So, you’ve decided to start or grow your business, or just landed a sales position and are looking for new ideas on how to sell your product or service to as many people or companies as possible. How you go about this will depend on whether you are selling a product or a service, but the basic principles are the same. Even in these difficult times, growing your business is not impossible as long as your product or service is still relevant or can be temporarily adapted, as long as you are using the right approach.

1)      Set Clear Sales Targets

Having clear sales targets of how many items you want to sell, how many new clients you want to bring on board each month or what financial goal you want to achieve will certainly help you to achieve your objectives in sales. Make sure the sales targets are communicated to everyone on the sales and marketing teams, as well as other stakeholders who may be instrumental in helping the company achieve overall sales targets.

2)      Clearly Identify Your Target Customers

Make sure you are very clear on which customers would gain the most benefit from your particular product or service. If your sales and marketing teams understand your products well, they will be able to better promote them to the right kind of prospects. You may be able to sell ice to the Eskimos, but if they don’t have any need for it, you are wasting your time. Selling ice to the Arabs might be a much better idea! The more you know about the customers you are selling to – whether they are large, medium or small businesses, what their annual turnover and profits are, what their main activities are and how many branches they have for distribution, the more defined your targeting can be. So make sure you do your homework and research them before you contact them. A company credit report can be a great source of this kind of information.

3)      Have a Passion for your Product or Service

If you don’t believe in what you are selling, you are in the wrong job or the wrong business. Your feelings about whatever you are selling will shine through to any prospect. If you truly believe in what you are selling, if you think it is a great product or service and you know it will help your potential customer, your pitch will be far more convincing.

4)      Be Pitch Prepared

Depending on what you are selling, whether you are in a shop, cold calling prospects or presenting via conference calls – you need to have a clear sales pitch ready. Most times it won’t be wise to read off a script, but it is still wise to have one. By writing down what you plan to say, you will identify the pain points of your potential customers and the solutions your product or service can offer them. Plan also what to say if they reject you, how you will get them to talk to you in the first place, and how you will present a clear ‘call to action’ for the next steps of how they will actually buy from you.

5)      Be Ready to Negotiate

Depending on the country you are selling into, there may often be a negotiation stage before you can close the deal. Be ready for this beforehand – know what is the maximum discount you could offer for example. It’s easy to sell something that seems very cheap, but what is the point if it won’t make you a profit or cover the costs of production? By having a clear idea of these costs, you will be better prepared to know when to say no, and where you can meet your sales prospect in the middle. Successful negotiation is essential to closing a deal and the more prepared you are for the various scenarios your prospective customer will come up with, the more successful you will be.

So, like many things in business, having a clear strategy, setting clear objectives, having a genuine passion and being prepared for any eventuality are the keys to being successful. For more free business tips, follow me, or Cedar Rose’s company page https://www.linkedin.com/company/cedar-rose-international-services-ltd on LinkedIn where my articles are also shared or take a look at our Newsroom which has a lot of very useful information and is regularly updated with around three articles a week giving you business advice and ideas, as well as looking at specific key markets and forthcoming events.

Cedar Rose can give you access to information on over 12 million prospective customers today via your Salesforce CRM with our free application. We also provide company profiles, credit reports and marketing lists.