Work on your skills as a salesperson.

Most of the time just having a good quality product or service is not enough to achieve sales. The way the human brain processes information prioritizes sensory perceptions over critical thinking.

In the world of sales, this means that the consumer unconsciously places more weight on the way the product or service is communicated than on its true quality. That is why a good sales technique, together with an adequate communication, ensures the purchase.

Skills that a good salesperson should have

The businessman, as a salesman first, must have a group of skills that facilitate his commercial efforts. Here are some of them, so that you can work on strengthening them.

Listening to the customer

A good professional must pay special attention to the customer's needs. He must empathize and be concerned about the problems that your customer may present at each stage of the sales process.

Selling without really listening to the customer or only concentrating on the sale will lead to rejection by the majority of the public. That is why the skillful entrepreneur responds to demands, always with sincerity and making sure that the customer has a satisfactory experience.

Good communication

A good salesperson has a very wide range of communication skills. He knows how to adapt to the characteristics of each customer and adequately convey the advantages of his product or service. To achieve this, you must focus on making your sales speeches precise and clear, paying special attention to non-verbal language.

Confidence in your product or service

This skill represents more of an attitude that you will carry throughout your career as an entrepreneur. Having full security and confidence in what you are selling will allow you greater freedom during negotiations. In order to be confident in your product or service, you must first project confidence in yourself. The customer will pick up on this and will automatically feel more confident in you as a salesperson and in what you are selling.

Always try to avoid overreacting when you are presenting the advantages of your product or service. Trying to exaggerate too much during a sale can have the opposite effect and alienate the customer.

Patience

Not all consumers have the same buying habits and personalities. Some are more confident about what they want to buy, others are more suspicious and hesitant. That's why you must be able to evaluate this and have the patience to close the sale, no matter what type of customer you are serving.

Negotiations can sometimes take much longer than you expected. You have to maintain throughout this time the ability to listen and self-control not to show your emotions.

Market knowledge

Not only do you have to have a detailed knowledge of your product or service, you also have to be informed about the characteristics and trends of your market sector. You also have to keep abreast of your competitors' movements.

You won't be able to put any of your sales skills into practice if you don't know where and when you can locate your customers, where the market is heading or the strategies employed by your competitors.

Ability to learn

The market is constantly changing and the ties you form with customers are no exception. That's why you must constantly keep learning from every sale you make, every customer you meet and every new market trend.

Gain experience from both successes and failures. Use setbacks to reexamine the weaknesses in your products or services that cause customers to reject them, so you can turn them into victories.

Follow-up after the sale

Customer interaction doesn't end when the sale is completed, and every self-respecting salesperson should know this. Keep following up with your customers to find out how satisfied they are with your products or services, thus building customer loyalty.

Also, in cases where you have not completed the sale, follow-up allows you to maintain contact to resume negotiations and give them another opportunity.

Techniques to be a better salesperson

After having seen some of the basic skills that a good salesperson should have, here are some tools and techniques that you can use to improve or obtain these skills.

Improve your physical appearance

The way you present yourself to your customers is vitally important to your success as a salesperson, and it is your physical appearance that is the first thing you present yourself with. It conveys the degree of our self-esteem and our perception of ourselves.

In this sense, to take care of and improve the way you look, you should not only dress properly, but also sleep well, eat healthy and exercise. It will be more difficult to make a sale if you come to a meeting with signs of fatigue and in poor physical condition. As an entrepreneur and salesperson you must convey a lifestyle that the customer is attracted to.

Study your body language

As you already know, your body language can sometimes convey much more than the words you can use. One technique to improve in this regard is to record yourself in full body while you speak. You will see, to your surprise, the discrepancies between what you are trying to communicate and what your gestures imply.

The movements you make with your hands and legs, the expressions on your face, and your eye contact, very effectively convey confidence and trust in yourself and your service or product.

Organize your sale

When you are in a negotiation or sale you should always strive to stand out from a saturated market. The first few minutes of your presentation are the most important, as they decide whether it is worth listening to or not.

You have to project confidence and authority then, as a very prepared person who has the ability to solve the problems and needs of your customers. You must first start by selling yourself, then your company and finish with your product or service.

Control your voice

People are very sensitive to sound, so the way you speak, as well as the volume and tone you use when talking to customers are very significant. Think about how frustrating it is to talk to someone on the phone and not hear them well, or to talk to someone who speaks so fast you can barely understand them.

The voice is a very effective tool and the ability to modulate the pitch and volume of your voice, the cadence of your words and the inflections you make can mean the difference between making the sale or not. Learn to use your voice as a medium to tell your stories. If you are going to talk about a lighthearted topic, use a higher pitched voice. If you want to denote more seriousness, lower the pitch of your voice and speak with a slower cadence.

Smile

A smile can convey many times more than a whole speech. It is a primordial expression for human relations that facilitates better communication with our clients. Although many times we tend to fake it and exaggerate it, that's why you should try to use it only when you really feel in the right emotional state.

People tend to notice when your smile is forced and this detracts from their confidence in you, and by transitivity in your product or service. The best advice I can give you then is, use the smile when you feel in a good mood, don't suppress it.