13 Things You Should Know About Sales

On March 27th, Joe Morone of Worldleaders visited NextCorps to present a highly informative Lunch & Learn workshop on how to find, close, and manage new sales. We learned so much and are excited to share that knowledge with you. Here’s a recap of 13 things you should know about sales: 

1. Make sure you get your sales processes in place before hiring someone to do sales. If you hire someone without having a clear, set process, they won’t succeed.
2. Without data, you’re just an opinion.
3. You always need to show potential buyers what business results you can generate.
4. Ask yourself: what’s the business case your customer needs to have in order to justify the solution you’re offering?
5. 60% of the win-factor is working with the right decision maker. You’re far less likely to win the sale if you’re not talking to the right person.
6. While you may think that the important people they need to talk to are too busy to have a conversation with you, you’re probably wrong. Top-level decision makers are the kinds of people who are actively seeking new solutions to their company’s problems, and they are often open to discussions about new and disruptive ideas that can help them do just that.
7. When you get to talk to that key decision maker, don’t just make your ask a straight sell of your product. Phrase it this way instead: “Are you open to a discussion about X?” Where X is a key issue for their business, a pain point that you can help them solve.
8. On your company website, talk about what you do, not how you do it. The after case is more helpful to your client–meaning, “We worked with A to achieve B.”
9. Make sure you’re charging fair market price. That’s what an educated buyer would pay an educated seller, at the right time, without pressure.
10. Once you’ve landed a client, establish a quarterly check-in. This helps you determine ways you can cross-sell or up-sell.
11. Remember to step outside your comfort zone 20% of the time with your products and services; otherwise, you are apt to fall behind.
12. You need to have 8-12 interactions with a contact before it turns into a sale.
13. Last but not least: forget about being liked. It’s not necessary for making a sale. Even the Harvard Business Review agrees.

Now get out there and get selling! Good luck.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram