Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Seven Powerful Strategies to Increase Sales

I love articles like this - clear, great advice to help you sell more! Put these tips from sales trainer Tessa Stowe into practice today.

If you want to increase your sales, read and put into action these seven powerful sales strategies.

Strategy #1: Stop Selling
Stop trying to convince or persuade people to buy your solution. Stop trying to get a sale. Instead, focus on how you can help the person you are talking to get what they want - whether it's your solution or not. Focus on how you can give them value. Amazing as it may seem, with this approach over time, people will be interested in you and in what you have to offer. Even if they don't need it themselves, they will refer others to you.

Strategy # 2: Throw Away Sales Gimmicks
There are lots of sales gimmicks to attract attention or increase appeal. You can learn 50 ways to close. You can learn how to overcome objections. You can learn how to give the best and most persuasive presentation. The problem with most of these approaches is that they are focused on persuading and convincing and getting the sale. Your prospects sense that it's all about you - you getting the sale. They feel that you don't really care about them. They pick up that you are trying to persuade and convince them and their automatic protective reaction is to get away fast - and they do.

Strategy #3 : Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
If someone does not have a problem that they want you to solve now, they are not a prospect. So it is a waste of your time and theirs if you spend time now trying to help them buy your solution. Spend your time helping those that want to benefit from what you have to offer now. Put in place a qualification process and only sell to those who qualify. Then you will have more time for those that are ready to buy, and this will increase the probability of them buying from you.

Strategy #4: Answer Two Questions
Prospects want to know the answer to two questions: "Why should I be interested in your type of solution?" and "Assuming I am interested, why should I buy it from you?". Can you answer both these questions in 30 seconds? If you can't, how can you expect your prospect to want your help? Make it a priority to give clear and concise answers to these two questions fast.

Strategy #5: Increase Your Price

If you always use strategies #1 and #2, trust will be present. Since trust is there, your prospect will feel more comfortable about committing to a longer term relationship with you. So you should offer them a longer term commitment option that is in their best interests and clearly benefits them now.

Strategy #6: Appreciate Your Customers
The easiest, fastest sales are to your current customers if - and this is most important - you have consistently shown that you appreciate and care about them. Just doing a great job is always expected, and you can't anticipate repeat sales and referrals from this alone. If you conscientiously recognize and are grateful to your customers, they will buy more from you and also become loyal fans and refer others to you. What you appreciate will show gratitude in return, so appreciate your customers.

Strategy #7: Build a TRAC record
If someone does not need or want your solution now but it is likely they will in the future, put in place a system. You need to build Trust, Relationship, Awareness, and Credibility (TRAC) so that they will remember you and contact you when the time is right. Do this consistently over time, and your pipeline will overflow with people contacting you who want what you have and already know, trust, and like you.

All these seven sales strategies are easy to do. They are also easy not to do. So if you commit yourself and consistently use them, you will make significantly more sales faster. THEY WORK !

Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up now at www.salesconversation.com.

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