SME's chat:Mastering the art of selling in business

Business
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” — Jack London

When John started his business, selling leather goods, he began by sending out an email catalogue to all his friends and everyone else who was in his address book.

 

There was not a single response in the first week. He sent out more emails the following week, but still no response. Days went on. After two months, he decided to change his method; he started emailing the catalogue daily.

Poor sales skills led John to do the illogical: do more of what’s not working and hope it would  work. This is just like a restaurant owner, upon discovering that fish is not selling, decides to cook more fish! If you don’t master the art of selling, your chances of success in business will be greatly diminished. Selling is the driver of businessWithout sales, there is no business. The whole point of starting a business is that you can produce goods and services for selling to customers, so that you generate revenue.

Although some people are naturally sales-oriented due to their gregarious personalities and an outgoing, “loud-mouthed” nature, most successful salespeople have had to learn the art of selling.

This is an art that every entrepreneur must master, even if they are not natural sales people.

Nearly every function of business requires some form of selling. A new entrepreneur has to sell his or her idea to potential investors, financiers, suppliers and key employees. One of the reasons many business proposals fail to attract funding is because the writer does not make a compelling selling proposition.

One expert says there is much more money around than there are business ideas. If you fail to raise funding, it’s simply because no-one trusts you enough with their money. In others, people with money are not buying your idea.

As your business gets off the ground, you will have to continuously apply selling skills to get new customers and retain existing ones. You will apply the same skills in convincing your executives, board members, your staff and external stakeholders to understand and buy into your point of view.Since the art of selling can be learned and acquired, you need to apply yourself in learning it through reading books and watching DVDs on selling, attending sales training workshops and seminars and reading articles  written by sales experts. As a start, here are some tips for mastering the art of selling:

Know your offering Nothing puts off a potential customer more than someone who doesn’t know a lot about his product or service. This means you have to take time to educate yourself on every facet of your product, from creation to use. Be excited about your offeringYou cannot bore people into buying your product. If you are truly excited about your business, the enthusiasm will be contagious and your prospects will be happy to buy from you. Make the callNo-one is going to hire a hit-man to take you out because you made a sales call. That has never happened and it never will. Only 10% of prospects are going to show interest in your offering. But you have to go through the other 90% to reach those interested. In business and in life, you are not likely to get what you want if you don’t ask for it. So don’t forget to ask for the order. Follow up until you hear “NO!” If you make an offer to someone today, they will quickly forget about you if you don’t follow up. No-one is going to wake up in the morning with your name on their lips. People have lots of other things that will take their mind off you.

One conversation is usually not enough. It’s not your prospect’s job to follow-up with you. And it’s not an interruption to follow through with what you promised.We lose so much business because we are afraid of being judged as pushy. Being overly cautious can be just as big a turn-off as being overly aggressive. Be friendly persistent; never assume the prospect doesn’t want your product until they actually tell you they are not interested.

You will find more tips at our website http://smebusinesslink.com.

Phillip Chichoni is a business planning and financial management consultant who works with entrepreneurs and growing businesses. You may contact him on [email protected]