3 Simple Tweaks to Improve Your Sales

Sometimes just making a small change will give you a much different result. Try boosting your sales with these simple sales tweaks.

1. Change how you ask for referrals.

You will often hear a customer tell you that he has someone he would like to refer to you. Don’t leave it to him to manage your referral process. Instead, ask your customer to call the referral for you. Ask him to tell the referral why the referral would be interested in working with you. Your customer should be able to say what’s in it for the prospect, not why you want to sell.

You must provide that information. Then ask your customer to call the prospect and let the prospect know you will be contacting him. You lose control of the sales process if you expect the referral to call you. You have prepared the prospect for your call if your customer does what you ask him to do. You are more likely to actually get a meeting with the referral when you manage the process instead of your customer.

2. Use your customers’ words instead of your own to sell.

Too many salespeople talk only about the merits of their products and services. Prospects don’t believe them. After all, you have something to gain by selling the product. What if your customers said the very same things that you are saying about your products? It would be more believable. Why? Because they have nothing to gain.

Follow up with your customers after the sale. Ask them how they are using your products and the results they are getting. Learn how your products impact their bottom line, their employees, or their productivity. Get it in writing, so then you can reference your customers’ statements in future sales calls. You are far more persuasive when someone else talks about your products instead of you.

3. Think differently about your prospects.

Too many salespeople waste time thinking they have viable prospects when, in fact, they don’t. They spend months calling on prospects who have little likelihood of buying.

Early in the sales process you should identify the criteria that make a prospect a likely one. In addition, you should also clarify why a prospect might not be a good prospect.

Looking at both perspectives forces you to consider early in the sales process any negatives so you can address them. You get to decide if the negatives can be overcome, and you avoid wasting time on prospects with little potential when you are clear about what you need to do to address the reasons why they won’t buy.