When it comes to growing your wealth, I believe that the ability to sell is one of the most underrated skills.
I have in no way been immune to underrating the ability to sell - in fact, I deliberately sought out a career in accounting where I thought there was no selling required. How wrong I was.
I thought selling was a bad thing, a skill required for those that can’t become professionals.
Looking back, I can’t believe I really thought like that. I can’t believe how naive this mindset was.
Over time, I’ve become more aware of how important it is to be able to sell.
Selling is an essential skill in business, and in many ways, an essential skill for life.
Consider the following:
In business, you need to articulate your value against your competitors. Those that can sell successfully will benefit from more customers, more repeat customers and higher profit margins.
How important it is to have the ability to ‘sell’ your skills as an employee to negotiate a pay increase.
How the ability to ‘sell’ the benefits of a frugal lifestyle to your partner, one where delayed gratification exponentially boosts your wealth over the long term.
Being able to sell the health benefits of eating vegetables to your children.
Even in the world of accounting where most people literally need to lodge a tax return every year, you still need the ability to sell your services.
Just because people need to lodge a tax return, doesn’t mean they need you to lodge their tax return.
It’s taken me longer to admit, but the ability to sell is one of the most important skills one can possess.
Over time, I’ve learnt what does and doesn’t work for me. This post goes through the sales process that I have found personally works for me, so that you can benefit from my experience.
Selling starts before the sale
Positioning your customer to the sale before the sale even begins is a key to successful selling.
More specifically, if you know you are going to be making a sale to a customer, or to your boss or your wife, your actions leading up to that sale should point them in the direction of your sale.
Let’s say you know you want a pay rise by end of year. You don’t just walk in and demand a pay increase. No, you let your boss know well in advance that you are looking for an increase of 20%, and ask them what needs to be done to achieve it. That way when salary time comes around, your boss already knows what they are in for.
In the business world, you should be preconditioning your customer. Letting them know the value you bring, how your product solves a specific need for them, before they even see the dollar sign for how much they will be paying.
If you have a solid preconditioning game, half the battle has already been won.
Articulate the value
Imagine this - you call a customer and tell them you want to offer a tax planning service because it will be of value to them and help them save tax. It only costs $300. Maybe you don’t even bother to pick up the phone, you just send them an email instead. You get upset when no one responds. Don’t they know how much you can save them?!?!
It sounds silly but I know this happens.
Consider the following approach instead - you call your customer direct and articulate the value directly to your customer.
“Hi Bob, it’s Michael here.
I just wanted to let you know that when we were preparing your financial statements, we identified a number of opportunities to reduce your tax. We’d love to catch up in person to discuss these strategies.
We charge $295 for this meeting, and we will also prepare a complimentary tax planning report.
Based on your financials, we have identified tax savings of $4,000 that are available to you right now.
When would you be free to catch up?”.
Now that the client knows there’s something to be gained, it’s much easier to make the sale.
Oftentimes, it’s all in the delivery.
At all times, you need to articulate your value to the customer.
Pick the right customer
Some customers are more open to selling. Target these customers.
If you just target everyone, expect average results.
Not all customers want extra services from you.
Not all customers value your services. Some customers are begging for extra services.
Some customers are cost sensitive. Some customers don’t care about price.
When you target the right customer, selling becomes easier.
Know your customer. Know what makes them tick. And then tick those boxes.
Believe in what you’re selling
Customers know when you’re full of shit.
If you made me get up in front of a room full of people and sell a product I don’t believe in, I’d be unsuccessful.
If you however made me get up in front of a room full of people and asked me to sell a product I believe in, my chances of success would be exponentially higher.
Be passionate about what you’re selling. Sell something that adds value to your customers’ lives, that helps them solve a problem.
When you’re selling something that you know is crap, people see right through you.
Further, it undermines your integrity, making any future sales more difficult.
Go for the easy win
“Would you like fries with that?”
There’s a reason this phrase is so successful. It’s the perfect example of an up-sell. You’ve got the customer in the palm of your hands, ready to hand over their hard earned cash.
When a customer is ready to make a purchase why not ask if they want a little something extra?
Besides, most people have trouble saying no, so when the up-sell is small, it’s a brilliant way to increase revenue.
The second reason this phrase is so successful is more technical. You’ve got to know what to up-sell.
McDonald’s isn’t trying to sell you a second burger, they are selling you something that (a) is low-cost and (b) compliments your original order.
In the past clients have had great success by upselling complimentary products.
One example that stands out for me is a pharmacy that was trying to increase their average spend per customer. An example of how an up-sell might work in this situation is as follows:
The customer goes to the pharmacist and asks for remedy to having the flu. Naturally, the pharmacist provides some flu medicine to fix the underlying issue.
Some stop there, but the next step in the sales process would be to recommend complimentary products to help boost immunity and prevent a reoccurrence.
They walk their customer to the Vitamin section, and recommend both Vitamin C and Multivitamins. While with the customer, the pharmacist gently asks ‘would you like to purchase these products as well? I’m confident they will help boost your immunity going forward’.
Not only are you fixing their immediate issue, you’re also helping to address any underlying issues that may result in a re-occurrence.
People hate saying no. Regularly asking, is therefore so important.
No is still an opportunity
Most people are discouraged when a customer says ‘no’.
Instead, try to think of ‘no’ as ‘not right now’.
No doesn’t mean the customer will never be ready for a sale, but it might mean the following:
They aren’t quite ready to buy just yet
You haven’t articulated the value enough yet
They need some more preconditioning
When a customer says no, it’s easy to just stop marketing to that client. But no is also an opportunity to:
Ask the customer what else they need to know to make a decision
Educate the customer further
Plant the seed so that they are converted at a later stage
Directly learn from the customer, by listening to what they are saying.
It hurts when people say no. The best thing you can do is be professional, learn from the experience, and look for alternative opportunities to add value to people’s lives.
Don’t be annoying
Just like people know when you’re full of shit, people also know when you just see everyone as an opportunity to make money. And no one likes a constant barrage of selling just for the sake of making a few extra dollars.
When you are doing everything you can to get a quick sale, it’s like a bad smell.
Once you come across as a salesman, it’s game over for you.
I know people that actively avoid businesses that are too hard on the up-sell. But the reality is, they are too hard on the up-sell because they are treating every customer the same.
They are going for quantity over quality, and most likely get poor conversion rates and annoy a lot of people in the process.
The hardest part of selling is implementing all of the points set out in this article, without coming across as a pain in the arse.
It’s hard, but there is a balance.
If you…
Target the right customer at the right time;
Genuinely care about what you are selling;
Articulate the value; and
Help the customer solve a problem
...then you don’t need to sell to everyone you meet.
And when you execute these points correctly, not only will you not annoy people, you’ll also have a higher success rate, building your confidence for future sales as well. It’s a win / win.
I’m no expert on selling, in fact I’m still a student to the process. Unfortunately for me, I undervalued the selling skillset for too long, and I am now in catch up mode. I am however grateful I learned the importance of selling along the way.
I’d be keen to learn what tactics you have used to improve your selling skills. Please feel free to share these in the comments below.
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