How to Sell Anything

What if I told you some people have the power to influence the way another person thinks and behaves? Wouldn’t you want to have the same superpower too? I know I would. Welcome to the world of sales, where the sale is already made and you just have to take the product home. We are constantly living in a world where sales is the most necessary skill you need to sustain a living. When you are out looking for job, you are essentially selling yourself to recruiters. When you have a great business idea and want to pitch it, you are selling the benefits of your idea. When you are working in any company, you are selling either products or services to customers and end users. It is advantageous to hone your sales skills and be the best and presenting whatever you want to sell to people in the best light possible.

So how can we achieve this?

Understand your customer and the problem

A huge part of sales is knowing who the target audience is and what they are looking for. Sales has a bad connotation because people see it as sleazy car salesman who are only looking to get the most commission for themselves and are looking for the next sucker they can rip off. Customers do not like pushy salesman who are only focused on the sale. Effective salespeople play a more consultative role focused on building a relationship with the customer by creating an environment of safety and trust to understand the customer’s issues. Identify the customer’s issue through research and chatting with them. Help prioritize the issue, quantify how the issue affects the company as a whole, and what has stopped the customer from solving the issue in the past. Usually it’s because of Time, Money or Knowledge. From there, you will identify an opportunity to solve a customer’s issue with your credibility and your company’s product.

Identify solutions to the problem

Products and solutions are vehicles that deliver a service. For example, if a person wants to buy something, but does not have the money to do so, banks may try to sell them a credit card. The credit card itself is a tangible product that delivers a service (spend money you don’t have).

How the customer can benefit from the solution and how it is better than the competitors

Communicate value by identifying the features of your product that best fulfills the service a customer is looking for (problem), you will have essentially sold them your product. The product sells itself and you are helping the customer understand how the product can improve his quality of life.

By playing a consultative role, you can be more effective in selling. Understanding how your products fits the needs of the customer and solves their problems is the key factor in getting more sales. Follow these steps and you will be on your way of influencing how people think and behave.