Learn how to sell

How to learn to sell better (without hackneyed clichés)

On this page, we'll show you step by step how to prepare for the sales pitchHow do you a Develop a sales guide And how do you frequently Prevent mistakes.

The good news right in advance:

Basically, anyone can learn how to sell better — including you! Regardless of your previous education and the industry in which you work.‍

Of course, there are certain character traits or personality traits that can be an advantage in sales. Nevertheless, we are convinced that, for example, more introverted people to top sellers can be.

Because sales is expressly not about focusing on yourself, but rather about Really understanding the customer and then offer him the best solution to his problem.

And of course, classic qualities such as ambition, motivation and persistence are an advantage... But doesn't that also apply to every other professional field?

In this article, we'll show you how you too can learn to sell -- by makers for makers!‍

Preparation for the sales interview‍

Find out more about your customer

It should be a matter of course to thoroughly inform yourself about the customer before each appointment.

Very important:

Perceive all information and every detail as it is.

Avoid interpretations and don't judge. Stay value-free and “open-minded.”‍

The brain is a master at quickly evaluating new impressions and sorting them into categories. Become aware of this and “defend yourself” against it.

It can also be invaluable to dive into the life, environment and experiences of the other person.

Fortunately, thanks to the Internet, this is very easy these days:

Auf northdata.de or linkedin.com You can find many Information about your entrepreneurial or professional career your interlocutor.

Using common social media channels, you may also be able to find out who your customer knows, what they like to do in their free time and which countries they have already traveled to.

To train your own instincts and gain more insights into the topic of “learning to sell,” we recommend the book”Closing“by James W. Pickens.‍

Full focus on the next conversation

What do you do when you expect guests at home?

They make sure that your home is clean and tidy and that the sweaty sports clothes from the previous day don't fly around in the living room.

With the same care, you should also go into every single (!) Go on a sales call.

A well-maintained appearance is a must - especially for appointments on site, but also on the telephone. This is because clothing influences our entire behavior and therefore also our voice.

To be very clear:

It makes a huge difference whether you're sitting in a bright office with chic pants and shirt or at home with a T-shirt and sweatpants in a dark room. And your customer can really hear that difference!

Sort your documents and make sure that your Desktop tidy and unnecessary programs are closed. Remove any unnecessary documents from your desk.

And most importantly: Be in good spirits!

After all, you now have a chance to get a new customer!

We recommend meditating 5-10 minutes before the appointment. Let go of negative experiences and stressful thoughts and Focus solely on the upcoming conversation. ‍

Label: Give others a chance to shine

Always be friendly and courteous. It's really not a secret tip, yet you can't repeat it often enough. Gentlemen are leading the game.

Show genuine interest in your customer, their problems, their concerns, and their goals. Listen to his world and his thoughts.

The best sellers are good listeners...‍

Because only those who listen carefully can truly understand what the customer needs and what true needs lie behind their wishes.

Give your counterpart the space to develop. If you back off, he will tell you more about his current situation and needs all by himself.

He or she can't give you a better template to pitch your product or service...

Instructions: Preparation of guidelines for the sales pitch

A sales guide is a sequence of questions that you ask your counterpart in order to obtain more information about him, his project and/or his problems.

Attention:

A sales guide is definitely not a script that you more or less”blindly“Read.‍

If you work with 1:1 ready-made sentence templates and conversation modules, you run the risk that the conversation will appear artificial and set up for the customer.

The purpose of the guide is not to tell you in detail what you have to say and when...

Rather, it ensures that you Stay on track during the conversation and don't digress.

And should you ever get off track, the guide will get you back on track.

When you Learn to sell seriously If you would like to, there is no way around the preparation of an individual guideline.

Welcome & start

Your guide should always start with the greeting. At the beginning, you are also welcome to praise the customer for working together.

Getting started should come across as easy, self-confident and friendly. Right from the start, your customer should have the feeling that you really want to help them — as part of your service or with your product.

Right after the greeting, there is an essential step:

You explain to the customer how the conversation will go and what your process will look like. Whether on site, by telephone or via a video call - Always communicate very clearly what the rest of the conversation will look like.

This makes a professional impression and shows that you know what you're talking about and are able to reliably guide him through the conversation.

As a result, the customer immediately feels that they are in good hands with you.

Here are two examples:

Selling a product:‍

“Dear customer, our product consultations normally go as follows: I ask you a few questions, you tell me what is important to you when finding the right product and I will show you the best possible variant. Do we want to start?”

Selling a service:‍

“Our conversations are as follows: We would first like to find out which business you are in, what business model you have - so we can check whether we can support you - and if this is the case, then we go into more detail. Allow me to ask you a few questions?”

As soon as you click on the “GO” or the”YES“Have caught up with your counterpart, start with your questions.

Ask questions & listen carefully (Play the doctor)

We strongly recommend asking open-ended questions.‍

With yes or no questions, you deprive the customer of the opportunity to talk more about themselves and their problems.

Focus on Really listening to the customer and to understand what problems he is facing and what goals he wants to achieve.

Perhaps it helps you to imagine that you are a doctor and the client is your patient.

After all, what is the main task of a doctor?

It provides (very many) Questions to find out what symptoms you have and which method or medication is best used to treat your symptoms.

The doctor is therefore looking for the best possible solution to your complaint.

As a seller, you are in an almost identical situation:

Only if you know exactly which problems (”symptoms“) If your customer has, can you give him a tailor-made solution (”drug“) offer.‍

Think carefully beforehand about what information you need from your customer in order to get a clear picture of their current situation and objectives.

One more clue:

Especially when it comes to complex services or products, a single customer conversation is not always enough. In such cases, it is definitely a good idea to Splitting the conversation over several appointments.

How to give yourself (and the customer) the opportunity to process what has been said and the lots of new information and to start a new conversation with a fresh spirit. ‍

Attention: Significant traps in sales

We all see the world through our own eyes or, more specifically, through very individually tinted glasses. How these glasses are tinted depends on many different factors (including education, environment, experiences).

As a result, two people understand something completely different under the same term. An objective truth or an objective right or wrong just hardly ever exists (if ever). Becoming aware of this is of paramount importance for the outcome of your sales calls.

Let's take a look at the whole thing using a fictitious sales pitch.

Your customer explains:

• “I want to efficiently increase my turnover in the company. I want to know exactly what I can do in marketing so that I can reach my target group.”
• “I want to strengthen my market position and grow next year. Please provide me with a concept that we can use to implement this internally.”
• “We want to achieve a higher return and at the same time be able to better control our spending. Of course, we want to see your concept first.”
• “We need to make sure that we are reputable in the market. That is why we are looking for a reliable partner in marketing. It is also important for us to break down individual items and costs so that we can plan a sufficient budget.”

As you read, you may have noticed that many of the customer's statements are quite vague and unspecific.

Your task is now to provide targeted (and possibly even stubborn) to find out inquiries, What individual ideas are hidden behind the termsthat the customer uses.

In order to be able to offer our customer the best possible solution, we must understand exactly what the customer really wants to achieve and what goal they are pursuing.

Ambiguous terms, vague statements, phrases and unspecific values should definitely be used”decipher“.‍

In addition to the nouns, take a close look at the verbs and adjectives one by one.

Let's take a look at the nouns first:

• “Target group“: What do you understand by that? Have you already clearly defined your target group?
• “market position“: What is your current market position? How is your current market position manifested?
• “concept“: What exactly do you mean by that? Which points should the concept cover?

Now on to the verbs:

• Target group”reach“: What exactly do you understand by that?
• Yield”increase“: What does that mean specifically in figures?
• Expenses”control“: What would that look like for you? In which areas do you think spending is not being well controlled at the moment?
  

And finally, the adjectives

• “reputable“Perform: What does that mean for you in practice? In which areas do you think you are currently not reputable?
• A”more reliable“Partner: What qualities does a reliable partner have in your opinion? What do you want?
• “sufficiently“Budget: How much budget is sufficient in your opinion? Do you already have specific ideas here?
  

In this way, we process all questions one by one. And for as long as until we get a satisfactory answerthat gives us (and the customer) moves forward.

Since the questions are always structured in a very similar way and are also repeated when in doubt, Many salespeople are afraid of looking clueless in front of the customer.

But you must overcome this fear.

Because if you don't ask these questions, you run the risk of simply doing something that you think the customer certainly meant.

Misunderstandings, unpleasant conversations and a lot of stress are then inevitable.

When it comes to the wishes and ideas of the customer, we are in no way allowed to advise.‍

Of course, we could simply develop a marketing concept according to Schema F, just as we did for the last two customers.

But then we're just following our own interpretation of the term.”marketing concept“without knowing what the customer actually means by it.

It's no wonder that the customer then feels misunderstood, isn't it?

Treat your interlocutor with respect at all times and Question as much as you can in the first conversationto be able to understand the meaning of your counterpart's terms.

Only when you have really understood what the customer wants can you even make them an adequate offer. ‍

The conclusion

Once you've analyzed exactly what the customer needs and presented your solution to them, you need to Actively ask now whether he wants to buy or accept your offer.

In your first few sales calls, you might be a bit afraid of the final question — that's completely normal.

However, it is literally vital for you and your business to ask the final question clearly and concisely.‍

Because:

If you try to avoid the final question out of fear, you won't sell anything and make no money.

In addition, a conversation without a final question is also extremely frustrating for the customer. After all, he's signaled a clear interest in making a purchase and even sacrificed valuable time just to talk to you about your offer!

Behind the fear of the final question is fear of rejection or the fear of rejection that every person has as a social being.

In sales, you absolutely have to free yourself from this fear - that too is a matter of practice.

An important first step on the way to fighting this anxiety is to become aware that that it is simply impossible to achieve a 100% completion rate.

Conversely, this means:

Sooner or later, there will be interested parties who will cancel you (for a variety of reasons).

Only if you truly sincerely accept this fact will you be able to Cancellations as part of the process and not as personal failures to watch.

So:

Ask the final question with confidence and don't lose courage if you get rejected.‍

What happens after a successful conclusion?

After completing an assignment, two things are likely to happen:

• They are delighted with the contract they have won.
• The customer feels purchase remorse.

I'm sure you know the feeling of buying remorse from your own experience...

You've bought yourself an expensive watch and the first thoughts that come up a little later are:”Do I really need that? - Was the purchase worth it? - Am I really satisfied with the product?“

No matter how well the conversation went and how much the customer is looking forward to working with you - It is likely that more than 90% of customers feel a sense of purchase remorse.

That is exactly why you should ensure that the Transition from purchase to service provision as smooth as possible Goes ahead.

It is crucial that you actively involve the customer in the further process.

Here are a few examples:

• Send an order confirmation to your customer (by e-mail or by post).
• Provide your customer with information about how to proceed. Explain what you are doing now (For example, the project is set up internally).
• Let the customer know when the next conversation/ meeting will take place. Tell him the responsible contacts who the customer can contact if they have any questions.‍

The aim is to make the customer feel that they have made the right decision. Let him participate in your process, be transparent.

When the customer completes the job and doesn't hear from you in the following two weeks, their head understandably starts working:

What happens now? Is my money gone? Is my project already being worked on? When will I get a”Water level indicator“?

Imagine that you book a vacation and do not receive confirmation of your booking and/or check-in instructions, etc., from the tour operator, the hotel or the airline.

How would you feel in such a situation?

Don't leave your customer out in the rain after graduation! Keep contact as close as you can.

Learn to sell: The 3 most important principles

In the following paragraphs, we have once again summarized the most important three principles in sales for you. Follow these principles if you want to learn how to sell.

Strictly follow your process

As soon as you have set up a process in sales, you must no longer deviate from it.

It can be really tough, especially at the beginning.

We often tend to adapt too much to the customer's wishes and offer things that we actually can't at all, at a price that is actually much too low...

This can lead not only to problems with order processing, but also to internal disputes lead.

For this reason, you should definitely stick to your own sales processes and regulations.

If the customer is not a good fit for your company in terms of budget or requirements, you must not offer them anything.‍

Even though this attitude may seem arrogant to you at first glance, it can make the difference between the success and failure of your company in the long term.

Even if you are unable to meet the demand, for example, you should cancel and, if necessary, refer the customer to a professional.

Customers will not only be grateful to you for this - they will perceive you as reputable and sincere.

Always leave an excellent impression, even if the order doesn't go through. Who knows what the future will bring... ‍

Listen to your customer

When thinking of a salesperson, many people have a nervous and penetrating screamer in their heads that likes to hear themselves talk.

Yet the true art of selling lies not in talking, but in listening.‍

We recommend that you write down the customer's answers during the conversation. As a result, you automatically focus on listening and resist the urge to say something yourself.

We would like to share with you a quote from Henry Ford:

“If there is one secret to success, it is that: understanding the other person's point of view and looking at things with their own eyes.”

One of our customers and a good friend Serkan Öztürk, which at the company Elithair leads a sales team of 50 men, constantly preaches:

“Focus on your customer, not your commission. A top salesperson excels at helping their customers best. Make your customer aware that they are important to you. It's all about solving his problem. The conclusion is then just one result of that.”

Professional appearance before product features

In the first conversation, you shouldn't immediately blow detailed product features and features out of your counterpart.

The first impression that the customer gets of you is much more important.

Customers feel whether you have their”homework“and show genuine interest in him and his business.‍

Therefore, always prepare yourself well for your conversations and collect information about your customer. The more prepared you are, the higher the customer will rate your competence.

Think about it:

What impression does it make on the customer if your first question is:”Which business area are you active in?“or”Which products do you sell anyway?“.

Take a close look at your customer's market and/or business model in advance. Then you can shine with very specific questions and comments right from the very first meeting.

The episode:

The customer feels in good hands and realizes that you really care about them and want to help them with your service or product.‍

“Customers buy emotionally and try to explain the purchase rationally afterwards.“

One thing is clear:

Even if your service is a perfect fit for the customer's needs, they won't buy from you if they feel they're not being taken seriously and/or you make them feel like they're just another one”more annoying“Being a customer...‍

You should pay attention to this if you want to learn how to sell

As mentioned at the beginning, we are convinced that everyone has what it takes to learn how to sell.

The following are some important tips to follow if you want to learn how to sell better. ‍

Off to practice

Similar to sports, the regular exercise are at the top of your list of priorities. Even professional soccer players, who can actually do everything, train every week...

It is crucial that you do not lose yourself in theory, but move into practice as quickly as possible and gain real field experience.

Yes, it can be tough at first. However, the advantage of this approach is obvious:

You get Quick feedback from real people and learn what works and what doesn't. ‍

Follow the right example

The search for the right role model or the right trainer is not always that easy.

Search specifically for someone who fits your current situation:

Are you just getting involved in sales for the first time? Then you should look for a trainer to teach you the basics.

Looking to build a sales team? Then follow a role model who specializes in leadership and motivation in sales.

Be selective and only learn from credible people who have already proven that you know your subject.

In his book”Principles“From 2017, Ray Dalio explains what distinguishes “believable people”:

“I define believable people as those who have repeatedly and successfully accomplished the thing in question - who have a strong track record with at least three successes - and have great explanations of their approach when probed.”‍

Learn to sell: The best books

Here is a selection of recommended books on the subject”Learn how to sell“:

• Hallucinations in sales, Carsten Beyreuther
• Closing: Success strategies for aggressive sellers, James W. Pickens

We can recommend these seminars & courses

Here you will find a selection of recommended seminars and courses on the topic”Learn how to sell and sell“:

Seminar: Sales campaign by Dirk Kreuter

course: High-speed selling Course by Dirk Kreuter

synopsis‍

If you want to learn how to sell, you must be prepared to practice a lot and constantly improve your skills.‍

The key to success ultimately lies in really understanding the customer's current situation and the desired situation and then presenting the best possible solution to achieve this desired situation.

Die Preparation of an individual guideline can help you steer the sales pitch and not digress too much. These guidelines should also be constantly improved, adapted and refined.

Have courage and take the step into practice as soon as possible. This is how you make the most progress in a short period of time.

We wish you every success!

... and finally, a sales guide from your everyday life with the final question: