We all want to enhance sales results. Don’t we? But this is not easy task! The sales profession moves faster than ever today. In the blink of an eye, new competitors emerge, products similar to ours are released, and before we know it, it’s a race to the bottom. Isn’t it? What worked well a few years ago isn’t good enough today, no matter what industry you’re in. This is no time for trial and error or order taking; this is a time to sell. Here are some basic tips you can take to enhance sales results, reduce cost of selling, and ensure survival.
Here are the 9 Tips to Enhance Sales Results:
1. Clarify your mission.
This may sound basic; but believe me it is very critical. Begin by understanding your business niche. What do you do best? Who needs what you do? How do you best approach these prospects? How much are they willing to pay? If these questions are not answered easily, campaign at the top for clarity and vision. Simply put, clearly understand your target customers and know them very well.
2. Break the mission into specific goals.
Write down the activity goals (calls per day, proposals per month, referrals per call, etc.) that you can control. Set results goals (sales per month, amount per sale, profit per sale, etc.) to measure your progress, and track them closely. Increase your activity and measure the results. Goals focus your attention and energize your action. Remember to set up SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Agreed-upon, Realistic, and Time-bound. Without SMART goals you are actually sailing with no map or direction to nowhere!
3. Sell to customer needs.
This is one of the effective tips to enhance sales results. Always assume your prospects will buy only what they need. How can you convince them of that need? Emphasize the features of your product or service that reduce costs and solve problems for the customer. Then, translate that feature into a customer benefit: something of gain to the customer. Always ask: what is it for the customer to buy your product or service? What’s the advantage? Be creative in your sales and marketing. Show your product or service as a solution to the customer needs.
4. Create and maintain favorable attention.
Effective marketing, referrals, strong sales skills, and strategic questions are the keys to creating favorable attention. Diligent follow-through and above-and-beyond customer service are the keys to maintaining it. Do not under-estimate these. After all, these are differentiating factors when products or services look alike. And these have positive long term effects on your sales results.
5. Sell on purpose.
If you want to enhance sales results then prepare for your sales strategy and calls. Remember, successful selling is 75% preparation and 25% actual selling. Know both what to do and why you’re doing it at every step along the way. Who are you targeting and why? What are you going to tell them and why? What are you going to ask them and why? What is your proposal going to look like and why? When are you going to ask for the order? If you don’t feel sure of yourself at every step of the selling process, get some training or guidance.
6. Ask, listen, and act.
Better than any others, these three words summarize success in sales: Ask, Listen, and Act. This is a very powerful tip to enhance sales results. Your questions must be creative, planned, relevant, and direct. Your listening skills must be highly developed. You must respond and take action that proves that you listened to the customer and want the sale. At the end, you are a problem solver and a consultant to the customer. If you have this attitude, then you are ready to enhance your sales results.
7. Work on the basics.
Even the best of the best have room for improvement. Make a decision to improve your weaknesses, and set goals to force yourself to do the things you don’t like to do. To enhance sales results, be more creative in your prospecting, fact finding, and presentation skills. Imagine the perfect salesperson and compare yourself to the ideal. Develop expertise in selected areas. Gaining “expert power” improves your self-image and increases the value of your contributions to your employer and customers.
8. Develop your attitude.
Your attitude is controllable. Conquer your fears. Change the beliefs that limit your success. Your thought habits control your commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, resilience, happiness, and confidence. Be aware of them, decide which ones are unproductive, and then make a commitment to change. Focus on the future. We should learn from past errors but not be immobilized by them. With time and effort, you can become the person you want to be. I suggest that if you want to develop a positive mental attitude, read books and listen to audiotapes that describe how to create a more positive outlook.
9. Maximize your time.
Effective and efficient time management is a key to enhance sales results. Focus on your goals. Test every activity for its importance and urgency. Create an ideal schedule, and test your actual time use against it daily. Remember, just one hour a day used more productively adds up to more than six extra weeks of productive time a year.
So these were 9 simple tips to enhance sales results. They improve your chances of winning that sales and effectively satisfying your customers’ needs. Surely, there are others, but I compiled these as they are of the most effective and simple tips to enhance sales results.
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