10 Things you need to know about sales

 1.  Know your customer - Experts agree it’s fundamentally important in sales for the salesperson to know their customer. DO your research . Do a DISC profile, based on personality, work out your game planto close the sale! You need to be able to read people 

2.   Don’t sell a Product – sell a solution or a dream. Identify the persons pain and provide a pain killer – not a vitamin! People don’t buy products they buy you, or your company or the Brand which they trust!

3.   Connect with your customer  – show them value, show them that you care. Identify ways that you can connect with them.  Relate to them. Create a relationship. What do you have in common with them

4.   Build trust – lower resistance to increase acceptance – relate to the customer.  Liz Atkinson, founder of marketing company Zest Possibilities, told SmartCompany building trust is important not only between a customer and the salesperson, but trust in the brand. This, she believes, can be achieved through creating a consistent company image.

5.  Look like a winner  “The person I look for is fun, confident and driven with a goal to succeed. I understand this, so we project this type of image across the company in every way possible to sell it! From the music we play, the magazines we have sat in reception to how our administrators meet and greet people, we keep the message consistent. “This allows the company to build a relationship immediately with anyone that comes into contact with us, and this message never changes which keeps trust and builds loyalty,” she says.

6.   Have a plan,  a process and a System – A Roadmap/ A sytems Kit  its“all about systems and strategies”. The process needs to be able to be replicated. Hire for attitude and personality – skill can be trained if you have a great system. “ A good person in a great system makes a person great!” An average person in a great system makes a person good!” Sales processes should be simple and they need the right development and training. The strategy also needs to be measurable… what can be measured can be managed!

7.   Preparation – sharpen the saw!! Know your customer – have a plan of attack, go through scenarios – know your outcome. Do a rifle shot not a machine gun – be targeted not scattered. 

8.   Get your customer to say Yes

9.    Be online – be all over social media – this is where your customers are or will be!

10.   “Leads proposals and sales” If you want to have $1m in sales , have $4m in proposals and $20m in Leads!

Defining Your Target Market 101

Andrew McWhirter► Linkedin Profile Optimisation ► Linkedin Community Growth ► Linkedin Engagement ► Linkedin Lead Generation

Other than questions like “who are you selling to?”, or “Why should they buy your product?” You need to identify you target market in these simple steps:

 Creating The Customer Persona

Get to list all of the types of customers that are having problems that you are trying to solve. Once finished, you can start to build a “persona” of these customers Its like playing the Sims and you are the one solving all their problems. Ask yourself relevant questions to these types of people. Are they male, or female? What age group should they belong to? What market sector should they belong to? Once these questions are asked, the easier you would get to build these personas.

Understanding The Problems You’re Trying To Solve ... (the pain)

Get a good idea of the solutions that you can provide to your market by understanding their problems. This should also be included in creating a persona. In fact, it should be THE question number one. Understand the true benefits of fixing their problem. This is how your business benefits from realizing the true potential of getting to see what your market really wants to solve. A good example is making sure that your solution does not create more problems for them. You do this by engaging with them in a meaningful conversation. Pick up the phone and talk.

Weigh In The Value Of What You Offer

If you can demonstrate that the cost of not fixing the problem is greater than the cost of dealing them, then you make a compelling case. Ask yourself these questions: To whom would this problem be most bothersome? Who will have the most to lose by not trying to fix this problem? Understand that your market would likely think about the costs but once you have educated them about the benefits. 

Segment Your Market

Who do you want to work with? Who are those that can easily relate to you? Do you want to work with high net worth individuals, or the middle income class? Do you prefer to work internationally or within your geographical reach? From here you can get to select your ideal target market and specify their needs. A good example would be outlining your persona #3 as Bob who lives in Brisbane, who earns 60k a year and does financial consultations. Persona #2 Gina would be a middle income earner who lives in Sydney who does small business with restaurants.

What is Your Expertise? (The pain killer)

Do you have a lot of experience with Marketing and Sales? How about Advertising? Do you work a lot with doctors? If you have a lot of experience in certain markets, that’s a good way to start. If you feel like you can work on your expertise use it to your advantage. This is a good example: by working in this area these people are most likely to introduce you to the right people and have more market knowledge of schemes and funding available to entrepreneurs.