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Whether you work in a physical store, an e-commerce or selling digital products, those working with sales always need to pay attention to a few details in order to be a successful salesperson and have good results at the end of the month.
More than having good products at hand, it’s important to convey an image of credibility and confidence in order to win over customers and make them buy what you are offering.
Contrary to what many people think, being a successful salesperson isn’t inherent to entrepreneurs, but a skill that can be learned in everyday life.
Of course, certain profiles will deal with customers better, but if you study and are dedicated, you can become more persuasive in your sales pitch and lead customers to the decision to buy.
Do you sell products or services and want to learn more about becoming a successful salesperson?
In today’s post, we’ll provide you with complete tips on how to become a successful salesperson and boost your income.
Are you ready to get started?
1. Choose your area of expertise
The first step in learning how to become a successful salesperson is to choose a market niche in which you will operate, because your sales pitch will vary according to the audience you serve and the complexity of your offer.
Nothing prevents you from selling more than one product or service. However, the more segmented your niche is, the easier it will be for you to develop assertive communication strategies.
By delimiting only one area or different but related areas, you can specialize in that segment, have in-depth knowledge of the needs you intend to reach and always work towards offering the best solution.
In addition, an area that is more segmented has fewer competitors and might be your chance to stand out from other companies and attract more customers.
VIDEO: How to choose your market niche? | Hotmart Tips
2. Study your niche
After you delimit your audience to which you will direct your products, it’s time to study everything about it.
Constantly dedicate yourself to being always up to date and becoming an expert in your niche market. The more you know about the area, your audience and your competitors, the more chances you will have to improve your performance and stand out as a salesperson.
Studying your niche will also allow you to have access to all the new features in the area, apply them to your business, come out ahead of your competition, and innovate even in a saturated niche.
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3. Know your product
You must know all the ins and outs of your product so that you can provide your customers with all the information about it.
Talking about a movie after watching its trailer isn’t as reliable as talking about it after watching the entire movie, right?
The same is true regarding the products you sell!
In order for people to have a good impression and realize that you know how to be a successful salesperson, you need to answer all questions that customers might have about the product, the benefits of purchasing it, how to use it, etc.
If possible, try the product to understand what it does, its strengths, and your customers’ pain points that it’ll be able to solve.
4. Choose products you believe
Selling bad products you don’t believe makes your role as a salesperson much more difficult.
By using the right strategies, you might even sell a few products and make some money. However, if your product doesn’t deliver value to your customers, the chances of the buying from you again are quite slim.
Besides, a negative evaluation from a dissatisfied customer might be more than enough to scare off new customers.
In order to learn how to become a successful salesperson, what matters isn’t only selling just for the sake of selling. You need to win over customers and offer a good experience so that your customers view your products as a solution for their needs and are willing to buy from you in the future.
Selling products that you trust will even make it easier to promote them better, with more enthusiasm and conveying more confidence to your audience.
5. Define your audience
Within the same niche, there are audiences with quite different interests. In order to attract the ideal customers to your business, it’s important to delimit precisely who are the people who are interested in what you have to offer and who can become consumers of our product. To do so, click here and learn how to create your buyer persona.
With the audience’s profile in hand, you can prepare the best approaches to use in your marketing strategy.
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6. Show empathy
Showing empathy is crucial in order to establish a good relationship with your prospective customers and convince them that your product is precisely what they need.
When you work with sales, you need to keep in mind that people don’t buy a product just because it’s good, trendy or innovative. In order to make a purchase, they evaluate if that product will solve their problems and which advantages and benefits it can provide.
With this in mind, constantly strengthen empathy with your audience so you can understand their pain and objections and offer the best solution for them.
7. Be present in the right places
You’re already aware that the internet is an excellent way for entrepreneurs to reach their audience and sell their products.
Being present on networks that your audience accesses the most, is certainly a strategy that will bring good results for your business.
Even for physical stores, knowing how to communicate with customers on the internet is an essential action for those who wish to learn how to become successful salespeople.
As you have defined in your persona, you already know on which social media you can find it. Therefore, create profiles for your business and keep them updated with attractive and valuable content.
Having good social media management skills is a great way of selling well.
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8. Invest in sponsored ads
Investing in sponsored ads makes your product reach farther.
By advertising on various platforms, such as Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, banners and Instagram Ads, you can diversify the audience you reach and establish your presence in more channels.
All of these formats present their pros and cons; therefore, ideally, you should split your investments among those that are the most favorable for your business.
To find out which ones are the best, take the time to test, track the metrics and find the network with the best results.
VIDEO: PAID OR ORGANIC TRAFFIC: Which is BETTER if you’re just GETTING STARTED? | Hotmart Tips
9. Know how to negotiate
A successful salesperson knows that you can’t give up on a sale after the customer’s first objection. Knowing how to negotiate is key in order not to lose sales opportunities and to win over customers and build loyalty.
Try to understand what is keeping you from closing the deal, reinforce your product’s advantages and show how it is truly ideal to solve that customer’s problems.
Be charismatic, assertive and use the strategies at hand to negotiate and reach the best conditions that meet both your goals and those of your customer.
It is important to understand the customers’ journey so as not to approach them when they still aren’t ready to make the purchase.
10. Know when to back off
Negotiating is important, but knowing when to back off is also paramount.
No one likes a pushy salesperson who doesn’t realize when your objection or lack of interest in the product is real.
Even if you aren’t able to make a specific sale, treating people with respect and avoiding bombarding advertising, gives a good impression and can bring long-term advantages.
11. Be honest
Have you ever been in a store trying on an outfit that obviously doesn’t look good on you, and the salesperson said, “Wow, that looks great!”? You know when the person isn’t being honest, right?
This is not the type of salesperson you want to be, trust me.
The closing of the sale shouldn’t be guided by desperation in selling at any cost, but by the desire to win over your audience, and truly offer something of quality and value.
12. Show confidence
In order to convince someone to take any action, it is necessary to convey confidence. When we aren’t sure whether we’ll be negatively affected by our decision, we don’t move forward. It’s no different with sales.
In order to be a successful salesperson, provide all the assurance that the customers will have if they purchase your product. Especially in the case of digital products or any other online sales, make it clear that the website or platform you use doesn’t offer any risk to consumers, and that it offers a refund period, how this works, etc.
13. Answer questions
The more information customers have about the product, the more confidence they will feel to make the purchase. Therefore, always be forthcoming and politely answer all questions that arise.
Especially in the digital environment, a salesperson is exposed to the most varied questions, and the more knowledge about the product you demonstrate, and the nicer you are, the greater are the chances of making sales.
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14. Create communication channels
In order to become an authority within the niche in which you operate, and be recognized as a successful salesperson, conveying credibility to your audience is critical.
To facilitate this process, create communication channels that allow you to position yourself as an expert in the subject.
You can create a blog to share interesting content with your audience and show that you are knowledgeable about the segment in which you operate. Your page must add value for people, so search for information and curiosities that are related to your business segment.
If you sell online courses on confectionery, for example, you can share information about the history of confectionery, practical and easy recipes, tips on how to handle the ingredients, among other related content. Thus, you benefit visitors with your knowledge and help them realize how advantageous it will be to buy your product.
Creating a channel on YouTube is another strategy to educate your audience. Invest in videos with content that enriches your users and that relate to what you sell.
As with blogs, avoid any direct advertising of your products and invest in building a relationship of trust with your audience.
15. Invest in sales techniques
Those who have already made a purchase from you are likely to buy again, since they are already familiar with the quality of your products and service.
Investing in after-sales means piquing buyers’ interest in buying new products from you.
This sales strategy is called upselling and its goal is to enrich customers’ experience with your brand.
In order to apply this technique, you should offer a second relevant option for the consumer and that is related with the item that has already been purchased. Try to awaken a need in them that hadn’t been noticed before and that can be solved by the product you are suggesting.
VIDEO: Sales techniques: how to sell online | Sales tips
16. Welcome feedback
For those who wish to learn how to become a successful salesperson, knowing how to deal with feedback well should be worked on constantly.
In sales, you are subject to receiving all kinds of comments, criticism and suggestions. Especially for those working on the internet, feedback can carry a lot of weight if they aren’t properly filtered and welcomed.
No matter how difficult it is when it comes to understanding negative feedback, always try to view them as a positive thing, learn from your mistakes and use them to develop your business.
Remember that offering good customer experience is key for you to sell well. Therefore, always try to improve what is needed in order to become better at what you do.
17. Measure your results
Finally, you should know that in order to learn how to become a successful salesperson, it is essential that you measure your results. Without monitoring the effects of your actions, it will be hard to distinguish what is working and what needs to be adjusted.
First of all, establish the goals for your business and make assumptions about what you think might work for your audience. Then, run tests to see which strategies will be the most effective and what needs to be improved.
Below are the main metrics that should be used by those who wish to achieve good results:
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
- LTV (Lifetime Value) – The duration of your commercial relationship with the customer
- Returning Customers – Loyal consumers
- ROI (Return on Investment) – Amount obtained with sales minus the amount invested
- Bounce rate – People who visit your page and who don’t perform any actions
- Refund rate.
How to master the art of selling
You have learned all the steps on how to become a successful salesperson and are ready to increase your commissions!
Remember that, like all other professions, in order to be successful in sales, you need to have (or develop) certain characteristics.
A successful salesperson should know how to communicate well and be a good storyteller. After all, in order to sell a product, you have to go beyond the simple offer. You need to know how to amaze your customer.
Besides, you need to be persevering so you don’t get discouraged when you hit the first roadblocks. Results don’t always come easily and quickly, you need to be patient and determined.
Being organized also helps a lot. After all, as a salesperson, you will have to deal with the finances, inventory, customer orders, among several other things. By being organized, you won’t get lost among so many duties.
Finally, don’t forget to be optimistic. Being a successful salesperson means knowing how to deal with market fluctuations and facing bad times with positive thoughts.
With quality products in hand and the knowledge of which marketing strategies work with your audience, the good results will certainly come!
