I got into sales when my company started, decided it wasn’t my strength and got out until a few years ago. I read a book called “Truth and Lies in Advertising” and it mentioned the creative director (what I do at my company) needs to be the strongest sales person in the company.

So I made an attempt and had some success. I focus on the business, providing the right solution and that seems to work for the most part. If there’s small talk it tends to be business and industry related, although I do have a growing number of clients that share my interest in music, oddly enough.

So when is a sale a sale? When and how often do you follow up when there are extended periods without communication? When is the horse dead and it’s time to get off? As far as I can tell, these are all gray areas that no one really has the answer to. Trust your instincts and the old sayings “Strike while the fire is hot” and “Patience is a virtue” come to mind as good advice in this regard.

Here are the top 10 sales truths that I rely on:

1. Know and present your value proposition confidently. Be prepared to answer the inevitable question “What makes you better than the other companies providing your service.”
2. Get the customer talking. The more you talk, the less likely you are to find out what the prospective customer really needs.
3. Don’t just take the order. Why? It’s the information age. If you can simply take the order, so can anyone else. By understanding their challenges in greater detail, maybe you can come up with a bigger and better solution.
4. A pro sales coach may teach you to mimic body language and adopt customer speech patterns (talk fast, talk slow etc). I believe today that “Real” wins over this kind of “Slick” every time.
5. The more questions you ask, the smarter you get. If you don’t understand, inquire and find out more. You’ll get the insight needed to be able to accomplish number 2 and 3 above.
6. Follow up when you say you’re going to and after any meeting of significance. Do it while everything is fresh as it is twice as easy to accomplish.
7. Don’t make excuses. Explaining things in detail always weakens your position. Acknowledge and be accountable for any errors and move on.
8. The best way to communicate is still face to face, followed by a phone call and lastly an e-mail or text. It’s harder and harder to get the opportunity for the first two, so be careful with e-mails. Put them through spell check and make sure what you meant to say can’t be misinterpreted.
9. Never try and resolve an issue of any significance by e-mail. I made this mistake just the other day…I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.
10. Referrals are always your best way to increase sales. It’s okay to ask for them from the customers you know best, on occasion.

Lee’s Quote for the Day

If you’re having a hard time selling something, it’s either priced wrong, not a very good product or you’re trying to sell it to the wrong person. Oh yeah, it could be the wrong season, or just a bad day, or lousy timing, or budget cuts, or the price of fuel, or the high Canadian dollar or… 

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