Sales secret number 1: make selling easy

What would you say if you could sell more, but with less effort? Happily, there’s little mystery to it, although almost no-one does it.  Here’s the secret:  instead of thinking about how to make individual sales, think about how to turn each of your customers into walking, talking adverts for you.

What you may need are a few suggestions.

• Find out what customers want and need

So many sales people are focused on describing the merits of their products and services that they barely notice the customer is even there.  The real key to selling successfully is to ask particular questions and listen carefully to the answers. Help your customers to differentiate between what they want and what they need. This is important because a level of compromise is almost always required.

Once you’ve listened to your customer’s answers, repeat them back so there’s less chance of your having missed or misunderstood something.

• Give it to them

Once you know what customers want and need, you need to behave like a consultant, rather than someone out to make a quick buck.

Be honest about how your products and services meet (or exceed) your customer’s requirements. Where they don’t, be equally clear and open. You may fear that you are not ‘selling’. However, the definition of selling is not to hoodwink people into buying things that are not right for them. Your job is to find the right people for your products and to help them to see why it’s a great match.

If, on this occasion, there isn’t a good fit between what you offer and what customers want, be honest and tell them. In doing this, you will be creating both a customer and an advocate for life. This customer will be only too willing to see you next time you have a new product to sell. S/he will also tell contacts about you.

• Exceed expectations

Assuming there is a good fit and your customers buy from you, you’ll have a great opportunity to confirm their view of you. Recall the time you asked them about their requirements.  Speak with your manager about your plan to create an army of advocates and ask for permission to give your customers something extra for free. It doesn’t have to be big, but it does have to be relevant. It should be something that your customers will know you put thought into and fought for, specifically for them.

• Ensure your customers are happy

Finally, a week or two later, call in on your customers to check they are genuinely happy with the purchase. If they are, you can prepare yourself for calls from their acquaintances.  If they’re not, you have the opportunity to make things right.

Some people say that selling is a science, others say it’s a skill.  Whatever you believe it is, make it easy for yourself by delighting your customers.  Once you’ve got a delighted customer, you’ll have created the best form of advertising you could wish for. Easy does it. Who wouldn’t want that? 

Heather Foley is a consultant at www.etsplc.com, provider of bespoke technology and software solutions