Chapter 13
The Art of Selling

IN This Chapter
Traits of successful salespeople
The psychology of buying
Eight steps to sales success
Creating a sales plan

Introduction
When entrepreneurs come up with a great new business idea, they often assume that the product will sell itself. It’s easy and enjoyable to imagine people lining up to buy your new product. It’s not quite as much fun to imagine yourself meeting with prospects day after day, making pitches and overcoming objections. But no matter what your business is, the second scenario is a lot more common than the first.
Sales skills, and an understanding of buyer psychology, are fundamental to every business. But they’re especially important for entrepreneurial businesses, because a commitment to growth is by definition a commitment to sales; it means finding new markets, outmaneuvering new competitors and winning over new buyers. As long as your business exists, selling will be the primary task on which all others depend.
But that’s only half the story. New customers are essential to growth, but so is keeping old ones happy. In today’s market, making a sale at all costs is much less important than building a long-term relationship. Studies show that it costs a lot more to get a new customer—or to win an unhappy customer back—than it does to sell to a loyal customer. And of course, satisfied, loyal customers are one of your best sources for new customers, whether through referrals or word of mouth.
Traits of Successful Salespeople
For many entrepreneurs, selling is an afterthought. Their goal is to get their product on the market, get people to notice it, and then hire a sales force when and if it’s convenient. In reality, every step in this process will go much more easily, and will have a much greater chance of success, if you understand the basics of selling.
In some ways, the classic entrepreneurial traits conflict with those of effective sellers. An entrepreneur may be a lone visionary, while a seller needs to be a guide and collaborator. An entrepreneur may enjoy calling the shots, but in sales, it’s the customer’s decision that matters most. An entrepreneur may aim for tight control of the business, but in sales, it becomes clear who’s really holding the reins.
Although it may take a little attitude adjustment, almost anyone can learn to be a confident, effective salesperson. With practice, you can develop an approach that fits your personality and your customer’s needs. But regardless of your personal style, or the type of business you’re in, certain traits are fundamental to successful selling.
Persistence. Effective sellers don’t give up easily. They look for the positive side of problems, and they know that challenges create opportunities.
Confidence. Good sellers believe in their products and know how to get other people excited about them. They’re not afraid to ask the customer to buy when the time is right. They also know when it’s best to walk away and pursue other opportunities.
Passion is a double-edged sword. On one hand, being passionate about your idea puts you in a great position to communicate that passion to others. On the other, people who really believe in an idea may see its value as so self-evident that they have a hard time expressing it clearly. To be an effective seller, you must communicate your passion in terms that prospective customers will understand and value.
Flexibility. You may have to deal with many different people to close a deal, each of whom may have different demands, concerns and negotiating styles. The ability to adapt to different buying styles is essential.
Quick thinking. When selling, you may hear objections you didn’t expect and proposals you need time to consider. You must be able to think on your feet, whether you’re answering an objection or explaining why you can’t make a decision on the spot.
Technical knowledge. Sellers should understand everything about their product. If there’s a question they can’t answer on the spot, they must quickly get the information they need.
Empathy. Good sellers can relate emotionally to each customer’s unique situation and concerns. They don’t try to force a one-size-fits-all solution on them or pressure them to spend more than they can afford. They know when to give customers a little breathing room. Empathy also helps them identify and overcome obstacles to making a deal.
Excellent listening skills. Effective sellers ask relevant questions and listen respectfully while customers answer.
Good communication skills. The best sellers make their points clearly, briefly and respectfully. Their words and body language communicate their confidence, their empathy and their willingness to listen to and learn from their customers. Rather than confusing prospects or bullying them, they guide them toward a win-win decision.
Respect for the customer. No matter what plans you have for your business, they won’t work out unless you keep your customers coming back. You don’t have to love every customer, but you do need to remember that without satisfied customers, your business can’t survive.
You probably have a number of these traits already. The others, you’ll need to learn and practice. Fortunately, developing one will help you develop others. If you really believe in the benefits of your product, you’ll naturally feel confident about selling it. And if you really respect the customer, you’ll naturally be a good listener.
One thing is certain: For the leader of a business, learning to sell is not optional. In almost all entrepreneurial businesses, the head of the company is also the head of sales. Even as companies grow, important clients always want to meet the boss!
Marketing vs. Selling
As important as it is to understand what selling entails, it’s equally important to understand what selling is not. It’s not sending out emails; it’s not attending a trade show; it’s not posting on Facebook, hiring an SEO team or offering Groupons.
Too often, entrepreneurs confuse marketing activities like these with selling. Good marketing ensures that people know who you are and what you do; good selling techniques convince people to buy from you, to keep buying from you, and to recommend you to other buyers.
Although these activities overlap, they should always be distinct in your mind. Marketing has little value if you can’t sell, just as an ability to sell has little value if people aren’t aware of your product.
Here’s another way to look at it: Marketing is about groups, and selling is about individuals. Again, these categories overlap, but at the heart of selling is a personal connection with an individual buyer. This is where statistics and marketing data break down, and the unpredictable traits, concerns and needs of individual customers come to the fore.
Balancing Marketing and Sales
The right balance between sales and marketing varies by business. For lower-cost items, such as glue or gardening tools, marketing is more likely to drive consumer interest; the buying decision will be relatively uncomplicated, and the need for intensive personal selling will be minimal. For items that are more expensive, have more personal significance, or require an ongoing relationship, making the sale is more likely to depend on a one-on-one sales pitch.
This is also true for many business-to-business sales, and for manufacturers who rely on wholesalers and distributors. And of course, for businesses that sell to large companies or to the government, personal selling techniques are likely to be far more important than marketing.
However, effective selling techniques always rely on good marketing data, so the fact that a business prospect requires more selling time does not make market research less important. If anything, it makes it more important, because poorly targeted sales efforts will waste your time and money.
Integrating Marketing, Sales & Customer Service
In a well-run business, the marketing, sales and customer service teams work together seamlessly, with each providing data and knowledge that the other teams can use to improve their operations. For example, the marketing team identifies target markets and prioritizes sales leads; the sales team creates and executes sales strategies based on marketing information; and the customer service team provides followup service, generates referrals and compiles data on customer satisfaction and evolving needs, which the marketing and sales teams can use to hone their operations.
Even if you’re handling all three tasks by yourself, you should strive to keep them distinct but interconnected. Whatever tracking system you use should allow clear lines of communication and interaction between these functions, so that you won’t have to invent a system from scratch when you hire more staff.
If these functions aren’t integrated from the outset, your teams may not collaborate fully. The customer service team may fail to provide referrals to the sales team or feedback to the marketing team. At best, this lack of mutual support can result in a loss of valuable opportunities. At worst, it can cause a growing business to fail.
Your goal should be a responsive, evolving, scalable system that facilitates feedback between each of these teams, so that the right prospects are consistently targeted with the right sales strategies and followup services.
…
It was my 55th birthday, and I was ready to make some changes. I’d felt that way for a while, but I put off making any moves because I wanted the time to be right.
You know how it is—it always seems like it’s not quite the right time, like one more thing needs to fall into place first. But then you realize that you’re as ready as you’ll ever be, and there’s no time but the present. Now is all you’ve got, so you need to get busy!
Robert Chavez had spent 12 years in the service department of a large office equipment manufacturer based in Tempe, Arizona. He was responsible for all service followup activities in the area, so he was well aware that the biggest customer complaints involved response time, equipment reliability and price.
He knew the business, he knew the people, he knew the area, and he was sure he could do a better job of meeting people’s needs than his employer ever had. His office manager, Anna Gambera, felt the same way. She was ready for a change too, and she’d seen enough poor customer service over the years to feel that there was a strong market for Robert’s skills.
We looked at our capital situation, and it was clear we didn’t have the option of launching a competing firm. I had skills that were marketable right away, so that seemed like the best place to start if we wanted to keep things lean and mean. Our plan was to become independent reps for an equipment business. We’d also manage our own service contracts.
At a trade show they attended, Anna and Robert had been impressed by the team they met from a large overseas copier manufacturer; the product was high in quality, and the company was aggressively expanding into the western United States.
Anna drew up a proposal to the company, defining the territory and the terms of their customer service contract. Meanwhile, to hone his skills, Robert enrolled in a five-week repair course for multifunction printers. They decided to call their new business Copiers West.
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The Psychology of Buying
If selling were a simple matter of listing features and benefits to help buyers make an informed decision, there would be nothing to it. But in reality, buyers have many possible motivations, and not all of them are rational or obvious.
Here are some points to consider:
Most buyers respond to stories. Instead of rattling off technical specs, explain how those specs solved a problem for a previous customer. Be prepared to back up your stories with references.
Behind every buying decision, there’s a desire or a fear. As we’ve said before, you need to know what you’re really selling, whether it’s beauty, security, happiness, status or health. Unless you understand the hidden motivations behind buying decisions, you’ll find it hard to get customers to buy in.
Buyers often base decisions on emotions or instincts, and then look for rational arguments to justify them. If a prospect hasn’t bought into the product emotionally, facts and figures may not change his mind. Once the prospect has bought in, however, the discussion of features and benefits is likely to be reassuring.
Most buyers like to talk about themselves. Being a curious, engaged listener is vital to building a relationship, and building a relationship is vital to earning loyal customers.
Business buyers tend to be skeptics. They usually want to see strong evidence of value, technical expertise, reliability and professionalism. It’s important to show that you understand the buyer’s pressures and concerns before explaining why your product meets her needs.
How do Individual Consumers Make Purchase Decisions?
In general, buying behavior involves identifying a need, gathering information, evaluating alternatives, making the purchase, and evaluating satisfaction.
Consumer purchases vary by:
Level of involvement. How important is the product to customers? What percentage of their income does its price represent? How often do they buy? How complex or unique is the product? How trendy or cool is the product?
Degree of brand loyalty. How important is a particular brand to customers? Do they associate the brand with particular events, memories, related products, or people? Or do they fail to distinguish between different brands altogether?
Habits and learning. What do customers need to know to make an informed purchase? Do they have to learn something new or give up an old habit before buying?
Consumer motivation. Why is the customer making the purchase? Is it primarily satisfying physiological (food, shelter), safety (protection, security), social (acceptance, friendship), ego (prestige, success), altruistic (good for people, animals or the environment), or self-actualization needs?
Consumer perceptions. How do consumers perceive different brands and product offerings? By what criteria do they evaluate different products? Do consumers have a positive or negative image of the product?
Direct sales. How do they relate to the salesperson? Do they like and respect her? Does she know the technical aspects of the product?
How do Organizations Make Purchase Decisions?
Business buyers are usually more cautious than everyday consumers. Their purchases are often riskier, because if the parts they buy fail, so will their finished product. There’s usually more negotiation and an ongoing relationship in business-to-business markets, so personal selling tends to be more important.
For important or expensive purchases, businesses often rely on buying teams to dictate product performance and type. Members often fall into the following roles:
The gatekeeper regulates the flow of information to the team, and finds alternative products and vendors.
The influencer has some ability (based on experience, position or technical expertise) to influence the other members of the team.
The buyer decides what to purchase, and may help to evaluate different choices (although he or she often defers to colleagues who have more technical expertise).
The user helps set product specifications, and evaluates the product after using it.
Knowing who fills these roles, and how they make decisions, can help you focus your sales efforts.
Eight Steps to Sales Success
You should already have identified:
Your target customers’ location, needs, problems and goals (market research and analysis).
The unique benefits your product offers these customers (positioning statement).
How your offerings are better than competitors’ (competitive analysis).
The resources you have to encourage consumers to buy (marketing plan).
Now, you will use this information to sell effectively.
Step 1: Prioritize Prospects
A sales prospect is someone who has the demographic and psychographic traits you’re looking for in a customer.
Think about your local, regional, national, online and international sales prospects. Also, use your network of friends, family members, advisors, customers and business contacts to identify prospects.
Asking for referrals is one of your best sales techniques. Joining organizations or clubs in your field is an excellent way to meet new people and prospects. If you are a sole proprietor, these organizations can introduce you to likeminded people and help you keep up with new business developments. Using LinkedIn and similar social media is another good way to expand your circle of contacts. As we learned in Chapter 1, the key is to network in a respectful, professional, genuine and mutually beneficial manner.
Another way to prioritize prospects is to think in terms of the solutions your products provide and identify the prospects who will benefit most quickly from those solutions. Note that we said “benefit most quickly,” rather than “benefit most.” The customers who have the greatest need for your product may not be the best prospects for any number of reasons: They may have fewer resources, or be harder to sell to, or take longer to serve successfully. Especially for a beginning seller, it’s important to focus on delivering great results quickly. Once you’ve established a strong track record and excellent references, you can move on to more challenging customers.
Once you’ve made a list of prospects, sort them into the following categories:
Short-term and long-term prospects. Short-term prospects are available immediately. To sell to long-term prospects, you may need time to build relationships, increase production or improve products. Creating a timeline that outlines each step of the selling process can keep your sales efforts for long-term prospects on track.
Most profitable/least profitable. Analyze each prospect’s profitability. You may find that larger accounts offer less profit per sale, but more profit in total. Small accounts may provide more profit per sale, but less profit over time. Always balance the amount of time it takes to sell against the revenue it will provide.
Strategic accounts. Whether you’re just starting out or expanding into a new market, you may want to target customers who will open doors for you elsewhere. For example, if you provide excellent service to a well-known business in your area, this may make you more credible and visible to other local prospects, or it may earn you referrals to higher-value clients. Alternatively, a specific client may provide useful data or serve as a test case for proof of concept.
Prestige accounts. High-profile accounts provide great exposure for your business. Unfortunately, everyone else wants these prestigious accounts too. You may be tempted to make less profit on some of these accounts, just to get your name associated with them. However, this can be dangerous; always remember that it doesn’t matter who your clients are if you’re not making enough of a profit to sustain your operations.
Next, develop your sales targeting strategy. Which accounts should you target first? Which are critical to long-range goals, and which are the bread-and-butter accounts?
It’s never too early to set up a database or other customer management system for analyzing and prioritizing prospects. Whenever you learn something about your customers, document it. Plenty of reliable software is available to small businesses, but even an index card system is better than flying blind. Customer data is at the heart of every business, so gather it religiously, keep it organized and protect it well.
…
We were up and running by June, and we started right away making sales calls.
It was hard just to get a foot in the door. Most businesses in the Phoenix area already had copiers and service contracts. If there’s no trouble, they don’t want to change anything. Besides, when you run a business, so many shady people call up wanting to talk to you about your copier. A lot of people’s ears turn off as soon as you start talking.
Was this a big surprise to us? Yes and no. For the most part it wasn’t, because we expected refusals and we factored them into our selling and marketing strategies. But at the same time, it was a huge surprise, because the problems we anticipated were all on paper. And let me tell you: Getting turned down is very different when it’s happening to you personally, day after day after day.
So yeah, we were prepared for a certain number of refusals—a certain number of clients we probably wouldn’t get, at least at this early stage. What we weren’t prepared for was just how much those refusals can wear you down and shake your confidence.
Robert and Anna still believed that their higher-quality copiers and superior customer service would convince their prospects to switch. The problem was getting those prospects to listen to them.
After doing some more market research, they decided to narrow their focus: They’d target smaller businesses, where they might have a better chance of getting a fair hearing. Once they had a list, they began a new round of cold calls.
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Step 2: Preparing to Sell
In retail sales, the best preparation for selling is knowing your products inside and out. Suppose a customer enters your store and asks for help. She’s looking for a special item you don’t carry. Does she absolutely need that brand or type of item? Or do you have another item in stock that will work just as well? Knowing what your products can and can’t do is key.
When selling a service, planning lets you anticipate the customers’ needs, wants and questions. Here, the goal might be to explain why you offer more value than a competitor. This means you need to know how your competitors operate, what they’re charging and why you deliver more value.
If you’re a manufacturer, you might stress the quality of your materials or workmanship, or the fact that only you offer your product. Again, the key is to know what else is on the market and be ready to explain why your product is better.
Cold Calling
Simply put, cold calling means personally promoting your business to strangers who may or may not have any interest in it. Telemarketing and door-to-door selling are two of the most well-known forms of cold calling, and if you’re like most people, you’ve probably given more than one cold caller the cold shoulder.
For people who are new to selling, few things are more intimidating than making cold calls on prospects. Cold callers hear a lot of refusals, and those refusals are not always polite. It’s natural to feel frustration, dejection and even anger when prospect after prospect refuses to hear you out.
Nothing we say can make this sort of rejection pleasant. All you can do is recognize that it’s a valuable learning experience that every good seller goes through, and from which every great seller learns to benefit. You’ll learn a lot about your customers, your products and yourself. You’ll learn what does and doesn’t work, and learn to read warning signs, identify hidden concerns and adapt to changing situations. Perhaps most important, you’ll learn to take failure in stride and keep moving forward.
Simply by virtue of conducting cold calls in the 21st century, you have an advantage that very few sellers 50 years ago could’ve imagined. With so much business information online, cold calls are a lot warmer than they used to be! By doing your homework, you can develop a good working knowledge of your prospect’s goals, concerns and needs long before you speak to her. This helps you get the most out of your time with buyers by asking them questions and giving them answers that are tailored to their situation.
No seller can afford to ignore this resource. Whether for a simple sale (a call on one person who is capable of making the buying decision), or a complex sale where multiple buying influencers take part in the decision, intensive research and careful sales-call planning is the biggest part of the selling process. Learn everything you can about each of your prospects—from the Internet, customers and suppliers, and anywhere else you can get good information—and adapt your solution to their needs.
To save time and improve your targeting, it’s usually best to focus on getting an appointment. Delivering a unrequested sales pitch on the phone, or in person, is likely to lead to a refusal. Wherever possible, keep your pitch to a minimum on your first approach by offering to solve a problem or conduct a free evaluation. Then,  aim for a formal, scheduled meeting with your prospect. Even if you don’t succeed, you may gain useful information about the buying process and the people who influence it. In some cases, you may even identify specific reasons why a sale is not feasible at that time, allowing you to move on to more promising prospects.
Buyer Orientation
Buyers have different motivations for their buying decisions. Salespeople must understand these motivations and use them to sell from the customers’ point of view.
Here are some common motivations:
Security. This buyer has a desire for stability and does not want any risky propositions. You should minimize his exposure to risk, and make him feel comfortable.
Power. These buyers want to be recognized for their position and influence, and may abrasively assert their authority and knowledge. They may not be very much fun to call on, but they do make decisions and get things done.
Relationship. This buyer likes people and tends to be very open and friendly. Relationship buyers expect you to socialize a bit before getting down to business. This is fine if they can make a decision, but not if they waste your time.
Enlightened. This buyer makes informed decisions by gathering facts and weighing the alternatives. Being well informed and knowledgeable about your product will serve you well when calling on this buyer.
Step 3: First Contact
Your first contact with prospects should make a positive impression, attract their interest and gather information that will help you make the sale. Asking questions is crucial at this stage. You may think you know the answers, based on your research, but asking your prospect questions will both confirm your findings and communicate your interest in your prospect’s issues.
Basic types of questioning include:
New information. Use new information questions to find out what the customer needs and values. (What will you be using this for? How many do you go through in an average year?)
Unmet needs. What features and benefits do competing products lack? What are your competitors failing to do, be or offer? (If you could change one thing about the product you’re using now, what would it be?)
Feelings. Uncover desires, values and beliefs relating to your product. (Do you prefer American-made goods?)
Confirmation. Use confirming questions to verify that you’ve made the right assumptions or drawn the right conclusions. (It seems like your main concern is turnaround time. Is that right?)
No matter what kind of questions you ask, give the other person plenty of time and encouragement to respond. Inexperienced salespeople often get nervous and tend to talk too much. Avoid this mistake by listening 80 percent of the time and talking 20 percent of the time.
One of the best things you can do is to bring a pen and a notebook; not only will taking notes help you remember what you learned, but it will also communicate to your prospects that you’re serious, attentive and interested in what they have to say.
Last, it’s usually wise to adapt your personality to that of your counterpart. If the person you’re talking to is cheerful and friendly, you should be, too. If he or she is quiet and serious, you should attempt to project the same image. Again, this isn’t a matter of putting on an act or being deceitful. It’s a matter of showing respect for the other party.
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Anna thought we should spend more time online, following our prospects on social media, reading their customer reviews and getting to know not just their business, but also their style.
See, we knew that with some products, most of your prospects have something in common. Like if you sell videogames, gaming stores will tend to have a certain culture. The same goes for sporting goods stores, car stereo shops and lots of other places. But with copiers and printers, it’s all over the map; two customers may use exactly the same machine, but they have nothing else in common. So we really needed to get up close and personal before we could make a strong pitch.
Online, we could see how they interacted with their customers, their suppliers and other businesses. One guy did a lot of blogging, and in one of his posts he talked about how much he hated getting interrupted by sellers, and explained how and when he wanted to be approached. That was a big help!
In addition to learning more about their prospects, Robert and Anna were learning more about themselves. They’d done enough sales calls to have a clear idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Anna was terrific at building rapport and getting information; even when she got turned down, she came away with useful knowledge. However, she often found it awkward to make the transition from having a conversation to asking for a sale.
Robert did well on the phone, but tended to freeze up a little in person; he referred to this problem as “stage fright.”
It’s not that I was tongue-tied, exactly; I just didn’t feel like myself. It’s like I was trying so hard to act natural that I didn’t even know what natural was anymore. That might also be why I tended to get a lot more discouraged than Anna did by refusals.
Anyway, we both knew we needed help, so we decided to take a sales class at the community college. I also signed up for Toastmasters to get some help with speaking in public.
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Step 4: Make the Presentation
After listening carefully to your customers’ needs and problems, begin by framing a concept of your product.
Remember: Buyers often buy the concept of a product rather than the product itself. A man who buys a brand-new red Ferrari is not buying transportation; he’s buying status. If all he wanted was transportation, he’d buy an economy car like millions of other car buyers.
What should a professional presentation look and sound like? Here are some basics:
Attitude counts. A professional, sincere, courteous and patient approach is best.
Your first comment counts. Begin with a direct question or strong statement—based on your research—that shows your client that you understand his needs.
Directness counts. Your presentation should be short, simple and focused. Use your creativity and empathy to tailor your presentation to each of your prospects, and show respect for their time and intelligence by getting straight to the point.
Benefits count. Just because your product has a specific feature doesn’t mean that feature is valuable to each prospect. Use what you learned in Step 3 to show clients what’s in it for them. The more you know about their concerns, the easier it will be to make the sale.
Details count. Clearly explain your plan for meeting your prospect’s needs, taking care to spell out the timeline, deliverables and outcomes. If there are steps the customer needs to take, explain them in detail. If you have a set price, state it and note any additional costs. If you need to provide a quote, don’t offer an estimated figure as a stopgap. A bad estimate may come back to haunt you.
Evidence counts. Samples, reference letters, testimonials and awards speak volumes about your abilities. If possible, tell interesting stories about problems you solved for past customers, and back them up with facts.
Honesty counts. Don’t improvise answers to tough or unexpected questions, and don’t make promises you can’t keep. Your answers should always be clear and honest. That means explaining what your product can and can’t do. It also means admitting when you don’t know the answer to a prospect’s question. Taking guesses or bluffing will often backfire, especially if a customer is trying to test your knowledge. Instead, tell the client you’ll check on the answer and get back to her.
Your team counts. To personalize your business and sell its expertise, identify the people who will help you meet the customer’s needs and explain how they excel at their job. As with your business, highlight any degrees, experience, skills or awards your team has.
Positivity counts. No matter how you feel about your competitors or their products, it’s best to avoid criticizing them directly. It’s important to explain the features that make your product better than anyone else’s, but you should do this by emphasizing your positives rather than your competitor’s negatives. In psychological terms, this demonstrates confidence; a seller who focuses on tearing competitors down may come across as insecure, fearful or irrational. On a more practical level, you never know who you’re talking to; your customer may have positive feelings about your competitor, or even a personal or professional connection. Keeping things positive and respectful will lower the risk of antagonizing your prospects.
Step 5: Overcome Objections
Good sellers expect customer objections and are ready to respond to them calmly and honestly. They’re also prepared to learn from them; a prospect’s objections can give you a lot of information about his company, his concerns and the buying process.
Common objections include:
Your price is too high.
Your company hasn’t been around very long.
Your competitor can do it faster.
I need to think it over.
I’m satisfied with my current supplier and I don’t want to change.
There are four steps to overcoming objections like these.
Listen carefully to gather information on the problem. If possible, change a prospect’s “I’ll think it over” to a specific objection. Then, probe until you identify the objection.
Acknowledge the objection to show you understand the customer’s issues.
Explore the problem with questions.
Respond to the objection by recommending a solution or providing additional information.
Price Objections
Often, price objections are the result of incomplete or incorrect information, especially if your product is new or different. A smart seller knows everything there is to know about each product, and understands that educating the customer is part of the job. In other words, “Your price is too high” means “I don’t understand what I’m getting for my money.”
Over time, you’ll have fielded enough objections to know exactly how to answer them each time. If you’ve done your homework, you know your price is fair. The trick is to get the customer to realize it.
Sometimes, the issue is not the price of your product, but the price of adopting it. If your product has a learning curve, requires training, or will require your customer to change basic methods of doing business, this can be a strong disincentive.
This is an especially common problem for tech startups, who often have a hard time convincing technologically overwhelmed customers in an oversaturated market that there’s a good reason to learn how to use yet another device or computer program.
Overcoming this concern might entail offering free training or consultation, providing case studies of businesses that benefited not just from your product but also from the workflow changes it entailed, and highlighting the opportunity costs of not changing.
Explaining Pricing Decisions
When you set a price that makes sense, you’ll be comfortable explaining why it’s fair. Apologizing for your price, or sounding defensive, will make customers skittish.
For example, if someone challenges the price of your organic jam, you shouldn’t say, “Berries are really expensive right now. We have to charge enough to cover our costs.” It’s much better to focus on positives: “We use local, organic berries from Creekside Farm, and we make our jam by hand in small batches. That’s why it tastes so much better than other brands.” The former explanation may be true, but reminding consumers about the high cost of living probably won’t inspire them to open their wallets. When you explain your price, never apologize; always focus on the real value and benefits it reflects.
Overcoming Skepticism
If you’re offering something new, improved or different, it’s natural for prospects to be skeptical. Samples, special offers and free trials are usually the best way to overcome this issue. If you have research data to share, long experience or a solid reputation in your field, this can also be powerfully persuasive.
In cases where customers are skeptical due to the relatively small size of your business, you can point out the advantages that small firms often have over larger ones, which might include greater accountability, more flexibility, and closer personal attention to quality, service and customer satisfaction from the CEO. (Of course, you shouldn’t make this argument unless you are prepared to deliver on these promises.)
It’s also important to realize that especially for newer products, a customer’s objections or concern may be completely justified. Although it’s not pleasant to admit that a prospect has identified a problem or design flaw that you overlooked, doing so is an opportunity to display your integrity, address the issue and improve your product. You can learn a lot from these objections, so be sure to ask additional questions and get as much information as possible.
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The day we made our first sale, I could tell it was gonna be different. Things just clicked. I was over most of my awkwardness, thanks to the professional help I’d gotten. But more than that, I felt like I was just having a conversation. My prospect was telling me about his past issues with multifunction printers, and I had some suggestions for him, but the sale wasn’t even in my mind at that point; I was just thinking about the technical, troubleshooting side of things. The next thing I knew, he was asking me how soon I could get him a new machine.
I won’t pretend that all my sales were that easy, because they certainly weren’t. But at least I had something to aim for...that “click” where you’re seeing eye to eye; you understand the client’s issue and you know how you can help. I learned that usually, you get there by doing your homework on the customer ahead of time, and then listening very carefully in person.
The best thing about that approach is, it really took the sting out of getting turned down. I found out that in some cases, I didn’t have a solution, and that’s OK. In others, I did, but the customer couldn’t see it, couldn’t afford it or whatever. And that’s OK, too. All you can do is leave the door open and move on. Refusals didn’t seem personal anymore, and that made it easier to step away, instead of wasting my time and the prospect’s time pursuing a deal that just wasn’t going to happen for us.
After working on their weak points, Robert and Anna had a much better success rate. Four times out of 10 when they followed up over the phone, they got an appointment with the office manager, their prime target.
Having gathered detailed information about the business beforehand, they approached the appointment with a confident attitude. In every meeting, their rule was to ask questions and listen more than they spoke. They carried professionally photographed pictures of their copiers, as well as a simple chart that compared the cost and benefits of their service contracts with those of their competitors. They also made a point of knowing what their prospect’s objections might be ahead of time and preparing solutions for them.
By presenting their information briefly and confidently, and offering benefits that addressed their prospect’s specific concerns, Robert and Anna earned the respect of office managers. Once they had this, they would listen as the prospect asked questions and raised objections. They always probed for more information when met by an objection. Their goal was to be responsive to the prospect’s concerns, and let the prospect gradually arrive at the realization that Copiers West was the obvious choice for cost savings and better service.
I’ll admit it. There were times when I just didn’t think I would ever learn to sell. Or at least, not well enough to keep our business going. A lot of that came down to the refusals; you get a few of them in a row, and they affect your expectations about how the next meeting will go. You get so focused on that expectation that you don’t do as well as you could. And of course, you blame yourself.
In terms of seeking professional help, overcoming this expectation was the number-one problem they solved for me. I learned that most sellers go through this phase early on, and that most come out of it stronger. I learned it’s not personal and it’s not permanent; you just learn what you can from it and keep going.
Today, my philosophy is that I’m not there to make a sale. First and foremost, I’m there to listen to what the customer needs and wants. Whatever else happens or doesn’t happen, that’s the starting point. When you look at it this way, you’re much more likely to benefit from your sales calls. And your prospects are, too.
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Step 6: Close the Deal
Believe it or not, the biggest reason for lost sales is that the seller doesn’t ask for the order. This is often due to fear of rejection. And that’s understandable. No one wants to be rejected or to feel like a failure.
But chances are, your client isn’t rejecting you personally, nor have you failed personally. There are lots of reasons why clients don’t buy, especially on the first try. They may not have the authority to sign a purchase order. They may have bought a month’s supply of your product the week before. Or they may want to get to know you better before doing business with you. There are almost as many reasons as there are customers.
The fact is, if you offer a good product at a good price, you have no reason to fear the buyer’s reaction.
Here are some common closing methods:
Basic close by using a sales form. Begin by asking the customer a question from the form. Write in the answer. Proceed to the next item. As long as the customer doesn’t stop you, you’ve made a sale.
Close by offering choices. “Do you prefer green or blue?” “Would you need two of these, or three?” When a prospect makes a minor decision, the major decision is near.
Close by making a balance sheet. Take a sheet of paper, draw a line down the center and help the prospect list the reasons for and against buying your product.
Close by asking questions. If you have a prospect who seems interested but won’t commit, ask questions: “Is there anything I didn’t make clear about my product?” “If we could ship this week, would you place the order?”
Close with a closing question. If a prospect asks whether it’s possible to get what you’re selling in a particular size, format or color, don’t answer “yes.” Instead, ask the prospect if that’s the way she wants it. If the answer is “yes,” the prospect has bought.
Close by setting a date to do the work. If you run a landscaping business, for example, you might offer to start installing a patio next Thursday.
If you will be submitting a proposal or contract, make sure it’s personalized to address the customer’s issues as you understand them from your discussions. Your agreement should cover all the key points, preferably in the same words the customer used, to reinforce that you are attentive to these concerns.
Step 7: Reflect and Adapt
After talking to a customer, always go back over the discussion and think about what worked and what didn’t. What did you expect? What questions or objections came out of the blue? Reflecting on the positives and negatives of each selling experience is crucial to improving your abilities. If you didn’t make the sale, but you learned something new that might help the prospect, call and ask for another appointment.
Step 8: Follow Up
Within a week of making a sale, get back to your customer by phone, mail or email and say, “Thanks for your business!” Ask whether there are any problems. If there are, address them right away. Remember: It takes a lot less effort to get a reorder or an add-on than it does to get a new customer. If a specific team member will be handling inquiries from this customer, be sure to include that person’s contact info.
Satisfied customers are also a good source for referrals. A referral from a happy customer is more valuable than perhaps any other type of sales lead or marketing effort. If your customer is happy with your service, don’t be afraid to ask for a referral. If the customer balks, however, don’t press the point. Nobody likes to feel pressured.
Creating a Sales Plan
Given how important sales is, it should come as no surprise that we recommend creating a sales plan for your growing business. Your plan should set ambitious but attainable sales targets and detail the steps you will take to meet them. Your sales plan will also establish goals, guidance and accountability for each member of your sales force. Even if your sales plan is largely aspirational, putting your goals in writing makes them more likely to be achieved.
A good sales plan will set overall targets for your business, and then break them down by areas, markets, individual prospects, and team members. You can set standards for sales leads, referrals, cold calls, after-sale contacts or whatever else will aid in reaching your goals. Sales is a moving target, especially for a growing business, so revisit your sales plan often to make sure your target markets and prospect lists are still valid and to confirm that you’ve assigned the right team members to each.
When assigning responsibility for sales targets, it’s usually best to get input from each team member. Goals imposed from on high may be resented, whereas goals arrived at collaboratively are not only more likely to have employee buy-in, but also to be realistic. When employees meet or exceed their goals, reward them well, but also urge them to aim a little higher next time.
Also, be sure to assign staff to maintaining existing customer relationships. Trying to reach sales targets exclusively by attracting new customers is a dangerous game. In many cases, the path to higher revenues begins with your existing customer base.
Generating Leads
Your sales plan should set clear goals for generating sales leads. It’s surprising how many businesses overlook this simple step, considering how many other sales activities depend on it. If your goal is to increase new customers by 10 percent over the next six months, then it’s logical that you will need to generate a steady stream of leads in each of those months. Typically, your initial number will be based on your conversion rate (i.e., how many of your leads turn into sales). For example, if 25 out of 100 leads result in a sale, that gives you a baseline for estimating the minimum number of leads you’ll need to generate each month in order to meet your target for growth.
Let’s look at a very simple calculation for a sales plan. Suppose you want to earn an extra $2,500 next month, and your average customer spends $50. Simply divide the desired revenue by the average revenue per customer:
2,500 ÷ 50 = 50
Thus, you need 50 customers to generate your target revenue. To calculate the number of leads you need, we’ll divide your desired number of customers by your conversion rate of 25 percent:
50 ÷ 0.25 = 200
In this case, 200 leads is the minimum you will need to generate in order to meet your revenue goal.
You may also need to consider the average amount of time leads take to generate sales. You can do this by looking your last 50 sales, and noting how long each sale took from the initial approach to the sale itself. Then, total the amount of time and divide it by the number of sales.
Suppose your goal is to make 100 new sales per month. Past sales data show that 25 out of every 100 leads results in a sale, and that the average time between approaching a prospect and closing the deal is seven days.
In this case, 100 desired closes, multiplied by 7 days, divided by 25 percent equals 28. Thus, meeting your sales target would require you to have at least 28 leads at all times.
This will help you to arrive at realistic sales targets, and it will also help you to consider whether there’s anything you can do to speed up the selling cycle. For example, are your sales taking up to a week because of the paperwork or approval process typically required by your customers? Or is it happening because your staff is inefficient about responding to customers? Like every other aspect of business planning, sales planning should help you identify and eliminate bottlenecks, wasted time and inefficiency, and lost revenue.
Conclusion
Very few people are born to sell, but almost anyone can learn to be good at it. Selling should be fun, challenging, exciting, and financially rewarding.
By learning selling skills, doing your homework, and developing your own style through practice, there is no reason why you can’t ask for the order and get it.

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Selling Green Products Although most consumers like the idea of green products in theory, they may have any number of objections to buying them, especially if the price is higher. This means that you may have special challenges to overcome when selling a green product. Here are some suggestions: Focus on the traditional benefits first, and then use the green component to seal the deal. Is your product more durable? Does your service offer convenience and time savings? If so, hook the customer with those benefits and present the green elements as an attractive bonus. Be prepared to defend your case. If you sell a green cleaning product, you may run into buyers who worry that it won’t perform as well. You need to anticipate objections like these and gather the data you need to overcome them. Providing documentation or certification, and offering demonstrations, are good tactics. Accentuate the positive. Does your product help to solve an environmental problem? If so, focus on the solution, not the problem. Studies consistently show that frightening or depressing consumers makes them apathetic and less willing to buy.

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Sales Acceleration Technology Like every other aspect of business, selling has benefited from technology that speeds up and streamlines traditional sales management chores, while also making customer data far more accessible and useful. Commonly referred to as sales acceleration technology, these products and programs can help you to find and prioritize prospects; track contacts, allies and influencers; and expedite sales and followup services. As an example, sales acceleration technology can deliver targeted information during sales calls, making it easier to tailor your pitch to a specific prospect. Wide adoption of these programs makes it increasingly necessary for entrepreneurs to consider getting onboard. Further, although some types of business will always require face-to-face selling time, many sales today are made through multiple communication channels ranging from videoconferencing to text messages. This makes it necessary to have a single system that can integrate sales data across channels and departments, while also encouraging and facilitating the sale itself. As with any software, the challenge is finding a system that meets your needs now and will continue to meet them as you grow.