5 Amazing Facts About Sales - Untold truths that can totally change your perspective about sales and improve your results

Fact #1 - Selling is simply helping your prospect see that the value is greater than the price

Selling will be easy, if your prospect can see that the value he can get from your product is greater than the price he will be paying. Your job as a salesperson would simply be helping your prospect understand how this can be possible. Emphasize on the benefits and paint a picture in your prospect's mind how he could be enjoying the product after commiting to the purchase. Explain to your prospect how the cost savings he can achieve can easily outrun the price he is currently paying. Let him reach a conclusion, which may be a simple decision to make.

Fact #2 - Sales is not just a numbers game

If 5% of your cold-call prospects become your paying customers, then simply double your cold-call efforts would improve your results by two times. How many times have you heard that sales is just a numbers game. Well, not exactly true. Suppose you are selling luxury bags, you might not want to try your luck with just everybody out there on the street. As students may not have the purchasing power to buy your bag, while men do not have a need for ladies' items. Do you qualify your prospects and assess if they match your targeted customers' profiles? Do so could probably allow you to spent your prescious time more effectively, and save you lots of potential rejections and headaches.

Fact #3 - 80% of sales are closed on the 5th to 12th contact with the prospects

"Close the sales as quickly as possible!" Have you heard that piece of advice often from your sales counter-parts and colleagues? Well, according to a survey conducted by the National Sales Executive Association (NSEA), 80% of the sales are closed on the 5th - 12th contact with prospects. This showed that most prospects are usually not ready to commit on the very first meet-up, and will need some time to consider and think the proposal over. They are aware that purchasing on impulse and acting irrationally will often accompanied by regret. Rather than pushing for close at the very first meeting with prospects, a salesperson should instead focus on building good relationship with them, and help them with making the decision when they are comfortable.


Fact #4 - You don't need to be an expert in your product to sell it

If you fell ill one day and went to consult a doctor, he will probably prescribe you a medicine and advice you on the amount and timing to consume your medicine for you to feel better. Would you expect the doctor to explain to you how the medicine will integrate into your body after consumption, and how the medicine will tackle the bacteria and virus in your cells? Probably not. Similarly, your prospects are likely more interested in how your products are able to address their problems, rather than how your products was designed and built. You do not need to be an expert and know 100% of its ins-and-outs for you to sell it. Should such a need arise, simply consult your engineers or technical teams and get back to your clients at a later date.

Fact #5 - Price is not the primary reason why a product is purchased

I will not deny that price is an important factor to consider before clients commit to a purchase, but it is not the only and primary reason why clients purchased a product. Price-cutting is a common sales tactic for fast-moving undifferentiated commodities goods, which have lots of close substitutes in the markets and face stiff competition from competitors. However luxury goods exist which targeted a different niche market altogether, and catered to a group of customers who are willing to purchase these items for their branding and presumed social status. Customers are also willing to purchase more expensive products which are deemed to have higher quality, especially electronic appliances. Buying a second-rated electronic product may cost them more money in the long run from repair charges, not taking into account the troubles and headaches trying to get their appliances working again.


Sources:
Hubpages - 5 Facts About Sales

Top 5 Myths about Sales - Why you will never look at Sales the same way again!

Myth #1 - Successful salespersons are all good talkers

This is a common generalization, as a typical salesperson usually conjured up in one's mind as a fluent talker who can persuade his prospect into buying at ease. Well, this is not exactly true. However from my past encounters with sales professionals having outstanding track records, they were in fact good listeners who are proficient in discovering the actual needs of their prospects and seek how their products and services are able to address that needs. Clients are more willing to purchase from salespersons who understand what they want, rather than from salespersons who give them a whole day speech on all their products' features. Salespersons who are good talkers may sometimes resort to pressurizing sales tactics and come across to the prospects as hard-selling and a lack of concern towards them.

Myth #2 - I would not be able to sell the product well, as even I myself would not buy that product.

This sounds logical, as it would seem unethical to try to sell to a prospect something that even the salesperson himself would not purchase. However on a deeper thought, different people have different views and opinions due to different upbringing, environment, knowledge and experience. The salesperson is judging the product on behalf of his prospect based on his own perspective rather than trying to looking at things in his prospect's position. As the saying goes, one man's meat is another's poison. Something that a salesperson deems useless might be just the exact solution his prospect has been searching for. The salesperson in this case should try to look at the same thing from different angles and see if his opinions can be justified.

Myth #3 - Anyone can be persuaded to buy a product

A good salesperson can sell anything to anyone. If he cannot do that, then he is not good enough. Haven't the saying goes "A great salesperson can sell ice to the eskimos"? Well not really, in my opinion. You simply just can't force somebody to buy something that he doesn't need from you, can you? If you happen to have an alternative in your range of products to offer, you might want to see if that might fit into the prospect's requirements. Otherwise, a better strategy would be to move on to another prospect who might be in a position that needs your product more. Never push your product through hard-selling, which will annoyed your prospect. It might hurt your relationship with him, and you lose all future opportunities to do business and deals with him.

Myth #4 - Enthusiasm is key to selling

Should you display a high level of enthusiasm in your product, your prospect will get influenced by you and started to get all excited in your product too! No, that is not true. Your prospect does not care about how you feel or what you do. What matters most to him is how your product is going to do for him! Rather than presenting to your prospect enthusiastically about your product's features, simply explain to him the benefits he can get from your product would be an better option.

Myth #5 - The customer is always right

No, the customer is not always right. He might be proficient in his profession but he cannot possibly know everything that is under the sun. A doctor will be able to carry out an operation on a patient perfectly, but he might not be aware of the latest changes in financial planning or tax structuring. You, being in your line of work and frequently receiving updates and market news on a daily basis, is in a better position to offer your prospect professional advices with your relevant experience and expertise. Helping your prospect understand his situation better will be part of the value-adding services that you can provide.


Resources:
Hubpages - http://goodsalesperson.hubpages.com/hub/Top5SalesMyths
Squidoo - http://www.squidoo.com/top-5-myths-about-sales

6 Attractive Benefits of A Career in Sales

If becoming financial independence is what you have been striving for, there are 3 ways by which you are able to accumulate that wealth:

(1) Starting a business,
(2) Investing in Stocks or properties and
(3) Having a career in sales.

Starting a business requires a large sum of initial capital, and is considered high risk in nature.Accordingly to a statistical research from Entrepreneur Weekly done in July 2013, 1 in 4 businesses failed within the first year of starting up, and 50% of businesses in all industry failed within the first 4 years. A business owner needed an entretreneur spirit and strong determination to pull through in times of difficulties to succeed. Similarly, investment requires large capital to have significant returns.

The third viable option would be to have an career in sales. Below are some of the advantages that a sales job has got to offer:

Income potential - A sales job offers such a high income potential that few other professions can provide. While a typical employee received a fix monthly salary, a sales representative earn commissions based on his performance. The more sales you can close, the higher would be your pay check and bonus, which means the sky is the limit. Sales is a highly rewarding career provided you know how to do your job well.

Flexible hours - You are flexible working hours and are fully in control of your own time. You plan your own schedule and decide what you will be doing for the day as you deemed appropriate. As long as you delivered the results that is expected of you, you are free to do what you want. Of course, with this freedom it requires a strong self-descipline and time management skills on your part in order to excel at your job.

Important soft skills - Working in sales allow you to develop important soft skillsets that are very useful in your future career path. A salesperson learned to be confident and present a professional image in front of clients. He will have good communication skills that allow him to interact well and build good relationship with other people. A good salesperson learned how to accept rejections, and over time develop valuable attributes such as the determination and perserverance to overcome challenges and difficulties.

Job security - Sales and revenues are the life-blood of maintaining a business. In times of difficultes, there is only so much to cut costs and expenses, but without sales, a business will find it hard to continue to survive. Knowing this, a good salesperson who can sell well can never be redundant. A sales professional who are able to demonstrate a good track record of successes is well sought after by all companies in most industries, and he will seldom find himself out of a job.

Interesting job scope - A salesperson will has an interesting work, as he gets to travel to different places and meet different people of varying status everyday. A sales job is ideal for those who enjoy travelling, and those who find themselves bored working as nine-to-five desk roles.

Sense of accomplishment - Sales is not really about forcing people to buy your products, but rather to discover how your product is able to match to someone else's needs. As such, salesperson seek to achieve that, and often feel a sense of accomplishment when they managed to establish that win-win scenario. Not to mention the additional commissions and bonus that they will get.


Resources:
Hubpages - Benefits of a career in Sales
Squidoo - Benefits of a career in Sales