Learn Sales Skills That Will Make All Your Selling Techniques Work More Effectively

Have you learned sales skills by attending sales courses, reading books on selling techniques, and working in a sales role? Then let me show you a way to make all those sales skills you´ve acquired even more effective, and a common mistake you could be making. With just a few simple actions you can multiply the effectiveness of your sales techniques.

Many sales courses and training books focus on the segments of a sales meeting with a potential customer. You learn the various stages of the sales process such as the introduction stage, the presentation stage, or the closing of the sale. This leads to a sales pitch that is presented in visible stages, stutters rather than flows, and loses effect as it moves from one stage to the next. You may have picked up great sales skills in all the areas of the sales process. A confident friendly introduction, effective questioning skills, and good sales closing techniques. But can you move smoothly from one stage to the next, and carry the customer along with you towards the closing of the deal?

A good test of the effectiveness of your sales skills training is to monitor how far through the sale process you get. If you are being stopped by customers as you try and move from one stage to the next then it is the links between these stages that you should work on. You could have great sales presentation skills, but if you can´t flow from the presentation into an agreement gaining close then your sales results will suffer. You might want to look at a an example of a simple sales process by opening The Sales Process in a new window and then return here to learn how you can make your sales skills more effective.

Let´s take the move from your sales introduction stage to the questioning stage of the sales process as an example. To move in the direction of the close of the sale you want to introduce yourself, and then ask the buyer questions about their needs related to your product. In the sales introduction you have introduced yourself, your company, and grabbed the buyer with what you may be able to do for them. This is a typical sales introduction that many sales professionals use to open the meeting with the buyer.

Now let´s consider what we can add to this introduction to help us carry the buyer along into the questioning stage of the sale. You may have included in your introduction a possible benefit that you can provide for the buyer. This could be one of your general selling points, or a specific unique selling point, depending upon the product or service you are selling. You could be looking to save the buyer money, offer them a better service, save time, make them look or feel good, or boost their status. We are sales professionals, and we know to sell benefits that the customer gets from our product, not boring old features of our products. To move smoothly from the introduction stage to asking questions about the buyer´s needs, wants, and desires, you need an effective link that creates a seamless flow into the questioning stage of the sale. You also need to give the buyer a motivator to answer your questions. A benefit to them, not just you.

Take the possible benefit that you used in your introduction, for example, saving money. Now form a statement that uses that possible benefit as a motivator for the buyer to move to the questioning stage with you. Using the example of saving money, you could use the phrase, so that I can see if I can help you to save money by using our product, let me ask you… and then go straight into your first question.

The same linking process can be used to move from each of the stages of the sale to the next stage in the direction of closing the sale. You state a possible benefit for the buyer. Then use that benefit as a motivator to get them to move with you to the next stage. When you have asked all your questions, and gained the information you need, you want to move to the presentation stage of the sales process. Using the same example of saving money you can follow the process used above. State a benefit, with a statement such as, from what you have told me I can see several ways I can save you money. Then tell the buyer how you are going to do that with a statement such as, let me show you this product and I´ll explain how it will make you great savings.

Consider these ideas and how you will put them into action. Learn sales skills that link all your other selling techniques together. Adding these links to your current selling techniques will help you to move forward through the process. These free sales techniques will keep the interest of the buyer, and allow you to make the most of the sales skills that you already have. It is important that you build the links into your sales meetings using your own words. Look at your objectives at each stage of your sales process and design links that will work with your customers to achieve those objectives.

Invest in constant learning to get the most from the time you spend at work. The right training and information isn´t always the most expensive. I use a sales training course with my working sales teams. It´s a workbook training course that my team use to build a sales process for all their products. Learn sales skills that incorporate the links we have discussed, and add many more selling techniques to their sales meetings.