I recently attended a fantastic event where the founder of ActionCOACH Brad Sugars gave an insight as to what it takes to finish your business. Get to the point where the business can stand on its own, a commercial profitable enterprise that works without the owner. And that may be you. In fact you may have been there with me at the event.

So picture the scene, 190 business owners in the room, all engaged with the presentation, participating with the questions, scribbling away the notes to make sure they have the memory jogger in the morning so they can apply the learning. There’s a real buzz in the room. Brad asks the question:

‘Hands up all the sales people in the room’

Across the audience about 8 or 9 hands go up. In his definitive Australian way he looks across the audience and sighs, ‘hmmmmm’. ‘So, team remind me, how many of you are business owners’. There is a reflective pause before the room raise their hands. Swiftly followed by ‘so how many sales people are there?’ The vast majority of hands remain, hoisted.

For the rest of the evening Brad dispensed gem after gem to advise and guide the business owner congregation on what and how they finish their business. Throughout he teased the audience with the challenge to buy his books relative to the specific topic being discussed. At the end of the evening he asked the audience to invest in themselves and actively put their learning into action and invest in a business plan. Actively put into action what they had been the learning. Yep, he sold to the room. He offered those who were ready a way to make a difference, essentially how to solve their problem.

No Sales Please, We’re British!!

Brad encouraged the room to buy a solution, there was a distinct shift in the mood, ‘NO SALES PLEASE, WE’RE BRITISH’. I watched on with fascination at the back of the room, not because I thought everyone should buy buy buy, rather how we generally find it uncomfortable being sold too. Yet here we are a room full of business owners, a roomful of salespeople.

Now, this wasn’t an isolated incident having been to lots of events a similar response was had every time. I use this as an example to share the point that so many SME businesses fail to make the sale because in the first intance they are uncomfortable with being sold to and that makes them uncomfortable with selling. It’s interesting that each example I have come across the business owner is almost fanatical about their product or service, yet will feel the challenge when it comes to making the sale.

Now before I go on I should stress that I’m not in the ‘always be closing camp’, that’s old school. So today most will agree that number one in making the sell is building relationships, know, like and trust are key. Seeking to solve their problem and offering an ethical solution which is right for them. Essentially offering the value in your service or product for their benefit, and along the way make profit.

Now, this isn’t about getting tied up on the sell from stage, it’s about the reaction of being sold too indirect relations to how your selling. How many sales are you losing because you fail to see the buying signs? How many sales are you missing because you haven’t got a sales process? How many sales are you losing because your salespeople aren’t trained? And what’s your mindset for sales?

6 Top Tips for Focusing on the Sale

Why are we so British about selling? You’re in business and you have a product or service that you believe in… so sell it! Here are my 6 tips on getting focused on sales:

  1. Do your homework. Know your prospects, who they are and where they are (and interestingly where they are in concentration, and start with your neighbours). Seek to understand why they need to buy from you and what they are actually looking for.
  2. Training, Training, Training. Spend the time to train your sales force. Don’t just assume that ‘this stuff sells itself’ – that’s nonsense. Have proper training in place to make sure your sales force understand how to sell your product or service.
  3. Role Play. With training role play making the sale, dealing with objections, dealing with different behavioral types. Selling based on human interaction, so practice with other humans. Oh and I can hear you all say ‘e-commerce’, well that’s a human interaction with your website so make sure their interaction with it works, go through the sales process regularly.
  4. Move from ‘we’ to ‘you’. Whether verbal interaction, written interaction make sure you are referring to them and not you. Don’t make the sale about how good ‘we are’, make the sale about the benefits ‘you’ gain.
  5. Positioning. When you enter into a sales conversation set out the agenda. Make it clear that if certain circumstances are right and we see the benefits then can we agree to ask the question, even make a decision today. Oh, and that’s the sales question…
  6. Expect to ask for the sale. Don’t be shy, have the confidence, commitment and courage to ask for the sale. Be confident in what you are offering, which I am sure you are. Have the commitment to the prospect to ensure you will solve their problem, they will be better off after having bought from you. Be courageous in sales, you’ll be surprised what will happen when you ask the question. You’ll be left in no doubt, you’ll be able to determine where the objections are and deal with those, or you will see that you as yet don’t have their solution.

Go forth and sell, sell with commitment, with confidence and with courage. Don’t reflect on why you didn’t ask the question, rather always expect to ask the question.

Want to develop your sales technique? Then get in touch and we can plan your journey to success.