We buy or sell in every moment of our lives. Learning how to sell will guarantee you get the most out of life.
We sell ideas, services, products and even ourselves every day and most of us do it unconsciously.
Have you ever convinced your mom to borrow her car? - you sold your intentions
Convinced your friends to see a movie at the cinema? - you sold your preference
Written any kind of quiz or exam? - you sold your understanding for those grades
Asked a girl/boy out? - you sold your intentions for attention
Written a resume and cover letter to apply for a job? - you sold your self for employment
Requested for a raise or loan? - you sold your intentions for money
Written a blog post? - you sold your ideas for recognition
These are just a few examples of sales in our everyday lives.
Yet some people like to hold on to the notion that selling is for a select few; see selling as just another career path, and not as a skill worth acquiring
Whether your dream is to become a salary earner at the best company or to become financially independent with your own enterprise, mastering the art of selling is a key to success.
Its no surprise that most sales experts are entrepreneurs and the most successful people are entrepreneurs; and you can't succeed in your agenda to become a salary earner or business owner if you can't convince people to pay you for what you have to offer.
I have some experience with product selling as I volunteered in the sales department in my dad's farm before service. Evidently I have a lot to learn, and in my research I came to realize that the art of selling can be utilized in every aspects of our lives and those who apply it the most get whatever they want.
SELLING
In my experience, selling is more about the customer, than it is about the product being sold.
It's about which problem your product solves for the customer and how well you can persuade the customer to convince themselves to make the buy.
There isn't any one formula for the perfect sale as each individual is different, however all perfect sales have a common feature which is the ability to solve a problem.
So understand that what you have to offer isn't for everyone and the task is to find the right customer and your work is half done.
Next the customer need to convince themselves to buy, and this is where the art of persuasion comes in (not manipulation) - just a conscious effort to help the customer see how well your product can help.
For this you need to be confident in your approach. Understand that there may be rejection and that there are plenty of other customers out there.
You also need to know your product so that you can tailor your persuasion to best fit the customer.
To identify the best fit for the customer you need to be able to listen and understand what they need. Not all the features of your product might be of use to them so knowing what your customer needs will inform you which features to put on display.
As there is no one "right way" you might want to experiment on different tactics with different customers to become more flexible in dealing with new customers.
And it's never a shame to hear the word "no" or "not interested" there are lessons in those kind of interactions that will inform you on how to get that "Yes" or "I'll take it".
Selling is all about how your product helps the customer and how well you can persuade them to convince themselves to make the buy
Note : "Product" used here can mean idea, preference, intention, service, or commodity. And "Customer" can be whoever from your friend to your boss.
A skill is not something you can learn off a single blog post, be sure to do your research and improve your selling skills. In whatever you do, practice makes perfect.
I downloaded a bunch of ebooks on the art of selling from pdfdrive.net, I'm still learning. If you have some insights on selling techniques feel free to share your opinion in the comment section.
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