What is Sales Success?
Today, I will be answering 3 key questions about why some people seem more successful at sales than others:
- Why are some people more successful at sales?
- What is it that successful salespeople do?
- How do they do it?
I’ll be drawing on my 56 years of experience in sales to provide insight into these questions. I have a sales library with 48 books, but I’ve found that most of the advice in them about manipulating and pressuring buyers simply doesn’t work. The most effective approach is to focus on building trust through authenticity.
My goal is to share strategies and perspectives that you can use to improve your own sales success. I’ll cover common mistakes, the sales funnel process, asking good questions, handling objections, and more. My aim is that when you finish reading this, you’ll feel well informed and be better equipped in sales.
Why Some Succeed at Sales
Over the years, there’s been a transition from transactional selling to being more value-based in sales. In transactional selling, the focus is just on making the sale. With value-based selling, the salesperson provides value to the customer by understanding their needs and offering solutions. They build trust and become a partner rather than just trying to make a quick sale.
To succeed today, salespeople need to provide value to customers and demonstrate how they can help the customer’s business. They need to get out of thinking only about closing the immediate transaction and look at building an ongoing relationship. Providing genuine value builds trust and leads to long-term success.
The most successful salespeople understand their customers’ problems and motivations. They focus less on pitching their product and more on determining if they can provide a solution to the customer’s needs. This consultative approach requires moving away from transactional, feature-based selling towards understanding and communicating the genuine value you can provide. Those who make this transition are often the most successful sales professionals.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
To be successful in sales, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone. Many salespeople get used to operating in a certain way or only calling on certain types of customers. To grow your business, you need to be willing to expand beyond what you’re used to.
An important part of getting out of your comfort zone is being authentic and bringing the best version of yourself to every sales interaction. Don’t let a bad day or a previous rejection bring you down. Bring an optimistic, positive attitude to each sales call. Be genuinely interested in connecting with and helping the customer.
When you are authentically yourself, it allows you to build trust and rapport more easily. The customer will recognize your sincerity and genuineness. If you’re trying to put on an act or be someone you’re not, the customer will see right through that.
Being willing to get out of your comfort zone also means being willing to try new sales approaches and techniques. Don’t keep doing the same thing over and over if it’s not working. Have the courage to change your methods and try something new. Expanding your skills and knowledge will make you a better salesperson.
Stepping outside your comfort zone can be scary at first. But if you focus on being your best, authentic self, you’ll be able to connect better with customers and see your sales grow.
Selling is About Making Friends
The basic principle of salesmanship is an abiding interest and inspired insight into the needs and wants of people. My definition of selling incorporates this principle with a helpful acronym:
A – lways
B – e
M – aking
N – ew
F – riends
Whenever you interact with potential customers, you should focus on building relationships and making new connections. View each sales conversation as an opportunity to start a mutually beneficial friendship. With this mindset, you are more likely to have natural, authentic dialogues that uncover the customer’s real needs.
Rather than trying to convince or manipulate people, simply aim to understand them on a human level. If you can identify how your offering improves their life or work, the sale will follow more easily. The best salespeople build trust by first building friendships. They succeed through genuine care about their customers’ happiness, not aggressive pitching.
Common Sales Mistakes
Many salespeople make common mistakes that hinder their success. Two of the most common issues are not prioritizing selling and not setting measurable goals.
Too often, salespeople try to avoid selling or wait for the perfect time to start selling. However, selling needs to be a top priority every single day. Selling is not a task to schedule when you have extra time – it needs continuous effort. As a salesperson, you should always be selling, regardless of what else you are working on.
Another mistake is setting vague, overly ambitious sales goals instead of specific, measurable targets. For example, saying you want to “grow revenue” is too broad. You need defined activity goals like number of calls per day or number of new customers per month. Focus on the measurable activities that will drive sales results instead of just the end goal. Tracking clear numbers creates focus and momentum.
The Sales Funnel
A key reason why some people are more successful at sales is because they understand that there is a process at work. This process starts with suspecting and prospecting to identify potential buyers. Prospects then become qualified buyers that you ultimately want to convert into loyal clients.
Unfortunately, many sellers are managing this process manually instead of systematically. You need to have an organized approach to managing your prospects and funnel them through the process in a structured way. This will enable you to be much more effective and successful.
There’s a crucial difference between the marketing aspects of lead generation versus the sales activities of working qualified prospects. On the marketing side, you want to focus on attracting new potential buyers from the general population that are not yet aware of you. For sales, your time is best spent focusing on prospects who already know, like and trust you. As a small business owner, it’s advisable to outsource marketing activities to other experts and concentrate your efforts on selling.
Have a system to move prospects along the funnel from being cold to warm to hot. Nurture leads through targeted content and interactions to develop relationships with potential buyers. When they are sales qualified and ready to engage, focus on meeting their needs with the right solutions. Systematically progress leads through the funnel until they become customers.
Successful Sales Approaches
The most successful salespeople understand that selling is a process that takes time to build trust and understand the buyers’ motivations. They don’t try to rush into a sale or be overly aggressive. Here are some of the approaches that have worked well:
- Focus on building genuine relationships, not just trying to make a quick sale. Get to know the buyer as a person and aim to provide real value.
- Ask open-ended questions to understand what motivates the buyer, whether it’s desire for gain or fear of loss. Find out their goals and pain points.
- Take time to learn the different roles in the buying process. Know who controls the budget versus who will be using the product day-to-day.
- Present the benefits of your product or service in a way that resonates with the buyer’s needs, not just rattling off features. Show how you can help them achieve their goals.
- Expect resistance and objections. Ask clarifying questions to better understand their concerns. Don’t try to steamroll over objections.
- Follow up consistently over time. Trust develops through ongoing interactions, not a single sales call. Check in with helpful information.
- Bring energy and optimism to sales calls instead of coming across as desperate. Enjoy the process of making a positive difference for customers.
The most successful salespeople are patient, curious, and focus on creating win-win relationships. With this mindset, sales become more rewarding personally and more fruitful financially.
Asking Good Questions
The types of questions you ask are critical for engaging prospects and moving them through the sales process. Here are some tips on effective questioning:
Use Open-Ended Questions
Focus on asking open-ended questions that start with who, what, where, when, why, and how. This encourages the prospect to provide more details and elaborate on their responses. For example:
- What challenges are you currently facing in your business?
- How do you measure success for this initiative?
- Tell me more about your ideal solution.
Develop a Question Library
Having a go-to list of questions is invaluable. Over time, build up your own library of questions tailored to your industry, products/services, and common client scenarios. Organize them by the stage of the sales process they are most relevant for. Being prepared with questions makes your conversations more natural and productive.
Follow EGO Questioning
Use an EGO approach – first Engage, then show Genuine interest, and finally discuss Opportunities. Start with questions to establish rapport and get the prospect talking. Move to questions that show your interest in understanding their needs. Finally, pose questions that lead to exploring how you can potentially work together.
Clarify Resistance
When facing resistance, respond with probing questions to uncover the underlying issues or concerns. Then you can address those specifically, rather than reacting defensively. Questioning helps diffuse tension and gets things back on a positive track.
Thoughtful questioning skills demonstrate active listening, empathy and consultative guidance. Along with listening carefully to responses, it enables the mutually beneficial, trusted advisor relationships essential for sales success.
Handling Objections
When handling objections during the sales process, it’s crucial to first clarify the objection by asking open-ended questions. Get the prospect to elaborate on their concerns. Paraphrasing their objection back to them also helps ensure you fully understand where they are coming from.
Once the objection is clarified, respond by emphasizing the benefits that address their concern. For example, if a prospect says your product is too expensive, you could say “I understand why you feel our pricing is on the higher end. The premium materials we use enable our product to last 5x longer than our competitors, so you end up saving money in the long run without having to replace it frequently.”
Asking follow-up questions is also important after responding to their objection. You want to confirm if your response fully addressed their concern. If not, keep clarifying and emphasizing benefits until you find the right solution for the prospect.
Handling objections is all about understanding the prospect’s perspective. Don’t get defensive. Take the time to fully listen, clarify, and respond appropriately, while keeping the conversation focused on their needs. This builds trust and shows them you care about finding the right fit.
Final Thoughts
We’ve covered quite a few tips for selling success, but my most important point is that selling must be fun. As Wally Whipple, one of the top salespeople I used to work with said, “When selling ceases to be fun, selling ceases.”
To recap the key ideas:
- Selling is about making friends and building trust over time. Don’t be desperate or try overly hard to make a sale.
- Get out of your comfort zone and bring the best, most optimistic version of yourself. Confidence is critical.
- Follow a sales funnel process, focusing your efforts on people who already know, like, and trust you.
- Ask open-ended questions to understand buyer roles and motivations. Learn to engage, show genuine interest, then discuss opportunities.
- Handle resistance by asking clarifying questions. Paraphrase and respond with benefits focused on the customer.
If you remember nothing else, remember that an authentic, people-focused approach will take you much further than manipulative sales tactics. Selling should be an enjoyable process of making connections and solving problems for your clients. Be yourself and keep it fun!
Author: Bill Prenatt
Email: bill.prenatt@simplysuccessful-llc.com