23 Tried and Tested Selling Tips from Accomplished Sales Experts

Make no mistake, selling isn’t for the faint of heart. But, like most things in life, the rewards far outweigh the work it will take to start selling.

To succeed in influencing your prospective customers into buying your products, you need to have grit, character, and integrity.

Not only that, but you also need to have the right tools on your side; these include data mining call centers, leads, up-to-date equipment, and a skilled sales team.

Most business owners get all of these from working with a BPO call center in the Philippines. With the highly-skilled workforce and affordable services that BPO’s offer, it makes perfect sense for companies, regardless of their size, to do so.

If you’re personally about to embark on a sales campaign, however, and are looking for strategies that you can use to improve your sales, then allow us to share with you several tried and tested sales strategies from the sales experts that we’ve been fortunate enough to reach out to.

1. Dan Jourdan, Sales Coach, The Sales Energizer

Talk to more people. On the phone, in-person, e-mail, social media, smoke signal, whatever…talk to more people!

2. Jane Mims, Executive Coach, TalentCore Coaching

Know your customer. Far too many sales associates approach prospects ready to sell a product or service & launch right in. Taking the time to listen to the customer before getting into a product or service pitch can help create a long term sales relationship.

3. Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Coach & Author, B2BSalesConnections.com

If you are not using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, start. If you do, and your contacts are only organized alphabetically like the phone book, reorganize it chronologically.

Over the past 30 plus years, any time I have worked with entrepreneurs and sales people to change their contact filing methods from alphabetical to the date of next contact, follow up activities, and more importantly sales results improve dramatically!

4. Bob Urichuck,  International Professional Speaker, Trainer, Author & Founder, Velocity Selling

Rather than focusing on money or return on investment (ROI), think about return on time invested (ROTI). Getting the best ROTI starts with setting an objective. What is it you want to accomplish, and by when?

5. Russ Lombardo, President & Founder, PEAK Sales Consulting

We’ve all heard that listening skills are one of the most important skills a salesperson can have. There’s no doubt that this is true. However, the best listening skills in the world are useless if what you’re listening to is useless information.

To ensure you’re listening to valuable information, you have to ask value-based questions. The tip to follow is to ask the right questions and the right kind of questions. The right questions are ones that uncover your prospect’s pains and challenges.

The right kind of questions are ones that are open-ended and designed to get a person to explain or elaborate on their response, and they begin with “Who, “What”, “When”, “Where”, “Why” and “How.” Examples of how these types of questions come together include, “How is that affecting your customer retention?” or “Why are you looking to improve that process?”, or “What happens if nothing changes?”

These types of questions get people to open up and explain their situations, conditions and challenges. Just be sure to exercise your good listening skills when they respond.

6. Don, Business Brainstormer, Speaker, and Consultant, Don The Idea Guy

Many times a “no” from a prospect simply means “not now”. Stick around, stay in touch, and keep sending valuable insights about your customer’s industry to aid in their success. Business needs are fluid and change frequently.

Other vendors (not you, of course!) drop the ball and fail to follow through on promises. Keeping in contact even after a “no” allows you stay up to date on the prospect’s situation and in position to step in quickly when needed.

7. Marc Jantzen, MD & Founder, TheNub

Before the sales conversation ask yourself “what do I not want to be asked”, then list those questions and prepare your answers to your best of your ability.

Prepare so well that you don’t have to think about what you are going to say, or worry about any question you might get asked, so that you can remain completely ‘present in the moment’ enabling you to truly listen to both verbal and non-verbal cues which will enable you to connect with the customer, understand what’s really on their mind and then sell them what they want/need.

8. Clara Capano, Owner, Capano Consulting

Focus on the relationship and not the sale. We forget that “selling” is not our job, but rather our job is connecting. When we look to connect, to serve , to be a resource – that is the start of it all. The “sale” is the by-product of our ability to connect. Long term success comes from being personable and not transactional.

So my tip is to focus your day on who you can serve and how you can be a resource to others, the rest will take care of itself.

9. James E. Dion, President, Dionco Inc.

Features, attributes and benefits of products are components so closely linked that Sales Professionals refer to them as “FAB. ” The features of a product are those things we can see, touch, smell, taste or hear. In other words, features are what are immediately obvious to our senses. They are concrete and directly observable and, therefore, noticeable by the Customer. The crystal of a glass and the silk fabric of a blouse are features.

The attributes of a product are what the features do. Crystal makes a glass thin and delicate, and provides a very clear surface. Silk is soft to the touch and “breathes,” allowing air both in and out. Those are its attributes.

Features and attributes, however, do not sell a product nor do they pique a customer’s interest. Benefits do that.

Demonstrating the benefit of a product involves taking the product’s features and attributes and explaining, not just what they do, but what they can do for your customer. In other words, the benefit statement means translating an attribute (what the product does) into a personal statement of what the product can do for your Customer. A benefit statement always evokes the customer’s enjoyment or gain from the product.

For example, it is one thing to say that a coat is made of wool. It is another to add that wool is the warmest of natural fibers. But to say this wool coat will make you think you are in Miami on a warm day makes the customer feel the warmth of the coat in a very real manner.

Always ask yourself if what you are saying to the customer is a benefit to him or merely an explanation of the feature. A benefit statement always evokes the customer’s enjoyment or gain from the product.

A benefit statement tells the customer how this product will change his life. It personalizes the feature for the customer and allows him or her to see how the product will make a difference in their life.

Benefit statements almost always end in a description of the customer enjoying, or getting something out of, the product.

Features are what we can see.

Attributes are what features do.

Benefits are what features and attributes do for the customer (as related to his or her expressed need).

People who are successful in sales always speak of benefits of their product to the customer not of features and attributes.

10. Joy Rains, Author, Ignite Your Sales Power! Mindfulness Skills for Sales Professionals

Power your sales with awareness.

11. Steve Yastrow, President, Best-Selling Author of Ditch the Pitch, Yastrow and Company

Turn every presentation into a conversation.

It’s very simple– don’t present. Instead, engage your customers in conversations that matter to them. Tear up your elevator speech, tear up your script, and ditch the pitch. Create the right conversation for the customer you are with now. And, most importantly, make sure the conversation is not about you, make it about your customer.

Your customer doesn’t care about your company history, your credentials or even about your products. What they really care about is how they can be better off if they buy from you.

12. Chris Ronzio, Founder, Trainual.com

Follow a process. When it comes to sales, the conversation is art, but the process is science. So, track the results that you’re getting from each sales strategy, and document each step in your playbook so that your team can share best practices.

13. Jane Anderson, Personal Branding Expert, www.JaneAndersonSpeaks.com

One tip is to build trust by being yourself.

The only way you can be yourself is to be around people who are like you so you need to build a tribe of customers that you can love, and love them hard! You only have so much bandwidth so stay focused on those who have been loyal, do what you can to love and support them, not just try to sell them stuff all the time. You need to legitimately care.

14. David Meerman Scott, Bestselling Author, The New Rules of Sales and Service

Educate and inform instead of interrupt and sell.

15. Katie Mares, Founder, www.KatieMares.com

Take the time to flip the lens and understand the customer standing in front of you. Perception matters; if you don’t get to know your customers you’ll never live up to their expectations.

16. Danita Bye, Author of Millenials Matter, Founder, www.DanitaBye.com

Get faster traction and accelerate your sales results, by strengthening your selling mindset and sales DNA quotient.

17. TC North, Ph.D, Founder, Executive coach, Leadership Speaker, Professional EOS Implementer, Catalyst High Performance

Be like an elite athlete and show up with magnetic presence. Learn how to create the emotions and presence that helps you be your best.

18. Joe Hirsch,  Managing Director, Semaca Partners

Don’t focus on selling. Focus on serving. If you get the service right, the sales will follow.

19. Sarah Pearce, Speaker, Strategist & Coach, www.SarahPearce.co.nz

Successful salespeople understand that listening is the most important part of their job. So, don’t interrupt, watch body language, paraphrase and reflect back, and ask questions. Remember anecdotes your client tells you and refer to them again later. Giving someone your full attention is powerful. Listening builds trust.

20. Mark Williams, Director, Sales-mind

Focus on bringing your best self to the set of activities that afford the best possible chance of success being a natural output of the work you put in.

21. Brandin Wilkinson, Development Coach, ReThink Selling, Generating Everlasting Momentum!

Success is 20% skill and 80% Mindset.

Regardless of experience, mindset is more important than skill. Due to the roller coaster ride that is sales, success requires an unbelievable level of resilience. The extensive constraint on the growth of your business is always the leader, and that’s you! Remember, people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

22. Sean McPheat, CEO of multiple award winners MTD Sales Training

Make sure that you give your prospective clients a good listening tool. Ask questions, probe and be curious. A thorough fact find is essential so you can position your products and services in the right way. Don’t just show up and throw up with your features and benefits.

23. Mario Martinez, Jr., CEO, Founder and Digital Sales Evangelist, Vengreso, The Digital Sales Transformation Company

Conclusion