The Nitty Gritty of Successful Sales

There are a multitude of strategies out there that businesses use to try to boost sales. As a small business owner, I’m sure you’ve tried several. Does it ever feel like these may be quick fixes and aren’t really helping in the long run? Forbes recently published an article that offered four universal truths of successful business sales. Here’s what they had to say:

1. Stop selling to your customers. Instead, start helping your customers.
   I’ll go ahead and say it, there are times when I really don’t want to hear a sales pitch. I just need some help. Promoting your product or service in a way that truly helps your customers rather than just selling, will ultimately bring about a more positive engagement. Given the amount of information available with today’s technology, when a potential customer reaches you, they’ve already made part of the buying decision. Now it’s your turn to let them know how you can help.
   
   
2. Take advantage of technology to maximize your efforts.
   Paper and pencil recording systems are a thing of the past. There are many other means out there that will make your job 100 times easier. I know of a particularly great accounting software that offers all kinds of features to cut down on your work load. It’s called QuickBooks! Maybe you’ve heard of it? But seriously, the technology that we have available is highly capable of handling the work so you can devote your attention to more important areas of the business.
   
   
3. Sales is a science, not an art.
   As you use technology in your daily business management, you’ll quickly see that there are patterns when it comes to sales. With that, you can recreate positive sales experiences, and also recognize what not to do. The scientific breakdown allows you to optimize your ability to close more deals, and hey, that sounds pretty good to me.
   
   
4. Get prospects to say no.
   Yep, you read that right. If prospects tell you no, that simply frees up your time and efforts to focus on leads that are worth following up with. That doesn’t mean you completely forget about the prospects, it just means you can consider them unqualified – for now.

I hope your past sales tactics haven’t left you feeling discouraged. I also hope that you’ll check out the article I linked above, and begin to follow through with some of these practices. As always, if you need a helping hand, the Community has your back!