10 Sales Tips for Your Team


Your sales team is, in a sense, the crux of your company’s success. Your salespeople are who convince your customers to buy your product and help your customers through the purchasing process. They allow your business to prosper. For that reason, a team of incompetent salespeople can spell a death sentence for a business if left to fester for too long. If you want to see your business succeedOpens in a new tab., your sales team is the first step in that direction. Here are ten tips that could help your salesOpens in a new tab. team sell your products more efficiently.

1. Keep the Conversation Interesting

No matter if your first interaction with a potential client is through a cold call or a planned meeting, the best thing you can do is keep the dialogue going. Unsuccessful calls are often cut short, so the longer you can hold a conversation, the more time the other party has invested into the task at hand, and the more time invested, the more likely the other party will be to want to get something for his or her time. One of the best tactics for helping the conversation flow is to ask open-ended questions that require a multiple-word response.

2. Tell the Truth

You will not accomplish anything as a salesperson if you lie about who you are and what your goal is. Be upfront and do not hide the fact that you work for a company that is trying to sell something. That information will likely end some calls faster than you would like, but those calls are the ones that are doomed from the start. If the interested party realizes that you are being honest with him or her about your intentions, he or she will be more trusting and at-ease as the call progresses.

3. Consider Workplace Elements

While the customers should be the top priority for your salespeople, workplace elements are a factor as well. Make sure you are keeping up on your duties outside of selling. Different jobs require different responsibilities. These responsibilities can include entering sales into a computer program, informing warehouse workers of specific instructions, which can impact how they use their route planning softwareOpens in a new tab., or other, more specific, obligations. It can be easy for salespeople to slip into a mindset of superiority and forget that they have to help the office run just as any other employee does.

4. Get Comfortable Without a Script

Being a salesperson requires a fair amount of improvisational skills. While a script is useful to an extent, once the other party begins asking questions, you need to be prepared to have a real conversation and answer any questions he or she might have. For this reason, every salesperson must have comprehensive knowledge about the products they are selling. If the salesperson seems unsure or frequently needs to double-check general information, the client is likely to feel uneasy and like the salesperson cannot be trusted as a reliable ambassador for the company he or she is working for.

5. Know Your Audience

Everyone reacts to salespeople slightly differently, but keeping in mind the types of environments and people you are likely to be selling to, there are some consistencies that you can typically rely on. Most business deals occur within professional environments, so maintaining a sense of professionalism is the most helpful tool at your disposal. However, some business relationships become more casual and friendly after some time has passed. However, be sure that you are confident that the other party is comfortable with a more casual relationship before trying to initiate one.

6. Research Potential Clients

Before you contact your potential clients, you need to become familiar with both the person and the company you are contactingOpens in a new tab.. You must make an effort to understand where your prospective clients are coming from. Economic circumstances, social circumstances, and internal circumstances can all determine how willing a given business will be to buy your product. Learn what kinds of goods and services that the company needs and learn how to present your product in a way that will complete those needs. Keep notes on the people you communicate with so you can connect with them on a personal level as well.

7. Learn To Take Rejection

Something that you have to be prepared for in sales is rejection. Not every sale you pursue will end in success. No matter how good of a salesperson you think you are, circumstances simply do not always line up to create an ideal situation. As with anything else in life, always be gracious in defeat. Do not desperately hang on after you are no longer welcome. Learning when to leave will not only preserve your reputation, but it also leaves the door open for potential business in the future when the stars align better.

8. Follow Up

After a given sale is completed, your work as a salesperson is not done. You need to follow upOpens in a new tab. with every client with whom you have completed a sale at least once. The first time you reconvene with the client should be very soon after the delivery of the product to assess the general satisfaction and answer any question that might have arisen. If you decide that you need to reconvene a second time, it should be some time in the future to assess the long-term satisfaction with the product and to show that you care for your clients.

9. Know How You Are Perceived

The words you say or type may sound one way to you, but they could be perceived completely differently by the person on the other end. So, how can you know whether you are getting your message across properly? The best answer is for you to be aware of how your client responds to you. The way your clients feel about what you are saying can be evident in body language, facial expressions, the language they use, or other types of non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal.

10. Have Confidence

Similarly to the point of being able to communicate without a script, the improvisation you come up with on the spot needs to create an aura of confidence around you. A person who is confident in what he or she is selling and the information he or she is providing will almost universally come across as more trustworthy and can, therefore, sell more products. People are attracted to people who seem to believe in what they are saying. As the saying goes, “confidence is key”, and the field of sales is no exception to that rule.

An effective sales team, while not the only path towards success, is one of the most vital elements a business can have. The field of sales is such a subjective area that it is nearly impossible to provide a list of tips that can apply to every situation. This list is by no means meant to be a comprehensive account of the best sales tips. As mentioned above, one of the best skills you can have as a salesperson is improvisation, so if you can learn to adapt to any situation you have a better chance of selling to even the toughest clients.

Steve Todd

Steve Todd, founder of Open Sourced Workplace and is a recognized thought leader in workplace strategy and the future of work. With a passion for work from anywhere, Steve has successfully implemented transformative strategies that enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Through Open Sourced Workplace, he fosters collaboration among HR, facilities management, technology, and real estate professionals, providing valuable insights and resources. As a speaker and contributor to various publications, Steve remains dedicated to staying at the forefront of workplace innovation, helping organizations thrive in today's dynamic work environment.

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