Ways to improve your company’s sales potential

Salesare an integral part of anybusiness. The bottom line is that if your company isn’t successful at selling, it won’t make money and will ultimately be destined to fail.

Many entrepreneurs pride themselves on providing excellent service or customer care – but the truth is, sales are the lifeblood of your business. While it’s most definitely admirable and commendable to deliver the best service possible, sales are the reason your company exists and should be put at the top of your list of priorities.

Adopting tried and tested vendingtactics within your company’s sales team will keep your businessviable while also increasing profits. If you find trade is laggingor you struggle to nail deals in general, here are a few ways you can improve your approach.

Go on a training program

Some people are born sellers – others need to work at it. If you or your teamfind yourself in the latter category, consider attending a sales workshop or course to learn new skills and tactics. Training seminars will usually include methodology, social skills, sales coaching, and presentation tips. In truth, a lot of selling is confidence, so just knowing you’ve attended a workshop will improve your skills. There are multiple courses available online or in-person at academies. Also, HubSpotoffers free programs online if you want to test the water before fully committing.

Improve your listening skills

Nobody likes a pushy salesperson who makes you feel as though they’re only interested in nailing the deal. Bear this in mind when you’re trying to sell. One of the best ways to instill confidence and trust in a prospective client is to listen to their queries and comments attentively. Rather than just blocking them in your head as you try to formulate your next pitch, take a moment to hear their feedback– and answer appropriately. People can be rightly hesitant when they’re parting with money (particularly substantial sums of money), so take the time to address your clients’ queries.

Implement a company-wide sales and operations plan

There’s little point achieving a sale only to find the item you’ve sold isn’t in stock. Likewise, if your company over-orders product and is sitting on ‘dead’ stock, it won’t efficiently use its cashflow resources.Implementing a Sales and Operations Planning system will help you address and streamline every aspect of your sales process from warehouse storage capacity to sales tracking and future forecasting.

Practice roleplay exercises

There can be few more effective ways to hone your selling skills than through roleplay exercises. Roleplay allows you to take on both buyer and seller’s position, so you can explore the relationship from both sides to get a better understanding of how your prospective clients might feel or react to your sales tactics. Typical exercises include formulating opening lines, dealing with tricky questions, managing demanding clients, and practicing closing statements that will, hopefully, lead to a purchase. Selling is a form of psychology and, while it’s true, it comes more naturally to some people than others, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn new skills or adapt existing ones to improve your approach. First and foremost, always listen to the client and try to imagine things from their perspective. This will give you a clearer idea of how to tap into their wants and needs and allow you to find more creative ways to sell your products.