Is there any one single best way to sell a product or service? There are definitely best practices, and there are also a number of effective approaches. Whatever sales methodology you use, the following universal sales truths are sure to cement the sales process together.
The 12 Universal Sales Truths
Here are the 12 Most Universal Sales Truths that we have seen work in any sales environment, selling any product or service, anywhere to anybody.
Universal Sales Truth #1
Prospects pay attention to someone whom they believe has something important to say to them. This principle is all about how a salesperson is viewed by prospects relative to the knowledge and perspective that the salesperson brings to the marketplace.
Universal Sales Truth #2
The secret to selling is to be in front of qualified prospects when they are ready to buy, not when you need to make a sale. Let there be little doubt, when and whether prospects will decide to buy anything has far more to do with their time schedule than the time schedule of any salesperson.
Universal Sales Truth #3
While there are 11 other universal sales truths, this one is particularly important: Listen people into buying instead of talking your way out of the sale.
Universal Sales Truth #4
To a prospect, any price is too high until he or she understands the value of your product or service. To deliver value to a prospect, salespeople have to first understand what the prospect perceives as value.
Universal Sales Truth #5
The fatal flaw in selling occurs when salespeople are so focused on what they want to happen that they lose sight of what the prospect wants to happen. This is all about focus, philosophy and direction, all of which need to be customer-focused, not self-focused.
Universal Sales Truth #6
Always tailor your presentation to the prospect’s needs and wants, not to yours. What this requires is the capacity to understand how a prospect wants to see your product or service and present it in exactly that way.
Universal Sales Truth #7
The jump from character (what you are) to reputation (what people think you are) is much smaller than most salespeople would like to believe. A salesperson’s reputation in the marketplace is one more thing that must be jealously guarded and used as a tool for them instead of a potential weapon to be used by your competitors against them.
Universal Sales Truth #8
Never violate the formal structure of an organization… but master an understanding of the informal. The fundamental difficulty is that you cannot violate the formal structure of any organization, yet the truth is that most organizations rarely function totally through any formal structure. They operate through the informal. By whom influences whom most, and understanding this is equally important as is understanding the formal.
Universal Sales Truth #9
If you don’t close sales you won’t make a living as a salesperson. ‘Nuff said.
Universal Sales Truth #10
Your customer will never believe in the value of your product or service any more strongly than you do. For salespeople, it is critical that they totally, 100% believe that the product or service they sell is exactly what they say it is and that it will perform exactly the way they say it will.
Universal Sales Truth #11
The better job you do of finding qualified prospects the higher your closing average will be. Salespeople who call on any prospect who will listen to them are missing the point. They need to find qualified opportunities with decision-makers who can buy what they have to sell…now.
Universal Sales Truth #12
Never make a claim you can’t back up with facts. Prospects expect salespeople to make claims for their product or service. They are impressed, however, when other people do.
Conclusion
There you have them. The 12 universal sales truths. Print them off. Reference these universal sales truths often. Learn them and own them, and your customers will love you.
The IMPACT Selling system gives salespeople a 6-step, buyer-focused process that they can use to sell virtually any product or service.
NOTE: Our sales training tools are designed to make your life easier. Use them to your advantage.
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