Five steps to mumpreneur sales success

In business, we frequently find ourselves in situations where we must sell our products and services. But when you’re not a natural salesperson, the kind who can sell anything to anyone, the thought of having to ‘sell’ can be quite daunting.

Though with our business success directly determined by our ability to sell our products and services and often our own experience and expertise, love it or hate it, selling is a skill we need to master.

So how do you sell with more confidence and ease? Here are five tips to help you get more sales success, no matter what business you’re in.

1. Focus on helping your customer, instead of making the sale

Instead of focusing on generating sales, look at your potential customer’s needs, wants, goals and challenges. If they are a business, research their industry and get to know the products and services they offer. Identify their biggest frustrations and any obstacles that are stopping them from getting to where they want to be.

Listen carefully to unveil their true source of pain and look for ways your products or services could assist them personally in achieving their goals. By helping your potential customers reach their goals, you will in turn achieve yours.

2. Ask questions

Questions are incredibly powerful. You can qualify a potential customer, establish rapport, identify needs, build credibility and close a sale simply by asking questions.

To be more effective in your sales approach, develop a series of questions that will help you identify the needs of your potential customers and showcase the value of your products or services at the same time. The more appropriate and relevant your questions are, the easier it is to position yourself as an expert and quickly build the confidence your potential customer has in you.

3. Know your products and services

Become an expert in your products and services. Know how they work, how they benefit your customers and how they differ from what else is on the market. Also know the common questions and objections people have with your industry, products or services.

Knowing your industry, products and services intimately will give you confidence you need to be able to handle different situations and eliminate any nerves about not being able to answer questions or overcome any objections.

Believing in and being enthusiastic about your business, products and services, also helps you to make sales. If you don’t feel passionate about or believe in your business, you can be guaranteed that your potential customer won’t either!

4. Demonstrate the benefits – and prove it

When you have uncovered the pain points your potential customer has, you need to demonstrate how your product or service can help them overcome it. But don’t just talk about the benefits – prove them.

Demonstrate the gain they will experience by using a product demonstration, case study, review or a customer testimonial. Never underestimate the power of testimonials; no one will sell your business like a satisfied customer. The best testimonials you can receive are ones that overcome common objections or document real results (i.e. dollar amount or percentage increase or decrease).

5. Call them to act

You can have the most attention grabbing and persuasive sales presentation, but if it leaves your potential customers wondering “what next?” and doesn’t close the sale, it is a waste of your time.

After you have taken your potential customer to their place of pain and proven how your products or services can specifically help them, you need to then tell them the steps they need to take to experience all the benefits you are offering. You need to lead them to the sale. It is also a good idea to offer a reward or bonus to get them to act immediately, particularly if your product or service requires a larger investment.

Over to you…Do you have any tips for increasing sales success?