How to be Effective at Sales

1. Focus 90% of your time with a prospect on discovery.

‍Listen. Ask questions like: why does that matter? Who does that effect? How much does that cost you? How many other people are affected? 2. Be relevant.

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2. Understand the challenges facing the customer.

Provide solutions that address those challenges. State them clearly. 

"This solution will increase your app based sales by $2m per year and reduce overhead by 5%."

3. Identify the decision maker and get to that person.

‍Without this person, you cannot close the deal. 

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4. Be effective by focusing on the right deals/customers.‍

Qualify prospects early and often. Do not waste your time convincing someone to buy who doesn’t want to buy or trying to sell to someone who can’t buy. 

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5. Quality over quantity.‍

Hire experienced people OR build the necessary skills on the team who can help you close deals that actually grow the company. Choose 5 deals at high margins vs 20 deals at low margins. Do not get caught in transactional crap that doesn’t move the needle. 

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6. Be consistent in the sales process.‍

Do not skip steps or cut corners.  If you do, the deal is more likely to fall apart. 

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7. Build value. Build value. Build value.‍

Use data to present meaningful and useful information to the customer. 

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8. Never stop creating leads.‍

They have to come from somewhere. Understand the numbers and what it takes to achieve a sale from inbound leads and outbound efforts. Set a goal. Then work backwards. 

"My goal is to sell 30 cars a month. I know that if I send out 100 emails to previous customers asking them if they want to trade in their car for a new one, I will get 10 responses, 5 will set appointments, 3 will show up, and I will sell 2 cars. I also know that if 25 people submit a request online for a quote, I will get 8 responses, 4 will set appointments, 3 will show up, and I will sell 2 cars. So, I can send 1,500 cold emails in 30 days, generate 375 inbound leads in 30 days, or use a combo."

If you know what it takes and you are disciplined, you can better predict future sales.

Play the odds. I almost never sold a car on a Thursday, so I stopped working Thursdays. The odds of me selling more than 1 car a day on weekdays was slim, so as soon as I sold a car I went home, even if I sold it first thing in the morning. I averaged 6-9 sales a weekend and on the last day of the month I could sell at least 3 cars. This changed when I worked and how I worked.  

Be real. Be accessible. Build trust. Build a relationship.