Learn to sell and change things for the better.
How can I learn to sell?
To be a great salesperson, you don't have to persuade people to buy things they don't want. Instead, help them do what they want to do. Just help people exceed their expectations. Learn to sell and change the world.
Salespeople are change agents. Enable yourself or your team to change the world.
Learning to sell effectively involves developing and maintaining a mix of skills and strategies together with an understanding of psychology and communication. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Understand the Fundamentals of Selling
Learn Sales Basics: Research core sales concepts like prospecting, qualifying leads, pitching, overcoming objections, closing, and follow-up. You can find free help for all of these topics on this site. Use the search box at the top of the right-hand column or explore our free resources.
Develop sales product knowledge: Know what you're selling inside and out. Understand its features, benefits, and how it solves problems.
Understand Your Market: Learn about your target audience, their needs, pain points, and preferences.
2. Develop Key Skills
Communication: Practice clear and persuasive communication. Tailor your message to your audience.
Active Listening: Listen to customers’ needs and concerns to provide tailored solutions.
Empathy: Understand and connect with your customers’ emotions and perspectives.
Negotiation: Learn how to create win-win situations.
Resilience: Develop the ability to handle rejection without discouragement.
3. Learn and Practice Sales Techniques
Consultative Selling: Focus on building relationships and solving customer problems rather than pushing products.
Ask good questions: Ask about a prospect's situation and circumstances, Encourage sharing of issues, obstacles, and problems. Ask questions to connect their concerns with things you can help with. Invite them to express the benefits of a solution and articulate a need you can fulfil.
Storytelling: Prepare compelling stories that demonstrate value and build emotional connections with the need for action.
Social Selling: Combine the use of platforms like LinkedIn and online research to find people with an immediate need for what you are selling. Then seek to build a relationship and trust. Lead the conversation instead of pitching. Telling is not selling.
4. Educate Yourself
Ask salespeople for their book recommendations:
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Let's get Real or Let's not Play by Mahan Khalsa
- Selling the Wheel by Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens
- Get Anyone to Do Anything by David J. Lieberman
Explore our courses:
- Free B2B Self-Led Sales Training
- Sales Training Course Index
- Attend workshops or seminars in your industry.
Mentorship: Learn from experienced salespeople who can share practical insights and advice.
Get a coach: Salespeople with a coach sell 13% more than those without, on average.
5. Practice in Real-Life Scenarios
Start Small: Practice selling to friends, family, or small audiences.
Role-Playing: Simulate sales scenarios to gain confidence and refine your pitch.
Get a Sales Job: Consider starting in an entry-level sales position to gain experience.
6. Use Technology to Your Advantage
Organisation: Learn to use customer relationship management tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho to organize and track leads. Track your key performance indicators (KPIs) such as average sales value, the number of contact events you achieve, and contact-to-sale conversion rates. Leverage the data to understand trends, measure success, and refine strategies.
7. Build Self Confidence
Confidence comes from the certainty of knowing what one is doing, from the support of others who have succeeded, and from self-respect. Take the actions described above to acquire robust self-confidence.
Set Goals: Define specific, measurable sales goals to track your progress.
Seek Feedback: Regularly ask for constructive feedback from peers, mentors, or managers.
Celebrate Wins: Recognise and reward your successes, no matter how small.
8. Stay Persistent and Consistent
Continuous Improvement: Reflect on your sales interactions, identify what worked, and improve what didn’t.
Learn from Rejections: Understand that rejection is part of the process and use it to grow.
Network: Build connections with peers, customers, and industry leaders to learn from their experiences.
Would you like help with building a personalised learning plan or tackling specific challenges, such as prospecting, demonstrating, negotiating, or closing? Would you like help developing a team of top sales performers? Schedule an informal conversation with Clive Miller here.
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25% sales enablement upside?
Are you getting the
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- What needs improving?
- What don't you know?
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Selling people on their own ideas seems unnecessary yet it is at the heart of making the world a better place.
How many from any group of ten people are doing what they want to do?
Ask the following question of anyone to find out:
"If you didn't have to work, if you didn't need a job, would you still be doing what you are doing now?"
What do you think the answer would be?
How many people would say, 'yes'?
1 in 10? 2 in 10? 3 in 10 perhaps?
Everything has to be sold.
We often need persuading to do what we want to do.
People change the world by selling.
Sales and Marketing Audit
Are you selling as much as you need to or think you should?
Use our free assessments to diagnose the issues. Follow our guide.
Or have us carry out a comprehensive sales and marketing audit.
Learn to sell and change the world.
Test yourself, team members, teams, plans, or organisation with our free (no sign-up) assessments;
- SDR - BDR - Telesales
- Professional Sales Skills and Habits
- Sales Knowledge Assessment
- Sales Win Predictor
- Sales Management and Leadership
- Sales Motivation
- Sales Organisation and Operation
- Marketing Plan Assessment
- Sales and Marketing Alignment Assessment
- Sales Enablement Assessment
- Test Any Plan
- Presentation and Public Speaking Skills
- Sales Trainer Skills
Telling is not selling. Offering an alternative is not selling. Salespeople need to change the world so that customers benefit from what they sell.
If you know of something that will benefit people or organisations and fail to convince them to act, you are letting them down. Learn to sell and change things for the better.
Entrepreneurs need to change the world for investors so they will fund their ideas. Without funding or volunteers, little can be done.
Business leaders need to change the world for stakeholders, employees, business partners, and customers. A business that fails to deliver value doesn't last long.
Parents need to change the world to nurture their children because they are the future. Without continuous new cohorts of smart, well-grounded, and virtuous adults, we are all doomed.
The greatest idea will do no good if it isn't successfully sold to others.
If you need to change the world, learn to sell like those who change the world.
Most high-profile world changers started from humble beginnings.
There are tens of thousands of people who have made a difference. Their lives, ideas and accomplishments are easy to study.
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process, is its own reward." - Amelia Earhart
How Investing in Training and Coaching Can Effect Business Results
In this video Co-Owner of SlipTest, Belinda Bleakley, tells the story of their decision to invest in sales training and coaching to support post-Covid recovery and how it has helped them bounce back, stronger than ever.
Do you need to change the world?
Schedule an informal conversation with Clive Miller or call +44 1392 851500.
If you need to change the world or learn to sell a world-changing idea, we can help. Schedule a sales consultation or call +44 (0)1392 851500. Alternatively, use the contact form here or send an email to jimm@salessense.co.uk.
