Sell Yourself and Increase Your Client Base

In today’s technological world, with iPhone apps and the Internet at a customer’s fingertips, successful selling boils down to believing in your product and selling yourself first.

As a sales rep, you are your toughest customer. You know everything there is to know about your product or service. If you aren’t excited about it, if you can live without it, if you wouldn’t invest in it, why should your potential client?

As any veteran sales rep will tell you, sales is a challenging and rewarding business. It takes dedication, persistence, and the ability to accept a lot of refusals without losing your drive or optimism. What many reps don’t know is that it takes an honest belief that their products or services are the best on the market; and the ability to prove it will make your potential customer’s work or life easier, and more profitable in the long run. 

How do you do that?

Whether you are selling a half-million-dollar machine-tooling system or a simple weekly household service that frees up your customer’s overall time, following these key steps will increase your client base and your ability to close the deal every time:

• Believe in your product or service: A customer can tell when you are reciting a “set” sales pitch. But if you honestly believe in your offering, your sincerity will come across to your potential clients and pique their curiosity.
• Be enthusiastic: If you are not excited about what you are selling, your customer won’t be either. Relax, smile, and have fun. Know what you offer will aid your customers in a crucial way and will make their life/work easier and more profitable in the long run.
• Build relationships: More sales are made with friendship than through simple salesmanship. Immediately make a connection with your customers. Do they have pictures or plaques on their desks or shelves? Anything you can identify with or have a familiarity with? Do they wear an association/alumni ring or insignia? Are they into sports? Do they have children? The sooner you can build a common ground, the quicker they will relax and listen to and consider your proposal. 
• Listen: One of the most important steps in building a relationship with a potential new client is to listen. Ask “past,” “present,” and “future” questions and stop to honestly listen to the answers. Here is where you learn how to customize your offering to meet their specific needs. How was their previous solution utilized in the past? How are they using it today?  What is their ultimate goal?
• Watch your body language: Shifting in your chair, checking your watch, glancing out the window, or losing eye contact are all signs you are not listening and don’t care what your customer is saying. They are also instrumental in losing the sale.
• Focus: Focus on what your customers are communicating. What are their needs? How can your product or service aid them? Each customer is different and has unique needs. Don’t interrupt, ramble on with a set sales pitch, or ignore their responses.
• Be honest: Integrity and honesty are the stepping stones to loyalty and trust, which in turn are the steps to building a long-term repeat customer who will recommend you to others.
• Use humor: Smiles and laughter go a long way in building relationships and making friends. If you can get your customer to laugh, you can get him to buy.
• Make repeat customers: Above all else, focus on the value you bring to your customer rather than on your monthly quota. You are not only selling a product or service, you are building a new relationship, a long-term relationship that will last for years to come. After all, you believe in your product, you know it is the best on the market, and, now, so does your new customer.