’re wasting your time and your customer’s.

Think of the previous skills as the appetizers in a meal. Closing and Follow-Up are the meat and potatoes. The bulk of the project. Closing and Follow-Up are just another way of saying “ask for the sale”. With many of your customers, you’ll need to ask for the sale. Some will buy without you needing to ask, but most will still need to be asked. Asking for a sale can also be a great way to uncover any other objections that a customer may have.

How do you ask for the sale? Start by going over the previously agreed upon benefits of the product. Review how the product meets the established needs of the customer. Then (you guessed it.) just ask for the sale. Give your customer the opportunity to reach for that wallet.

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7 Necessary Sales Skills: Supporting Needs

March 6, 2008 by

If you’ve effectively listened to your customer and then effectively questioned your customer, you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of what that customer really is looking for. It’s time to begin selling your customer on what you’ve got to satisfy that need.

How do you do that? Simple. Show how your product supports the customers needs. Let’s say that you’ve come to the conclusion that your customer is looking for a deal on a dozen red roses for his girlfriend. Luckily, you’re running a site that deals in flowers. How should you go about supporting the customers needs? Show the customer why your product is superior to your competitors. Show your customer the dozen red roses that you’ve got on special with free shipping. You’ve just supported the customers needs.

There will be times when the situation isn’t that cut and dry. If the customer doesn’t immediately buy the product, you may still have some convincing to do. There may be objections that you’ll need to overcome. And you may still have to ask for the sale.

Supporting the needs of your customer is really rather simple. All it really takes is to acknowledge the customer’s need, introduce the appropriate product that satisfies that need, and then invite a reaction from the customer. That reaction can be a number of things. Sometimes it will be an immediate sale. Other times it will be an objection or further questions. Overcome those objections and answer those questions and you can move on to the next step. Closing and Follow-Up.

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