11 HABITS TO OVERCOME YOUR BAD SALESMANSHIP
Does discipline have anything to do with your motivation or success in sales? Can discipline be an effective habit to improve your good salesmanship? It’s interesting that sales people have different stigmas, labels and connotations, and not all of them are favorable. Some that come to mind are slick, fast-talking, the life of the party and those are the ones suitable for the work it seems.
Discipline is probably not the first word that comes to mind when we think about sales. For you to overcome your bad salesmanship, you need to avoid unnecessary mistakes and focus on the disciplines discussed below.
Though many sales people despise prospecting, it’s an important part of sales. Unfortunately, the majority of sales reps use ineffective and archaic sales prospecting techniques, instead of the effective practices that could actually lead to a higher volume of better qualified leads. The discipline of prospecting requires that you speak to your target market or clients to ask them for their time and for an opportunity to explore working together.
In sales, closing is used more generally to mean realization of the desired outcome, which may be an exchange of money or acquiring a signature. Sales people are equipped with a number of closing techniques to help soften prospect resistance and put him in a buying mood as a way of overcoming their bad salesmanship. These closing techniques can be quite powerful and should be used only as appropriate. However, sales person should never use a closing technique to beat a prospect into buying something that he doesn't really want or need. Closing techniques should be used when the prospect is close to buying but is held back by an unreasonable concern.The discipline of closing is the gaining of commitments. This is the first discipline because commitments are what allow you to create opportunities, create value, and win deals.
The discipline of nurturing requires that you communicate value to your target market over a long time, being familiar and a creator of value. In order to portray a good salesmanship, you have to keep in touch with your existing customers to ensure that they are still happy with your products/ services. Remember to send them a birthday greeting. Set up a sales meeting just to say hello and see how things are going and brief them on current sales techniques on board that they may benefit. You can invite them to events, share white papers, and other content that you think would be valuable to them. Ignoring and neglecting your clients doesn’t do anything to move you closer to the relationships that you need.
Value creation requires that you ensure that your markets benefits from every engagement with you, including every sales interaction, and every deal. Sales shouldn’t be about manipulation. It should be about solving problems and delivering genuine value. Value-creation is the key to customer loyalty and the lifeline of every successful business
The discipline of sales known as planning allows you to use both your time and that of the customer’s effectively. It allows you to plan to create value and establish yourself as a true professional. In a way of overcoming your bad attitudes towards sales, you need to plan in order to ensure your preparedness to execute those introductory communications in the most effective way. Sales require a high amount of activity. However, that activity has to be efficient and effective at achieving outcomes. Additionally, a key component for planning in time should be adequate preparation for important meetings with those prospects you worked so hard to connect.
The first action you can take to demonstrate you care is to place your focus and attention on the outcome of your target markets. These outcomes are the big things that if changed, would produce transformation and improvements in your sales. This is action-oriented. This means you ask questions to understand the outcome they need to achieve their desired goals. In as much as you care, you will help them create solutions and action plans that can be executed to achieve that outcome. Then, work with them on those actions and help them achieve the desired outcome.The discipline of caring is what ensures that you aren’t self-oriented and that you establish trust.
Integrity is also necessary for trust. It is the discipline of being honest and walking your talk. Today's sales professional must build an online and offline reputation in much the same way as one thinks about building a brand. Integrity is about having strong ethical values and sticking to them. For example, not talking negatively about your competition, not sharing confidential information, or in our business not working for a customer’s competitor. When a prospect is considering a purchase the reputation of a sales representative for delivering value and the social proof that leads to this reputation is important.
One of the biggest mistakes salespeople usually make is thinking about their next sentence while a prospect is speaking. Sometimes silence is okay! This discipline, combined with caring, is the heart of understanding. Your customers want to be heard, be significant, and be collaborative. Portraying the attitude of listening is how you meet those needs.
In many situations, you can raise your prices by 5 or 10 percent without experiencing any market resistance. If your products and services are of good quality and your people are friendly and helpful, a small increase in your overall prices will not drive your customers away. This discipline ensures that you make enough money to successfully deliver for your clients and that you have enough left over to develop greater levels of value in the future.
The act of following up is a way of keeping the promises you make to your customers, no matter how large or small. Following up seems to be an obvious discipline for a sales person. Yet surprisingly, many sales people drop the ball by not being diligent around their follow-up and communication. You may lose your deals, not because your products or solutions aren't good enough, but because you couldn't close the loop and follow-up in a timely, clear and professional way. This is another way of maintaining trust.
The discipline of following up is more than just sending the email you promised to send. It’s also the discipline of doing high quality follow-up work. You make it easier for your client to say “yes” when you observe the discipline of follow-up. Your prospects and customers need to know that you value their opinion and ongoing success. Ask for your customer’s perspective and take their feedback. Make it a collaborative and consultative process. Feedback provides a valuable opportunity to enhance and streamline your offering.
Learning and staying discipline can sometimes be tough contact ZenfuCareer and we can help you unlearn indiscipline, learn discipline and maintain the act.
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