The Best Sales Techniques are...

[Brian Linton]

Hey there,

Recently I have been writing a lot about sales on my personal website brianlinton.com and I want to start a forum here on that subject. Sales have been on my mind 24/7 because I have been busy attending tradeshows and traveling the country selling my company's Spring Summer 2009 line of products.


I personally think that the best sales technique I use is by clearly articulating the value and profitability of carrying Sand Shack (my company) products in their store. If I want to make a sale I need to come out right away and tell people what is in it for them.

I know this is obvious. Of course a store owner wants to know how they can make money if they carry my products, but I don't think every salesperson always addresses this. Many salespeople focus on the products characteristics...but the truth is, there are a ton of good products out there a store could carry, what is the value in carrying your products? And how profitable is it?


Here is an example of how I would sell Sand Shack products... After my short 30 second elevator pitch introducing myself and my company I would say:

The three great things about Sand Shack are:

1. We are an environmentally friendly company and donate 5% of our proceeds to ocean conservation. We provide signage to help you tell your customers this. This cause related marketing helps increase sales in your store and also reflects well on you, through associating your store with the cause.

2. We provide free, custom display stands to help you sell the products.

3. We offer a swap policy for all our products. As long as we are still carrying the same products, you can swap the products that aren't selling well for the ones that are selling well at no charge. This dramatically increases the profitability of Sand Shack products because you never have any wasted, unsold inventory.



I would then give them a summary of how these three things combine make a value packed, profitable product for them to carry...

So that's what I think the best sales technique (when selling your company product to a store) is.
In summary it is: Clearly communicate the value and profitability of the product you are selling


What sales techniques have you heard about or use? Let's talk about them in this forum.

Cheers,
Brian


For more entrepreneurial insights and tips, please visit: Nothing to Lose - Entrepreneurial Lessons and Adventures

[Ballbreaker]

Hi Brian,
I really like your standpoint of comforting the storeowners and all of your partners. You've mentionend some great Ideas.

Let's put it like this: Make getting and selling your product as easy and as riskless as possible. Reduce the effort that the dealer has to donate.

Here's the big BUT: When talking about salestechniques it is a little bit more important to talk also about what you should't do.

I have some sales experiences in a furniterstore. So we don't have anything below 2000 USD. If you buy a couch above that pricelevel you want it to last at least 8 - 10 years. So I need to make sure that the customer knows that I can provide worldclass support for the hole ten years, if something breaks down. We got all that. We are known since 1920...
I made the experience that the people with the most abundend mindsets sell the most and the products with higher value.

One of my colleagues is 63 and he is even fitter and more positive than I am as twennie. He is friendly, optimistic, life experiencend (3 divorces, 4 kids that makes you hard) and he creates the illusion that he really cares about finding the right couch for the customer. He is somewhat pissed off by his job, but he is a real professional.
So is it important as an unexperienced young entrepreneur to be really interested in the customers well being. And to show it through deep going questions that they have never been asked before. That makes you stand out. Sure, a couch is more complex than beachwear, but ...anyway.

Back to you: What I really like about you, Brian, is how you sell yourself and your blog. You are engaged, you are a little bit aggressive and straight forward, but you still appear as a nice and focused person. You don't seem to be a self obsessed paranoic sitting the whole day in front of the mirror playing the ding-dong-game.

Being a bit pushy is very good, if keeping the balance.

[Peter.j.bea]

As this may be great advice for the way you handle your business with aspects of sales, there are FAR to many variables in other respective businesses that will make for a very different outcome with any result. But one thing among all else I believe it sits in the persons personality.

The most effective sales tactics I personally have been able to develop is in the sense of my own demeanor as an "I could care less". Much of this is a developed tactic in making the company look MUCH larger than it actually is (hooray for spin).

Trade shows were always my favorite in this identity of course. Place the money into the development of an exceptional identity or booth, wait for customers to come to you and always look exceptionally busy going through charts. Keep on hand press material with simple easy to read brochures CLEARLY stating the effects of the product in stores with charts and numbers. (compiling data of previous stores success is ideal). Then request that an appointment is made so they can come back to you and apologize for being so tied up.

The trades shows people EXPECT salesmen, not busy professionals. Businessmen and women go to these shows prepping themselves in the mirror with their own "strategies" on how to deal with you should you approach them with a "Hey tiger,have you heard of our amazing never fade awesome eatable underpants?". But with an approach that you simply don't mind either way, it can REALLY throw of the defense all together.

Make the potential sale a warm lead and let them make the order them self. If you have an identity, product of personality that sells itself then you have no worries...

Of course, this is how I handle sales development for companies I contract with, everyone has a different approach that works well for them.