Need some advice on selling skills

[sangmen]

Hello guys,
I am here asking the age old question. How do I sharpen my selling skills? I am reading several articles, watching several videos and several other means to answer this vital question. HOW DO I SELL SOMETHING EFFECTIVELY. I am just out of college and was an introverted person with low self esteem, however I worked on those skills and joined a nearby Toastmasters club and overcame that. However, I am a bit reluctant to start some conversations in a new environment and that is where I need to work my skills on. Sales also involves creativity and spontaneity, as of what I have noticed in the several resources I have referred to. I have pushed myself to break the barrier, but I feel I need to do more to make this effective. My parents and family think that I can never be an entrepreneur because I am not "street-smart" and that business isn't in my blood, hence they want me to chose the Slowlane. However, that is not what I want and its not the road I will travel. Please help me and give me some info about it because I am trying to gather as much information from different resources as much as possible. How can I practice sales skills? How can I work on improving them? How can I approach people and start selling myself? Thank you

 

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[sangmen]

Also any resources which you think are essential, please share them here. Thank you

 

[mkaul]

In any selling or for that matter in any task, the 'purpose' is very important. The higher the purpose, the less effort is the task. In a sale process, you meant to give something of value to the buyer in return for his/her money. The purpose of the sale is to provide the value to the buyer and that and only that must be the focus and nothing else. That way, you take the stress out of the process and also not carry it forward to the next sale when the sale doesn't happen. Continue sale process with this in mind and apply the discipline and see how you go.

 

[GuestUser113]

*Looks for google meme* Oh yeah I forgot. @theag

http://bit.ly/1EH41du

 

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[DawnW]

Find a part time sales job, 100% commission if possible.

 

[james.ccconcepts]

Hi sangmen. I'm not sure what product or service you are selling, but what mkaul said about "process" I back up 100%.
I started as an introvert as well but by sticking to a process I became "comfortable."
I was #1 in North America for my company selling door to door. I did the exact same thing every time.

As you well know a sale doesnt GO the same every time, so its important that you are constantly checking where your at. This allows you to stay proactive, and it's done with questions.
The most important questions I personally ask myself when I'm talking to someone are:

1: "Am I in control?"

If you want an example of control. Next time you have a piece of trash in your hand. Walk up to a friend with your fist closed and hold it out to them. Stare at your Hand and I guarantee 100% they'll put there hand out and take it. ("Throw that out for me, thanks")
- are they looking where I want them? are they nodding their head? Or are they texting or looking around?
people will pretend that they are listening so I HAVE to do 'check backs.' It snaps them into it, and focus back on me.
Ie. "Did you get that?"
"What do you think about ____"
Focus. Control.
When you lose control you can always gain it back by asking a question. Snap, ur back in action.

#2. "Do they like me?"

Everyone's subconscious minds trigger their actions without them knowing. When you start to display "characteristics of a salesman"(smiling, trying TOO hard etc.) it's like a radar blip in their head goes off, fight or flight kicks in. Next thing you know their arms are crossed and there brushing you off, they don't even know why. The best thing for this is to use DISINTEREST. Focus on the customer first, and the sale 2nd. They're guard will come down if they sense you have no 'alterior motives.'

#3. How do they feel.
Sales is a transfer of emotion. once that level of emotion raises to the point where they are giving visual cues, this is when you close.

Post is getting long so...
I've had a lot of success with scripts personally. Mostly for questions I get a lot or something that would throw me off if I had to think about it. I write them myself and practice them in the bathroom until it sounds natural.
KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

2 books: "the greatest salesman in the world" and "how to win friends and influence people."

Have fun, bud.

 

[codo3500]

Come sell for me and @bane - we'll give you a script and training. Make some money, then go fly solo

P.S. We sell websites.

 

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[Concept]

Hi mate,

There is some great advice here.

I can see you are definitely reading a lot of resources which is a good start, however the biggest thing that will help you sharpen your sales skills is ACTION! In order to learn your effort/time should be around 80% action, 20% reading/reviewing and refining.

Nothing is going to get you good as quickly as getting into action, screwing up, reviewing where you went right or wrong, and getting back out there.

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:

• Get a sales job. This will make sure you are in action all the time. Also will give you a great structure for learning and refining your sales.
• Toastmasters - never done it however I know a lot people who have done this and it helped a lot for them
• Start talking to everyone. Set a challenge to get a positive response. Eg make a stranger laugh, get a number off a girl. - this is something you can start TODAY.

With actions, set baby steps. Ok so your are introverted and have a low self esteem. Would saying hi to a stranger be challenging yet achievable? What about just asking someone for directions? Find something that is challenging for you.

For me, it start with just sitting in a cafe by myself and noticing my thoughts and feelings during that time. I forced myself not to look at my phone or look like I was waiting for someone. I can tell you my nerves were going crazy and I was worrying about what other people were thinking of me. Once I overcome worrying about things like that I decided to start conversations with the checkout chick that were beyond "Hi". I set the goal to find out one thing about them or make them laugh. It then built from there. I went into a sales role before starting my own business to further challenge myself.

ONE THING TO REMEMBER WITH SALES
You cannot directly control what someone thinks, feels and reacts. Yes there are techniques that you can use that are more effective than others in order to get a response, and by all means try them. However there are going to be times where you try everything and nothing will work (particularly at the start) - even the best of the best sales people come up against this. Be careful. Some people will take it personally and it will feel like shit. You will feel like you are bang your head against the wall and getting nowhere. I know I did when I first started with sales...however it is okay. Be easy on yourself.

Something to think about...

There is only one thing you have absolute control over...Yourself
Specifically
- The actions you take
- Where you put your focus.

If you are starting to feel like shit because "I spoke to 50 different people and got nowhere" then shift the way you are approaching it.

• Did you take all the actions that you had planned to? No - then do then do the actions you have said you would and record the results then. Yes - okay awesome. Celebrate that you completed your challenge. Now did you get the external results? yes - great these actions are working, keep at it and maybe take on something new that will challenge you. No - thats ok, lets break it down. What worked or didn't work. Look at the actions that can change?
• Or where was your focus? Were you stuck in your head thinking "what should I say next?", or where you over there with them listening for a way you can serve them?

Consider when you start putting together goals etc. Your happiness and experience stem from these two.

This is just the surface. hahah, I can go on and one about the "inner game" of sales/everything. Is there anything in particular your are struggling with?

Nathan

 

[jason91]

Sales is all about communicating benefits, needs, and value - not the ones you want - the ones your target consumer wants.

If you don't understand why your customer needs it- you can try a hundred lines and techniques and it won't really get anywhere.

Don't try to sell, don't try to impress - simply communicate the things the other party is looking for effectively. You can throw in minor exaggerations to leave an impact, but don't oversell your product.

It's a balance of You need my product, you now know why you need my product - I don't need your money - I want to help you by giving you this product, You have nothing to lose, you have lots to gain

Jason Nazar (CEO of Docstoc) gave a speech - made a very simple point about how to sell. Once you put everything into practice, you'll understand how to sell

It's really that simple. When you chase the close and sales - they run away from you - you need to understand when to sell and when to stop overselling - and that calibration comes from experience

 

[jason91]

Hello guys,
I am here asking the age old question. How do I sharpen my selling skills? I am reading several articles, watching several videos and several other means to answer this vital question. HOW DO I SELL SOMETHING EFFECTIVELY. I am just out of college and was an introverted person with low self esteem, however I worked on those skills and joined a nearby Toastmasters club and overcame that. However, I am a bit reluctant to start some conversations in a new environment and that is where I need to work my skills on. Sales also involves creativity and spontaneity, as of what I have noticed in the several resources I have referred to. I have pushed myself to break the barrier, but I feel I need to do more to make this effective. My parents and family think that I can never be an entrepreneur because I am not "street-smart" and that business isn't in my blood, hence they want me to chose the Slowlane. However, that is not what I want and its not the road I will travel. Please help me and give me some info about it because I am trying to gather as much information from different resources as much as possible. How can I practice sales skills? How can I work on improving them? How can I approach people and start selling myself? Thank you

Ultimately the most important thing is to get out of your own head.

The customer doesn't give a rats a$$ if your Sangmen or Sangwomen or whatever other name. Your self esteem has no effect to the customer - unless they notice you speaking like a little useless kid (did this offend you? you gotta become immune to it). Point is doesn't matter if you have 1 hand 2 hands or no legs - ultimately they're more concerned about what's in it for them.

You need to not practice techniques - practice the CORE of selling - which is maximizing value for the customer, minimizing the negative thoughts they have in their head - and making them understand it in an extremely effective way.

It's not about you. You are just the entity that will bring them to their needs. You do not need to be validated - if they don't want it, who cares.. you shouldn't - it's not personal, it's just what's in it for them

 

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[Brentnal]

What i think is that you have to find a sales job, and when you are home from the work day you read books about sales. And practice it at your job and see what works.

 

[The Wall]

Personally I joined a direct marketing job in which they train you to go door to door to sign people up to monthly subscriptions for charity.
People would gather together in the mornings and practice their pitches and techniques for a solid hour, you were given advice weekly by the best sales people and you got 6 hours of experience a day on the field of pure face to face sales to the point of people trusting you with their bank details after knowing you for 5 minutes.

Also read 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

 

[masterneme]

Get the books "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie and "Influence" by Robert Cialdini.
Get a sales job. If you're not comfortable enough to do it in person, just get a telemarketing job.

And being introverted is not what you think it's, for some reason there's this belief that being shy or timid is consecuence of being introverted and it's not true.

Introversion means that your main point of reference and the place where you recharge your mental and emotional energy is within yourself, introverted people value their inner world more than their external world.

Extroversion is the opposite and ambiversion is a balance between the two.

You really need to learn that being introverted is OK, you probably know a lot of strong introverted people that are very successful.

And that's the thing, they're succesful because they're strong, they believe in themselves, it has nothing to do with being introverted or not.

A shy extroverted person is as fu*ed up as a shy introverted person, maybe more because he values others' opinion more than his own ones.

It's OK to be introverted.
It's OK to be scared.
Just don't let this stop you.

 

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