With growing knowledge of the world, and easy access to information, buyers are getting familiar with the specific methods and techniques salespeople use in modern times. Ergo, it is becoming exceedingly difficult for sales teams to lead prospects through the purchase cycle fast. The task now demands high level of selling skills and the quality to demonstrate to the prospect that you truly believe you are selling them something better than your competitors.
In these times, the importance of selling skills training cannot be overstated. As a growing sales professional, you need to make sure you have all it takes to lead your prospects through the journey and make them loyal customers.
The Most Important Selling skills
On this page, we want talk to you about how to sell successfully in the 21st century and show you how our specialized training products are helping sales professionals with delivering improved results and higher bottom line for their employers.
From the preamble for the page, it would seem that selling skills change over time, and that is indeed the case. With the changing times, sales professionals have to adopt new skills, or strengthen some old ones, to stand out among their peers in delivering results.
Let’s start with the top skills we believe are crucially making the difference between outstanding sellers of this decade and those in the sales profession failing to get such recognition.
- BE A GUIDE: The foremost among today’s sales skills is the quality to demonstrate your expertise in the job you are doing. Your job is to hold the prospect’s hand and lead them to knowledge they did not have before, and - make no mistake - they come to you prepared. They know about the prices your competitors are offering and they have pretty sound basic knowledge of the products in the market. Your job is to show them what they do not know. So, be a guide and take them on a journey of new ideas so their vision is expanded and you can take control of the conversation.
- MAKE IT A TEAM SPORT: At the same time, you have to make sure you do not oversell the new ideas. Time is of crucial importance during sales conversations and the sooner you can take your prospect to buying your product the better. Share your ideas and mold the conversation so their ideas collaborate with yours. Bring them to an agreement. Make them say yes willingly.
- SHOW THEM THE MONEY: Another one of the useful sales skills in the new times is actually not new at all. It comes from the theory of old that you have to show your prospect their investment in your product will give them specific benefits. You need to talk about these specific benefits and give them examples so they can see these benefits as a clear picture. Without believing your product can give them adequate ROI, prospects will not want to invest in it.
- LEND THEM YOUR EARS: Interestingly, this sales skill is connected directly with the previous one. You cannot give the prospect specific examples or talk about how exactly your product can give them an edge above their competitors without keenly listening to what they have to say. Listen to them, and ask them quick questions to keep them talking about their needs until you understand them enough to create your pitch or you might not be able to get their attention. Listen so you are heard in return.
- SHOW YOUR SOLUTION IS EFFECTIVE: Another one of the crucial selling skills to have these days is the ability to demonstrate your solution can specifically tend to the prospect’s problem. If you have been listening to them, painting the right picture and highlighting product features that might help with persuading the prospect to buy your product becomes a less daunting task. You have to make sure they agree with your claim and accept your solution as the right way to go before you can ask them to pay the price.
- DISCUSS THE SALE IN DETAIL: Once the prospect shows some inclination toward buying your product, you have to make sure nothing goes wrong. This is why you must talk about your product’s selling procedure in detail. You have to give them all significant information at this stage so there are no surprises for them later and they feel comfortable through the transactions, seeing they already knew what is happening.
- BUILD RAPPORT: Another selling skill of old that still makes or breaks deal is about how well you are able to develop report between the two of you. You have to connect with the prospect on a personal level, showing them you are a person who is interested in solving their problem and getting them what would be the best. Establish yourself as a friend and they will be willing to take your advice.
- SHOW THEM YOU DELIVER MORE VALUE: Even if you do well with all the other sales skills we have talked about, you have to establish your products as better than your competitors’ or the prospect might not turn into a customer in most cases. Therefore, make sure you show them how your product gives them more value than others in the market.
Understanding Upselling Skills & Cross Selling Skills
While you are thinking about getting professional selling skills training, you should strengthen your upselling skills as well as your cross selling skills. The idea is to understand how the two are different so you know which one to put to use depending on the situation.
Upselling skills are required to upsell products and services, which simply means that you persuade the prospect into buying a higher priced package, a longer subscription, or a larger order than they need. Upselling allows greater profits on comparatively lesser efforts.
On the other hand, cross selling skills are used when you have a set of complementary products or services. A well-trained professional with high cross selling skills knows exactly how to bring another service or product into the picture so that they prospect feels compelled to get them both.
With proper understanding of upselling skills and cross selling skills, you can pitch higher and score higher for your bottom line.
Choose Lorman for Sales Training and Sales Education
As a leading online education service, we offer a number of sales training products that will enable you to master selling skills. With over 30 years of training business professionals across the country, our number one goal has always been to provide great training and resources. Choose from a variety of training courses from phone selling, meeting preparation to negotiation skills.
