Master your product with these next-level sales tips

As sales professionals, it’s crucial to read as many relevant books as possible to stay on top of your game. Luckily there are tons out there to dive into. Sounds good? Well, keep reading! Ba dum tss!

This Sales Book is Crammed with Priceless Gems

Brian Tracy is a Canadian-American motivational public speaker and self-development author. He’s published more than eighty books, some of which are filled with gems for sales professionals. Tracy does recommend some books outside of those he sold himself. One of those is The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer.

The Sales Bible

Authored by American salesman Jeffrey Gitomer, The Sales Bible touches on some interesting (and useful ideas):

• Success in sales starts with a positive attitude.

• Friends like buying from friends. So start creating relationships outside of your cubicle!

• Distinguish yourself and your product by channeling the ‘WOW factor’!

• Use power questions to build rapport and get the answers needed to close a sale.

• A sales pro has the ability to turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’.

• Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. Just make sure you shut up afterward and give prospects a chance to say ‘yes’.

• Great (and consistent) customer service enables you to close over and over again.

• A new type of salesperson is emerging, enter the ‘non-salesperson’.

• Social media is a great way to showcase your knowledge about whatever it is you’re selling!

What’s the internet got to say about this?

Brian Tracy isn’t the only person cosigning Jeffrey Gitomer’s ‘Sales Bible’. Amazon reviews on this book are overwhelmingly positive with some interesting twists and insights.

There's something warm and earthy about the way Gitomer makes his points, and his humorous style makes it easy to go through the book. At times the book comes across as a motivational guide with the author cheerleading the readers through the sales techniques.” - Rajeev Pokkyarath

Master your product with these next-level tips

According to author, and business consultant, Victor Antonio, ‘mastering’ your product is a must. But, how do you do it? Let’s take a look at some of his best tips:

Talk to the Developers

Antonio suggests talking to product developers to get an idea of how and why they created the product. In his case, he went as far as to have product managers ask him tough questions about the product so he could better explain this stuff to prospects. Not a bad idea. In fact, it’s kinda brilliant!

Profile Your Clients

Some of you may be wondering ‘How on earth am I going to do this??’. Well, it’s not that hard. What you want to do is find the person in your company that owns the database and ask them, ‘Who are we typically selling to?’. This will allow you to classify the kinds of buyers that are likely to buy compared to the ones who aren’t. Developing these ‘personas’ allows salespersons to qualify leads more quickly!

Process Matters

A part of mastering your product and finding more success selling it is developing a process. The saying ‘those who fail to plan, plan to fail’ rings true for a reason. Even if you know your product as well as the folks that made it, even if you know your customer profiles like the back of your hand, if your process isn’t complimenting this knowledge, the results may be super inconsistent; or in some cases, downright disappointing.

Perfect the Pitch

Knowing your product is a requisite for perfecting your pitch. But what exactly does Antonio mean by ‘perfecting your pitch?’ It’s not the same as memorizing your presentation. Rather, it calls for you to focus on the delivery of your presentation, too. Think about what are you going to say, when are you going to say it, and how are you going to say it! As Antonio so eloquently put it: “I should be able to wake you out of a dead sleep, smack you, and tell you ‘pitch me the product’ and you should be able to pitch it.”

Stick the Landing

Victor Antonio compares this to a gymnast launching gracefully off the beam and landing to a perfect finish. The secret is to know ahead of the presentation where exactly you want to execute this landing which goes back to our point about perfecting the pitch. Executing this properly will help to advance the sales cycle as opposed to continuing it. What’s the difference, you ask? An example of ‘continuing the sales cycle’ is a prospect telling you “Let us think about it and get back to you”. In this example, the sales cycle is being drawn out without much progress. Therefore it’s a continuation. In the case of advancing the sales cycle, a prospect’s response might sound more like this: “Let’s go ahead and set up a meeting with [insert higher-up]”. In this case, you’re advancing the sale. A good way to guarantee this is to simply ask to take things to the next step!

Position Your Value

Quite simply, you’re not selling people a ‘price’. You’re selling them ‘value’. That said, try focusing less on what price tag the product is wearing, and more on what it’s doing for your customers. By telling them how you can increase revenue, reduce cost, or expand market share, you are telling customers about the value your product will bring to their business. Conveying this in your presentation is straightforward; simply make sure the points of your presentation are built around whatever value you offer i.e. increasing revenue, reducing cost, or increasing market share.

“Oh Snap” Moments In Sales This Week

Founder of salesman.com and YouTube content creator, Will Baron just dropped a free sales training guide. Baron runs a cool YouTube channel and offers insightful content. His platform is also pretty high in production value. But this is about his sales guide. “The Sales Code” promises you “The 18 Sales Skills and Personality Traits That You Need to Beat Quota, Like Clockwork, Every Single Time”. The books are high-quality, physical copies and are packed with quality tips. By the way, the Sales Code is the second installment, preceded by Selling Made Simple.

Grab your copy of “Sales Code” here. You’ll need to sign up to receive your free copy!

Or grab the first book “Selling Made Simple” by signing up here. This is also free, once you sign up!

Sales Joke of the Week