There are a few techniques that every sales person should know to increase overall productivity. Employing a sound method will guarantee that you will perform at the maximum levels of efficiency and generate more sales. Some of these techniques are listed below in an easy to follow format.

Practice Your Negotiation Technique

Many sales people and people in general do not like to negotiate because of a lack of self confidence. Hence it is important to develop this very essential quality to selling and purchasing by practising your negotiation techniques as often as you are able. You can do this by negotiating discounts with your supplier. Even in regular situations when you are the consumer you should attempt to obtain any discount that is available. The following are a few choice questions that will accommodate this process.

  • “What type of discount do you have to offer me today?”
  • “That’s way too expensive.” while diligently waiting for a response.
  • “You’ll have to do a little better than that.”
  • Learn to flinch.

Always adopt a pleasant attitude when negotiating. Be persistent but not demanding. Being demanding will not entice the supplier or sales clerk to elicit t any special privileges. Take any opportunity available to practice this skill, the more you do this, the better you will become at negotiating. Soon it will be an effortless task and you will find you’re capable of doing it at any given moment.

Have a Good Opening Statement

Preparing a good opening statement will greatly increase the likelihood that you will make a sale. An estimated 70 – 80% of successful sales are direct as the result of an intriguing and persuasive opening statement. The old adage “first impressions are lasting” is applicable here once you have delivered an effective opening statement. It is undoubtedly vital. It must therefore be formulated and executed with assiduity. The mode of contact will make no difference. If it is a face-to-face interaction with a possible client, a message sent by mail, via the radio or even in your local yellow pages, what is said will determine if perspective clients will gain some interest or ignore all that you have said or written in the initial stages of a sale. Identifying a key benefit will be very useful. “We’ve just obtained a wide selection of the most comfortable walking shoes. Come by and have a look at them, they won’t remain on the shelves for very long!”

Display Self Confidence

You cannot be an efficient sales person without a certain level of self confidence. To do this you must first believe in your ability to convince others and secondly you must believe in the value of your product. Is it worth the asking price? Does it fulfil a need? Would you buy this product or recommend it to family and friends? Are all very good questions you should ask yourself and subsequently confirm to be true.
A lack of confidence in your product will affect your self confidence. Additionally, having no self confidence whatsoever will affect your ability to sell your product.
If you have a general sense of optimism in the task at hand it will manifest in your demeanour and attitude. You will be viewed as a competent professional who truly does have something interesting and useful to offer.

Listen and Identify a Need

Being able to listen diligently will be of profound importance. This is something that is said quite often because of the simple fact that it is an inescapable truth that must be employed in all sales negotiations. Once you listen to what your customer is saying, you will be able to effectively determine what the customer is looking for in a product.

Your listening skills will be greatly enhanced by being able to focus and concentrate on what your customer is saying. This sounds like an easy process, however, most of what people do while others are speaking does not truly involve listening but hearing. Establish eye contact which will be very important in letting the client know you are invested in what they are saying.

Once you are listening attentively, you will identify what your customer definitely needs. This is one of the steps in sales negotiation that is constantly overlooked by sales people who are too intent on making a quick sale.

It is not possible for you to offer a solution to a client’s dilemma if you have no idea what they need. It is impossible to continue the sales process if you have not allowed your prospective client to express a problem. Once your prospect is able to voice his or her concerns, you are then able to confirm that this issue exists and prompt him or her to correct this situation. Before offering any solutions let the prospect have a moment to express any issues: “I am unable to find shoes that do not hurt my toes when jogging in the morning”/ “I have tried so many places and still cannot find a suitable set of window blinds”

Take Notes If Necessary

This can be especially vital in real estate sales where a prospective client may have many specific details in relation to any real estate purchase. Begin by asking the question: “Do you mind if I take a few notes?” When you are having an interaction with someone who is writing down the key points of what you are saying you will deduce that what you are saying is significant. This technique may be invaluable when engaging in face-to-face interactions. It displays the clear message that you are interested in what your prospect is saying. It is also a good idea to prepare questions based on the area of sales that you are currently pursuing. For example you may ask someone who is looking for a specific type of chemical that cleans flooring about the type of cleaners they have used previously, how much time they generally spend cleaning their floors and what they expect from that particular product.

Try to Find Out As Much As You Possibly Can

Always get to the depth of your prospects concern. Do not quickly accept what the customer declares from the outset of your mutual interaction. Have him or her expound any specific needs and issues. Once you obtain the depth of thought and true feelings in relation to what you are discussing you will now be able to highlight the key areas mentally or in your notepad if you have been taking notes. It is not uncommon to make contact with a client who is not very talkative. A technique of repeating the last few words of what the prospect has stated in the form of a question can help to boost conversation. For example if your prospect reveals “This has been a significant problem for me” at this point you respond “Problem?” This should encourage your prospect to clarify his or her original statement while increasing the flow of conversation.
Ensure that You Understand Your Client

Ensure that you have understood what your customer has just stated. Unfortunately quite a number of sales do not occur because of a flaw in the channels of communication. Sales people may believe the customer has declared one thing, and he believes he has told you something entirely different. To make sure that you do not fall victim to this horrible blunder restate a summary of the ideas that he has said to you to clarify any potential misunderstandings. For example: “Just to ensure I am clear on everything you have just said you have a problem with . . . ?” Summarizing and repeating all that the customer has stated is a technique that should not be forgotten. This will provide you with the opportunity to have the prospect confirm that what you have said is correct or it will allow your customer to repeat more clearly what he or she meant. This method will also display that you are listening to your prospective client.

Establish Client Confidence and Trust

It is critical that your prospective clients trust you and feel a great sense of ease with you. It is not a rarity for a person to choose to buy a product based on the competence and favourable view of the sales person over the price of the product.
A disagreeable sales person with the best price is often incomparable to the sale person with a moderately priced product and a charming and captivating personality. If the prospect is able to afford the more expensive product he or she will buy it out of genuine admiration for your pleasing personality.

You can achieve a level of confidence by slightly mimicking the actions of your prospective client. If he or she gesticulates a lot when speaking, follow this trend. If he or she uses appealing words such as “gorgeous” or “awesome” you may try employing these words in your sales pitch. However, apply this very subtly so that it will not become painfully obvious that you are indeed imitating your prospect.

Essentially this technique will allow the prospect to feel that you have some similarities. Subconsciously he or she will be more drawn to you because he or she believes that you are someone to be identified with. People prefer to interact with others who are of like minds; you will quickly give that impression by affecting some of their more obvious speech patterns and mannerisms.

Build up Interest

You will need to entice your prospect to ensure the sale of your product. This is achieved by the quick development of an effective relationship. At his point you will be furthering the level or trust that you should already be fostering. Show the prospect that you can provide him or her with the solution that he so desperately needs. Let the prospect understand how much he or she has to gain by giving you the opportunity to state all the necessary details. “I understand that you are unable to find the best fit and therefore have suffered with this problem for years, I think we may just have the perfect shoe designed for people with your problem.” Once you have said this you have now bolstered the interest your prospect has in your product. At this point you will now need to elaborate further.

You may now introduce some additional benefits for the prospect by highlighting how others like them have received the extraordinary benefits of your product. “A young lady came into the store last month and was telling me about the aches she was also experiencing in her feet whenever she went jogging. Just the other day she came back to get a pair for a friend who has the same problem. She thanked me to no end. Believe me the foot support in this shoe is unlike any other.”
Allow the prospect to view the product and really think about the benefits of getting the product. Speak over their initial desire to get the product and reconfirm why this is possibly the best choice. Be patient; do not let the client feel threatened. If possible you may give the prospect some time to think about it, you can be very accommodating at this point to let him or her see that you realize that a decision is not always quickly made. Reducing some of the pressure to buy the product will enthral the prospect even more. However, still maintain the self-assured attitude that the product will not fail. You must still be persistent but in a manner that is not overbearing.

Validate Your Prospect’s Concerns and Objections

Though it is likely that towards the end of your interaction an interest has been sufficiently established, you will still need to reinforce all that you have already accomplished by extending a bit more to your prospect. You will do this by validating any concerns the prospect may have about the product, you and your company. Will you be giving the client exactly what you promise and are you able to back up your product or service? At his point you are now able to correctly identify your prospects concerns and objections, if any, and respond to them appropriately. Display your recognition that you believe that his or her concerns are important and most of all, valid. Let him or her know that you are willing to do almost anything to earn his or her trust. You must be able to guarantee that you and your company will be able to offer more than just a product but also some form of evidence that it is worth it. “Here are some before and after pictures of floors that we have corrected and restored. You will notice that some of them looked completely irreparable yet we were able to restore them without having to remove all the older flooring. This company has been doing flooring for over twenty years and we have always managed to meet our clients more than half way. We don’t consider a job complete until it has met the client’s standard”

Induce Action

This is an easy part of the process yet sadly, is often neglected. It is perhaps one of the greatest reasons that sales are not finalized. You must prompt your customer to take quick action. Do not get too relaxed and assume that they will automatically decide to accept the offer you are providing. Get your customer to order as soon as possible once you have exercised some amount of patients previously. Offer an incentive that will have them motivated to close the deal quickly. Many things may incite speedy action. These may include special pricing, discounts, a free add-on among other types of incentives. “The only thing you need to do is place your signature here and we’ll start the process right away. And because you are a first-time customer, we would like to give you a 15% discount for buying our product today.”

Know When to Draw the Line on Special Offers

To avoid having to decrease the profit on your product there are techniques that can be used. In situations where you are selling from a store, you can say, “Let me consult my supervisor,” or “I’ll see what I can do for you” to give the prospective client the impression that you are trying as best as is humanly possible to fulfil his or her desires and demands. However there are times when it is necessary to say no from the outset. If you are certain the product cannot be sold at a reduced price do not hint that it can be sold more reasonably.

It is ill-advised to pretend that a discount is possible when you are certain it is not. Once faced with this dilemma you must remind the client why this product is worthy of its value. This is the perfect opportunity to go over the specifications of the offering so that the client will come to appreciate what he or she will be receiving. If the client has more questions and requires additional information about why the product appears so costly, oblige him or her.

It is astonishing how many people find it difficult to say “no” to others. To better your ability to decline your prospect’s demands you will have to learn to think more clearly and not fall prey to saying “yes” to things that are said during your conversation with him or her. In doing this you will develop a new found ability to simply say “no”.

To avoid any unnecessary hostility make your immediate refusal to fulfil your prospect’s desire seems like one of unchangeable circumstance, not of choice. He or she will be able to view this refusal as specific to the situation, not as a problem with you or the product you are offering,

Know When to Stop Trying to Persuade a Client

It is important to know when to stop trying. This is especially advisable to travelling sales people who will do door to door sales. If you are not successful in stimulating the client’s interest after extensive attempts you should stop on your own accord. It may not be your technique but a lack of a need. You may simply not have what the person wants. However, it is also recommended that you depart gracefully and leave a card with the individual in case he or she may find a need for your offering at a later date.

Follow Up

This is an invaluable part of salesmanship; you should always try and adhere to this recommendation. Keep in touch with your prospect or customer. Seek to provide exceptional after-sales service. Exhibit your genuine nature and show your client that your concern for him or her is just as true as it was before the sale was finalized. You may call the client or send a note that says, “Are you enjoying your new flooring, is it exactly like you imagined? Let me know.”
Even when you were unsuccessful realize that situations do not remain static. If you are able to stay in touch with any prospective clients you may be able to get them to buy your product if the need suddenly emerges.
Being accommodating to your clients not only guarantees they will return and purchase more of your products but it will also ensure you receive many referrals from your unmistakably satisfied clients.