top tip to successful selling sharpen

Selling contrary to popular belief is a skill that one learns from an extremely early age and you just keep developing it all your life whether you are in sales or not. Like all tools if the skill is not continually used and honed to a razor edge it will become blunt, or like an unused muscle start atrophying. Superb sales people are made, not born.SALES EXCELLENCE DOES NOT COME NATURALLY!As a sales person your goal must be to become superb at your chosen profession of sales, to achieve this you as a sales professional must continually brush up on and sharpen your selling skills. An effective way to achieve this that I have discovered as a top performing sales person is to brainstorm withmy customers, rather than selling. An interesting phenomenon occurs when you start brain storming with your customers, they start bonding with you quickly and become interactive, increasing the richness of your dialogue with them. At this point the customer will usually ask you "What do I need to do next?" These words are nectar to the sales professional as it means the customer is ready to commit and finalize the transaction. A true professional will now know what to do and stop talking.Using this technique has enabled me to sell more than any other sales person, elevating me into the top.005% of highly successful closers. When my colleagues asked me how I just said that I created dialogue with the customer, it can be that easy.Huh, I hear you say, if it was indeed that easy how come all professional sales people are not doing exceptionally well. The answer is quite simple. Have you as a professional sales person sharpened your sales skills? Have you looked and assessed your skills and identified any areas for improvement (sharpening)? Probably not.To help you along I have itemized the check list that I use to keep me far ahead of my competitors, use it and start sharpening your skills.1. Presence: Do you command interest? For example, communicating with enthusiasm, energy, conviction and interest when speaking and listening.2. Relationship building: Do you express empathy? Build rapport, and acknowledgement when connecting with customers.3. Questioning skill: Develop and rehearse a logical questioning strategy, effectively using probing questions to uncover your customer's needs.4. Active Listening: This is where you pay complete attention to what your customer is saying, paying attention to their tone, body language, and words. This skill lacks in 90% of sales people, they just pretend to listen.5. Customising: Customize your product knowledge to the needs of your customer by demonstrating value and application.6. Asking for feedback: Continually elicit feedback in your dialogue. Embed this skill into how you speak and interact with your customers and it will flow naturally and not appear stage managed but come across as natural, allowing the customer to bond and feel important in their decision making process.7. Ask for a referral: Again this is an area where 97% of sales people fail. If you have bonded with your customer and they are ecstatic with you then they will have no reason not to give you a referral. But you have to ask them for one! They will not by nature volunteer to refer some one to you, for fear of offending you, crazy huh!Tip: At the end of each day go over the days events and critique yourself on the skills as well as the content of your sales. Take notes and work on areas you believe will need sharpening.

Original :: top tip to successful selling sharpen