Wondering what it takes to become a “good salesperson”? Undoubtedly, certain soft skills (such personality traits as charisma, confidence or inquisitiveness) will be important, but that doesn’t mean that hard knowledge can’t be assigned an equally important role. An excellent knowledge of the most popular and proven sales techniques (both B2C and B2B) will certainly help when you don’t know what step to take next – and personality traits alone won’t help. What are the sales techniques that will help you close the deal?

Sales techniques – table of contents:

  1. What are sales techniques?
  2. The most important sales techniques
  3. USP (Unique Selling Proposition)
  4. Storytelling
  5. Keeping in touch
  6. Roleplaying
  7. Individual approach
  8. Summary
  9. Chceck out our project management software for sales management

What are sales techniques?

Have you ever told a story to a customer, presented benefits, tried to understand the needs of the end user? If so, you’ve used basic basic sales techniques, that is, ways to persuade them to take the offer. Salespeople don’t usually rely on just one technique – they try to mix them (depending on the individual customer, offer or environment) and constantly modify them, checking which one works best and has the best chance of achieving the desired result.

The most important sales techniques

Until recently, among the most common techniques used by salespeople were:

  • low ball – encouraging the customer to take the offer by building an emotional connection to the product, and once the customer has made up their mind, informing them that the earlier offer is no longer available and offering a more expensive version,
  • apparent choice – presenting two offers and asking which one the customer wants to choose,
  • price manipulation – juxtaposing two products from different price categories and presenting the more expensive version first.
sales techniques

The above techniques usually work well for one-time deals and won’t help these days, when salespeople have to put their primary focus on building relationships with customers. So what sales techniques are worth considering today?

USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

Unique Selling Proposition – this is what you want to sell to the customer, not a specific good or service that the customer can use. You need to know what makes your offer different from the competition – only then will you be fully convincing. How do you determine your USP? The best way to do this is to brainstorm ideas with other members of the sales and marketing team, so that together you can develop a unique value that will be communicated by all employees.

Storytelling

Today’s consumers are looking for solutions to their problems and appreciate brands that know their motivations and understand the frustrations they feel – and build a story hero based on that. So when selling a particular product or service, it’s worth developing several stories tailored to specific customer segments and using the best one for each individual customer.

Keeping in touch

Sales is not an activity that starts at one moment and ends after 15 minutes. Nowadays – when companies’ offers are much more elaborate and competition in most industries is enormous – salespeople have to bet on building relationships with customers, showing that they care about meeting their needs.Therefore, you should contact an acquired lead as soon as possible. Keeping in touch with customers is a crucial aspect of sales. It is the most effective way to build relationships and make them feel valued.

Roleplaying

Role playing is a technique that is often used in sales because it allows the salesperson to get into the mindset of their customer and see the world from their perspective. This helps them understand what motivates that customer. This technique also has the added benefit of providing some insight into how the other person might react or respond to a certain pitch.

Individual approach

Nowadays, every customer – both B2B and B2C – wants to be treated individually. For this reason, the seller must be ready to be flexible and find a solution that satisfies both parties. So it’s worth having several offers prepared that vary regarding pricing and terms, hoping that one of them will meet all the customer needs.

Summary

Sales techniques are a set of strategies that are designed to help salespeople generate high-quality leads and convert them into customers.The use of these techniques is based on the belief that there is a specific way to sell products. These techniques include the use of persuasive words, phrases, and other communication tools in order to build rapport with potential buyers and persuade them to buy the product.

Chceck out our project management software for sales management:

Read also: How to create a sales forecast?

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Author: Andy Nichols

A problem solver with 5 different degrees and endless reserves of motivation. This makes him a perfect Business Owner & Manager. When searching for employees and partners, openness and curiosity of the world are qualities he values the most.