Selling anything to anyone is a very hard thing to do. Once you get out of your comfort zone and get used to sales, you learn a lot of life lessons. Below you can find 5 of them.
- It is the stories that sell: Products don’t sell by themselves. You need to back them up with stories. You need to touch other people’s feelings so that they can put themselves into the same shoes. If you look at the marketing videos carefully, all of them try to tell a story putting the product into the center of the story. Therefore, it is important to have a few stories about the product because facts don’t sell but stories do!
- Befriend the right people: People prefer to work with people that they like and get along well. Therefore, if you work in corporate sales, try to become friends with the people that you work with. Become friends with not only the ones that will buy from you but also with others such as the employee sitting in the front door of the company that you visit or the marketing people, etc. You will soon realize that this makes your life much easier plus you can learn inside information, for instance whether there are different offers other than yours, if you befriend the employees.
- Be honest: Always be an honest salesperson. Don’t over exaggerate your product and if you are giving a service, be realistic about timelines. Admit to your clients when your product is not a good fit for their business so that you can earn their respect. When you gain the respect and trust of your clients, you can build a forever business. Otherwise, if you deceive them, you can only get a one-time shot. Think this as a marathon and not a sprint.
- Deal with rejection: If you want to be a good salesman, you need to learn how to deal with rejection. When you get rejected, ask for feedback. Try to learn the reason behind rejection. If you can learn the real reason, next time you can take steps to avoid the same situation. Also, when you get rejected, don’t take it personally. You are not getting rejected as a person, your product or service is getting rejected. Therefore, go back to your team and brainstorm what you can do to prevent rejection again.
- Not everybody is your customer: Learn your target segment very well. For example; if your product is intended for AB income classes, then don’t waste your time with the DE group because you won’t succeed. Remember that not every client fits into your sales strategy. Also, stay away from clients that expects you to work only for them 24/7 because this is not realistic. You are their salesperson and not slave.
