I do not consider myself a natural salesman. When I had to sell something, I had to put a lot of effort into it. I also used to have a negative connotation to the skill of selling. I believe most of us do. When we think of Sales, we imagine a guy (it is often a guy) who tries to sell us something we do not need, of low quality at a high price. This is mostly a stereotype.
I have had the pleasure of working with some skilled salesmen. Also, out of necessity, I was the main salesman for a company I used to run. It was hard to do it, but it was so fruitful. I vividly remember one day cold-calling 50 businesses to sell my product. I learned more about the art of selling that day than any article I had read up until then. This is where the old saying “just do it” really fits like a glove.
I have picked up three key tips by watching others sell and doing sales myself. They are by no means the only ones or the right ones. They have served me well, though, and these are:
Practice Active Listening
When someone else is speaking, we often do not listen. Instead, we are preparing an answer in our head. Actively listening can help one understand the need (not the want) one has. This is not a small task. The world we are living in has wired us to have a reply or an opinion about almost anything constantly. Practising active listening requires consciously deciding to listen without forming a reply.
Focus On The Goal in Front of You:
The sale might be your ultimate goal, but many intermediate goals exist. For example, if you are selling an idea to an investor and have only a few minutes with them, you want to focus on the goal in front of you: getting invited to a second meeting. That is the goal.
Authenticity Moves Mountains
It helps to blend sales tactics with being authentic. It is okay to copy what others do when doing sales, but also adapt it to your voice, tone, and viewpoint. Authenticity rarely fails. I have firsthand experience. Once, I hired one of the most productive software engineers and quality people I have ever worked with. She didn’t have the credentials or the experience for the role. In fact, she had stayed for a limited time with her first two employers, which is a red flag for me. In my last question, Is there something you want to share that we haven’t covered? she did something special: she was very direct, acknowledged past shortcomings on her CV, and said, “I will do whatever is necessary to succeed and grow in this role. You can count on me.” Anybody can say this sentence, but how she said it came out differently; it was very authentic. It turned out to be true because that is exactly what she did once we hired her.
