Any business relies on you being able to sell something. Here are seven selling techniques you need to know in order to sell anything to anyone.
In fact, you might be surprised at how simple these effective selling techniques are to apply to any product or service. And yes, these seven techniques, used in the right fashion and at the right time, virtually guarantees your success.
#1 – Use a Great Story
Everyone loves stories. Especially emotional stories that ring true. All master sales people use them. Nothing works better than a great story. Stories sell!
Weaving a story about how you came up with a product, or how your started the business, adds a human touch to your sales pitch. Or there may have been some hurdle to overcome. You know, you almost never made it. Or maybe you got a jolt of inspiration that lead you to create this product and getting into this business. These are great ides for stories. You just have to dig them out.
You could relate how your product made a big difference to someone, and changed their lives for the better. Testimonials are also stories. Getting testimonials from real people, evidenced by pictures or videos, work well in most industries. Testimonials are stories about how people used your product and what they thought about it. The major benefit of testimonials is that they come from an independent source and therefore come across as evidence or confirmation that the claims about the product are true.
#2 – Creating an Undeniable Need
Contrary to what you might believe, most people don’t buy things on a whim. People are cautious about spending their hard-earned cash. You need to make them feel they cannot do without your product. You do this by making them understand why they should buy your product.
Therefor, your sales pitch should focus on what the product can do for the buyer. You have to describe the benefits they can get out of the product. You need to let your audience know what their money will give them. When people are convinced that they are spending their money on something that has real utility, they don’t mind parting with their cash.
You must know that people don’t see things that you don’t tell them. People won’t buy a product just because it exists. On the other hand, people talk themselves into buying things when they see the benefits outlined. It is almost as though people convince themselves to make the purchase. Even a succinct list in your sales pitch of the benefits to be obtained from a product will go a long way.
#3 – Make Yourself Special
You have to make people realize why they should buy from you, and why you are better than the competition. In other words, you have to tell them why you and your product are better for them than what the competitive market is selling.
Your sales pitch therefor also needs to focus on how you and your product are better than the competition. Make them see what’s so special about you. You may have special expertise in the area. Maybe it’s the uniqueness of your product, or its added features, or the support and after-sales service you supply.
Be as transparent to your public as you can be. In the past, baby boomer generation, it was all right if companies kept everything about themselves secret. In fact, the more enigmatic a product seemed, the better it was – such was the general feeling among the public. But today, with the prevalence of online product information, you need to be much clearer about what we are selling.
You need to interact with your potential buyers on social media. You need to ease their apprehension. Your audience need to understand you are for real and that you have answers to questions. When they get more convinced about you as a person, they won’t mind buying from you. This is what gives you the edge over your competition.
#4 – Creating a Sense of Urgency
You have to create a sense of urgency in the buyer. That means limiting the period the offer or discount is available. No doubt you would have seen this before, even from large retail stores. There is no reason you should not be doing the same.
When you tell people that they are getting a bargain, they are always interested. people are sticklers for scoring bargain, and it panders their ego to understand that they’ve gotten one. But what really makes bargains count, is the sense of urgency. Even if the product would not be immediately useful to you, you will justify the purchase be telling yourself that you will have to pay more for it tomorrow.
Of course, your product still needs to be up to scratch, and the bargain you’re offering needs to be an attractive one. The time period you offer should be short, but not so short as to cast doubt on the validity of the offer.
#5 – Making Them Accountable with Free Gifts
Give and you shall receive. There’s no greater truth than that when it comes to salesmanship either. People feel inclined to reciprocate, making them more likely to consider buying your product.
But when you offer a free gift, you’re doing much more. You have “broken the ice” and opened a channel of communication. A sample of your product may prove that the product has value too. A free gift of a similar and perhaps lesser product enhances your credibility. It shows that you probably have more products of similar quality.
When you give away things for free through your sales page or wherever you are promoting your stuff from, you are doing several things that directly benefit your prospecting game.
Free reports and ebooks are often offered in online marketing, to convince people to part with their email addresses. In effect, such gifts are both a “bribe” and proof of the quality of information you supply. It also allow you to create a channel for future marketing to your prospects.
#6 – Make a Commitment
Commit yourself to be there for your customer after the sale. People will be more inclined to buy from you if they know they will not be left stranded with a faulty product. Such commitment may take the form of a money-back guarantee, which is a popular method of instilling confidence in online sales.
But what people want more than the money-back guarantee is a support system that continues after the product has been purchased. People want to see your commitment. No one would willingly buy from a “fly-by-night” operations which has no interest in the customer after the sale. For most things that people buy today, they want to see the seller remain involved even after the sale has been done.
The bottom line is that you need to honest in your sales claims and deliver them. This ensures long term prospects for your business.
#7 – Keep Their Interest Alive
Not many people are going to buy from you at the first encounter. So, the one most important thing you must do is to keep their interest alive. This is why sellers use email marketing lists and retargeting online to remind prospects of the existence and advantages of their products.
In many industries it helps to provide quality free material which would interest your prospective customers. The idea is to keep your customers and prospects coming back, not only to buy the first product, but any future products or services you may have.
Although it may seem to come naturally to some, the art of salesmanship is something you can learn, by studying the work of experts, or simply following the example of the successful businesses in your industry. Improving your selling skills also comes from practice and seeing what works in your marketplace and which type of prospect is more likely to buy from you. Sometimes, you may need to try a different approach. Selling isn’t difficult. Applying the tried-and-tested selling techniques will give you the result you desire.
