An area a lot of people struggle with, debate over, and complicate is really a basic topic. That topic is sales. Everyone wants to know how to make more sales, how to have a higher conversion rate in their cold calls, how to convert more of their inbound calls.
Sales are how businesses can exist. I guess in Silicon Valley they exist with some other metrics but eventually sales are the life of a business.
The Secret To Increasing Your Sales
Alright guys, we see a lot of different things out there, a lot of different books about selling, the best opening, reverse selling, selling benefits, not being a commodity, differentiating, and countless other methods.
We see sales trainers, and gurus talking about their hidden formula that converts leads, like McDonalds converts skinny people into obese.
We see people over-complicating their entire sales process into oblivion.
Enough.
So what is this secret that will astronomically improve your conversions?
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Sorry, there is no secret. There is no hidden method or unheard of technique that you can use to take you from a loser to a winner, from a $10/hr telemarketer to a CEO. The techniques have existing for years, it is the trainers and gurus that have changed the way they package and sell the information so people like you continue to buy.
I did it, with my “Ultimate Blueprint To Create Your Own Web Agency“. While I did my best to make sure it is top notch value, and there certainly is a lot of information inside it that most people will not find on their own unless they knew exactly what to look for, the info is still out there somewhere.
We’re in the age of information. Very rarely will there be something groundbreaking that hasn’t ever been done before. When it comes to sales, you can rest assured that it’s already been done thousands and millions of times before. We are a human race that has been selling since the beginning of time and will continue selling until nuclear warfare melts us away.
We sell services, products, goods… we sell ourselves when interviewing, dating, or family reunions. Selling is a part of our nature.
Conversation: What Sales Are All About
Just because there is no true secret, that doesn’t mean there aren’t tips available to you and the biggest tip I can give you that nobody really focuses on is the power of conversation.
The more conversations you have, the more you will sell. Period. The more chances you will have at uncovering the lead’s needs. The more chances you will have to solve a problem.
Related Post: Why Selling “SEO” Is DEAD.
That’s really what it all boils down to and if you have purchased products in the past to help you with sales, they usually focus on “getting the conversation”, finding the decision maker, etc.
There are two common problems I’ve seen with a lot of sales people.
1.) They talk too much.
or
2.) They are too timid and unmotivated to sell. They think selling is intrusive.
If you’re in the first boat, the ones that talk too much you’re missing out on a lot of things.
You miss out on:
- Opportunity
- Discovering Needs
- Solving a Problem
- Building Trust
If you’re in the second boat, then you’re also missing out on the above list and you will never get to be where you want to be in your career or business. You think that you can just outsource the selling? The greatest CEO’s on the planet, are masters when it comes to sales. They sell to their board of directors, they sell to shareholders, they sell to employees, and they sell to the world. If you can’t do sales, what makes you qualified to hire someone to do sales?
Have no fear fellow income bullies.
Here are some tips to improve your sales.
Tip 1: Generating Conversations
I already stated my opinion and for me it is personal fact that conversations are the core of sales. Techniques you learn to get past the gatekeeper/secretary are in order to generate a conversation with the decision maker, right?
When you’re able to generate conversations with prospects or leads, you’re taking the pressure off of selling. If you’re a timid person and you don’t think you’re really a sales person, that’s okay! Anyone can learn how to get sales, it is just a matter of having conversations.
When you have a conversation with someone that may be in need of your product or service, you’re discovering what they want, what they expect, what they go through. They’re basically giving you all the information YOU need in order to sell them your product or service, assuming it helps them in some way.
Instead of approaching your leads in a way that your focus is to just sell to them, and trying to script out a magical formula to get them to say yes and pay you; focus on having a conversation about what their experience has been with products or services like yours. If negative, ask them what they think should have been different… if positive, ask them what would make their experience even better?
Ask open ended questions. Don’t ask yes or no questions, you want the person on the other end to talk more than you, the more they talk the more they trust you, this isn’t just in sales but in life, friends, dating, etc.
Tip 2: Don’t Ignore The Power of Follow Up
You have a lead, or at least had a lead at one point but never heard back from them. Shame isn’t it? It amazes me how many people let these leads go without a fight.
You can implement a lead nurturing strategy, and you can personally follow up by phone or a face to face visit.
Not everybody is ready to buy right now and if they’re not ready it doesn’t mean that you let the relationship funnel down the drain. Instead you want this lead to be in YOUR funnel.
There have been countless times that someone was interested but “it wasn’t in the budget” right now, and it was the same story every time I followed up, but one day they’re ready to go! Some people have bought from me 3 years after the initial contact.
You work hard to generate conversations, why let that work go to waste when you have a relationship built and all you have to do is simply call them and ask how things are going?
Careful though, don’t call too much. One common mistake is that salespeople overwhelm the lead with follow up calls in a short period of time.
Tip 3: Be Willing To Get Creative
Sometimes businesses have people working there whose job is to make sure you don’t get through to the decision maker. The almighty gatekeeper that instantly shuts you down. It’s almost as if the caller ID says “SALES PERSON” before you even open your mouth.
This forces us to get creative in how we sell, especially in a B2B arena.
We know how important it is to get the conversation…
One thing I commonly do if I don’t know the owner of the company’s name, is that I will put their URL into who.is to look at the domain registry information. Sometimes this information will be the business owner. I normally will cross reference the who.is information with linkedin as well as manta to see if there is supporting evidence that person is the owner of the company.
Another example of creativity is actually from a reader of this blog. Andrea, from Italy has been using video screenshares to analyze his leads website. He’s currently experiencing a 30% conversion rate with this method.
The reason it’s working for him is that it is allowing him to create, or manufacture a conversation with a lead that may or may not have been interested if it were simply a cold call trying to sell them on the spot. He built credibility, trust, and created an opportunity to have a genuine conversation.
Summary
Sales aren’t tricky. You don’t have to be super outgoing and you don’t need to have a complex strategy. In fact, the simpler it is the better off you will be. K.I.S.S. = Keep it simple stupid.
A simple approach to sales will almost always work best. Having a conversation isn’t too difficult is it? There is no secret to success in sales, just some effort involved in having conversations.
What are some of the best tips you’ve received when it comes to sales?
Excellent post! Sales is always about the relationship and there is no better way to start a relationship than with a conversation.
Every time we talk to someone, we are selling. It just may not always be for money. Sometimes it’s power or influence or even sex.
The point is, everyone can do it, whether you believe you can or not. You just need to recognize that it’s something you already do and change your belief.
Get past that and sales is easy. Juggling. Now that’s hard!
It really is as simple as that, no need to complicate the entire process. K.I.S.S. !
Spot-on post again. The only thing I’d contest is that actually getting the chance to have that conversation requires finding the best approach to doing that.
With the aim of having as many conversations as possible. For example of mass outreach, you really could run a contest on facebook giving some of real value away in a contest and fill your funnel and getting your key sales material out there to sell without needing to be there. And if you’ve targeted the right people, after the contest, people will know about your business in their thousands, many will be signed up to you list and in your funnel, and already have shown an interest. There are many great ways to do that.
And then you see on the WF, people making hundreds of calls a day to try to find one person to have a conversation with, and generating one lead, but refusing to question themselves and try other things like you advocate.
Even thought getting to have those conversations with thousands a week and them having the chance to get know you, find out what you offer and making a buying decision with the right methods of setting up the conversations, hardly any seems to want to learn them or use them.
There are actually ways to sell which don’t repel people, and there are many ways that do. It’s important to know the difference. The guy doing the screen shots is willing to put that extra work in so when he approaches them, he’s already adding value. That’s one great way that will make a sales process nice and smooth and straightforward.
Thought and effort, trial and error and sound testing should be put into how to generate those conversations in as great a number as possible to help someone achieve their goals. Or just finding the right teachers and resources who can teach them that. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but people need to be able to make serious effort and put the work in to get the conversations, which is simple when you know how.
Shocking how few people are willing to do that and rely on methods that are just habits, refusing to change or try a another key to lock that will open the door to so many easy sales conversations and much more revenue.
Thanks for such the in depth comment John. You’re right, there a lot of different techniques to get the conversation, but it’s important to remember what we’re doing here. It doesn’t take a lot of advance tactics, it takes targeted action to make a difference in your life and in others.
Thanks for the value added here in your comment. I feel like it could be a separate blog post by itself!