What Is Selling?

As entrepreneurs, we almost always have to be the chief salesperson until you are able to hire sales team members, So what makes successful salespeople. What so few of us are willing to accept is this fundamental truth: Great salespeople, like great athletes, simply do the basics very well. Some of us would like to believe that there’s a shortcut around the basics; that there’s a secret formula out there for just sitting back and letting the money roll in. The sooner you get rid of that illusion, the sooner you can get on with reaching the heights you want to reach through effective use of the basics.

“Great salespeople, like great athletes, simply do the basics very well.” 

Things to Keep in Mind When Selling

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are selling:

• Selling is 60 percent listening and 40 percent talking. When you’re having a conversation with a customer, your main goal is always to figure out how (and whether) you can help that customer. This is impossible when your mouth is open.
• A sales message consists of two sentences. Like so: 1) why your customers hire you, and 2) why you do what you do better than anyone else. If you can’t get your sales message down to these two short sentences, you’re not selling, you’re blathering.
• Customers care about their business, not about you. Every sales conversation should take place from the customer’s perspective rather than from your perspective. It’s never “my product is great.” It’s always “here’s how I can help.”
• Your reputation always precedes you. In today’s hyperconnected world, you can assume that anyone who might possibly buy anything from you knows exactly who you are. Even if you’re calling out of the blue, your life history is just a Google search away.
• Selling is all about relationship-building. Contrary to much of the foolishness that gets passed around as “sales wisdom,” customers will only buy from you if they trust you, respect you, and like you. Everything else pales by comparison.