Blog Articles

 

Sales Masters Guild Mentor, James Davey, looks at some of the myths and misconceptions about sales, what’s true and what’s not and why the business owner might need some help with getting it right.

 

Whatever the size of your business, you need to be confident that all the main bases are covered by someone. In a larger business, you may have a dedicated person heading up each function. In a micro business, the business owner owns all of the functions.

 

All the functions within a business are important, but sales is the real lifeblood of the business. Without sales, there is no business.

 

Given the importance of sales to the business, it surprises me when I hear business owners say, “I’m not really a sales person” when quite often, they are the ones responsible for driving sales in the business. It’s important therefore that all business owners understand the basics of sales.

 

There are all sorts of myths and misconceptions about sales. Perhaps it would be helpful to have a look at some of the more common ones:

 

(1) Sales People are Born and not Made

Not true. All sorts of people can be successful in sales if they have the right training and they adopt a structured selling process. We teach a 5-step sales process in our popular Sales and Negotiation Training Course.

 

It’s easy to remember and easy to apply. Having a structure makes it easier for you to navigate the sales conversation which builds confidence and ultimately leads to better results. Also, in my experience, great sales people are also active learners. They are constantly reading new books, attending training courses and continually adapting and improving their craft.

 

(2) Good products Sell Themselves

Another myth is that ‘good products sell themselves’. Again, that’s not true. Clearly it’s easier to sell a good product than a bad product, but you still need to present the product effectively if you want to get great results.

 

On top of that, sales does not take place in a vacuum. You need to get the architecture around the sale in place to complete the process which means delivering the product to specification and on time.

Of course, the sale is not completed until the product has been paid for which means accurate invoicing and good credit control are also required.

(3) Sales People are Dishonest and use ‘Voodoo’ to Get Results

There’s no great mystery around sales. It’s not magic and it’s not sorcery. Hypnotism is not a skill you need to learn. Of course, there are some dishonest sales people out there, but good sales people are honest and straight forward.

 

The key to good selling is to match your product to the customer’s needs and wants, and if they don’t match, don’t try and make them fit. You will only end up with unhappy customers who will not benefit your business in the longer term.

 

The best sales people have real expertise in their product, solve real customer problems and develop valuable long term relationships with their customers.

(4) Good Sales People Need to be Good Talkers

Great communicators do make great sales people. Being articulate and knowing your product inside out improves your sales performance. But this is only half the story. Communication is a two way process.

 

Not only do you need to be able to ‘transmit’ but you also need to be able to ‘receive’. In many instances, being a good listener is more important than being a good talker. I’ve seen many sales people ignore buying signals as they relentlessly talk at their prospective customers only to talk themselves out of the sale.

 

(5) Selling is Something You Do To People

We’ve all been in a situation when we feel under pressure to buy. People who employ the ‘hard sell’ give the sales profession a bad name and are not, in my opinion, good sales people. Sales should be a consultative process.

 

If a prospect feels they are being sold to, they will quickly become defensive and will not be in a receptive mode. Selling should be a mutual voyage of discovery, a comfortable conversation between two people where one person may end up buying from the other.

(6) To Be Good at Sales You Need to be Good at Handling Objections

As with all myths, there is an element of truth in the myth. That’s why people readily believe them. In reality, the best sales people never need to handle objections.

 

Objections are a result of not doing a good enough job in the early stages of the sales process before moving on to the concluding of the negotiation. Laying the foundations early on and fully understanding your customers needs and wants should dramatically reduce the need for handling objections.

(7) It’s Just a Numbers Game

It’s certainly true that the more sales conversations a person has, the more sales they are likely to make. But again, this is only half the story. The more important thing is the qualityof your sales conversations. Just by improving the quality of your sales conversations, you can dramatically improve your conversion rate which will result in more sales. Do both and the sky’s the limit.

(8) Keep Following Up Until You Get a Sale

There is no doubt that a robust follow-up process will improve your sales success, but there comes a time when it is more productive to spend your time and energy on something else. People say that it takes seven to ten touches to make a sale in the modern world.

 

It’s certainly true that people have become more resistant to sales, but it’s also true that you may just have a poorly qualified prospect. Knowing when it’s right to move on to fresh prospects comes with experience.

(9) Open Questions are More Powerful than Closed Questions

The answer to this one is ‘horses for courses’. There are times in the sales conversation, particularly as you are seeking to understand your customer’s needs and wants, where open questions are more appropriate.

 

Open questions can lead to lengthy, unstructured replies which are wasted on someone who is not skilled in listening and asking the right follow-up question. In other circumstances, a simple closed question is of far greater value.

(10) It’s All About Price

It’s simply not true that people always buy the lowest price product. Do you? I certainly don’t. But what I often do is buy the product which gives my perception of best value. The sales person’s job therefore is to establish value in the eyes of the customer and make sure that price asked is lower than the customer’s perceived value.

 

I trust this article has helped you lay at least some of the popular sales myths to rest. If you are a business owner you will get more success if you break your fear about selling.

 

Everything is easy when you know how, so invest some time in yourself and your business and learn the basics of sales. Learn new skills and practice them in a safe environment until you are confident to use them in the field. The time and money invested will surely bring you greater returns.

Head over to James’s mentor profile page to find out when he is holding his next Sales & Negotiation Training, book yourself into one or to contact him to discuss the training and the benefits to you.

 

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