Improve your Selling Skills

Get to the top of your sales game by focusing on what works for you and change what doesn't. As the economy crawls along on its flat line sales people need to be more creative and professional to connect with customers and prospects in order to get the deal.

In the 20 years I spent in sales management, these are the areas which always needed improvement and the most supervision among a sales organization. Of course there are thousands of ways to improve selling skills based on the individual but here are some broad categories to improve on.

1. Pipeline management. Not only is having a full pipeline necessary in order to avoid the ups and downs in your sales numbers, but also understanding where your prospects are in the buying process is critical. You may be ready to close but if the prospect is still in the discovery phase you will be waiting a long time.
2. Effective time and territory/account management. Learn good habits and stick to them. Having a monthly and weekly plan mapped out before Monday rolls along is essential to maximize your selling hours and being the most effective possible. Non selling activities should be completed prior to 8am or after 5pm. This included pre-call planning on every appointment and sales visit for the week. This also means using your mobile devices to the fullest. The days of getting to emails and return phones at the end of the day are over. You need to be responding to prospect/customers as they reach out to you whether by phone or email in real time.
3. Focus on dealing with C-Level executives who in most cases are the key decision maker. Don't waste unnecessary time selling someone who has no decision making power or purchasing authority. If you are selling to an influencer, understand that they will be a champion for you, but your goal is a meeting with the decision maker.
4. Clearly discuss with the prospect the sales process and define the next steps. This helps eliminate a deal stalling as well as a better sales forecast from the rep.
5. Improve your listening skills to better understand the prospects needs and wants. The more you listen, the more you will be able to identify opportunities with the prospect and be able to link value with your product or service. 80% listening, 20% selling.
6. Become the expert at what you sell, your business, the industries you work in, your prospects, and even market trends. You want prospects to view you as a valuable resource to their business and not just a sales person. By turning the prospect's perception of you from sales person to valuable resource, will help the prospect close the deal instead of you. 
7. Depending on what type of sales you perform, keeping an on-line presence is absolutely critical. Social media networking is a tremendous way for prospects to seek you out and vise versa. This method also takes the hard sales approach out and softens the prospect up for the future sale.

These areas of focus can be implemented by both sales professionals and sales management for improved sales results and getting the deal signed.