Sales Skills Entrepreneurs Must Master

Finnegan Pierson

The success of any business depends on getting the product or service it sells into the hands of interested people. As an entrepreneur, you can't just sit around and wait for clients to come to you, though. There are likely many other businesses that offer something similar, so a big part of your revenue depends on your ability to rise above the competition. Here are some tips on how to be the best salesperson you can be.

Prepare Your Pitch

If you want to be good at anything, it helps to be prepared for the work you need to do. Sales is no exception. There are several ways you can focus your efforts so that your sales pitch will be fruitful.

First, make sure you can articulate everything there is to know about your product or service. A good way to do this is to write a value proposition. Identify a need that potential clients may have. Then analyze how your product or service not only satisfies that need but also does so better than the competition, including information about features as well as cost. Having a solid understanding and confidence in what your company has to offer makes you a more trustworthy source.

Second, get into a sales mindset. You want to find the people who can benefit from your product or service. Change your networking strategies so that you naturally come into contact with people who have the realistic potential to become clients. For example, if you are selling IT solutions, it makes sense to set up a booth at conventions where business owners looking for such solutions are likely to be. Make your display clear and catchy, highlighting your service's greatest selling points and encouraging potential clients to approach you. This is much more likely to be effective than cold calling businesses, hoping that you will find someone who needs what you have to offer.

Improve Sales Strategies

When you contact your potential clients to make the sale, it is important to focus on them and their needs rather than what you hope to achieve. While people may wish you well in general, when it comes to decisions that affect their pocketbooks, they make decisions for their own personal reasons. If you want to know how to be a good salesperson, you must first understand that the key to making the sale is figuring out what those reasons are.

As you approach potential clients, use good listening skills to build rapport with them. Tell personal stories and anecdotes, but focus mostly on what they have to say. Ask them questions, and pay attention to the needs their answers reveal. If you can match your product or service to those needs, it may be significantly easier to close the sale. Asking follow-up questions to make sure you understand what they're saying can tell you whether you need to adapt your sales techniques or not.

Reflect on Your Performance

After you have made a sales pitch, it's a good idea to review your performance to identify ways to improve. No one likes getting rejected, but the experience can be valuable when it comes to informing your future endeavors. Even if your pitch was technically successful (evidenced by a closed sale), you may be able to find practices you can tweak to be a better salesperson next time.

Missed sales are learning opportunities. Start by reviewing your value proposition. Try to uncover what aspect of the sales pitch was prohibitive to them. Did they balk at the cost? Did they see the product or service as unnecessary or irrelevant to their needs? Did you answer all their questions and try to understand their point of view? Analyzing your own performance can teach you how to improve your sales record.

As an entrepreneur, your success can hinge on how skilled you are at selling the products or services you offer. Good preparation, fantastic sales strategies and honest reflection can help you become more competitive.