How to Increase Your Selling Skills and Techniques

Have you ever experienced those days when sales feels like the worst profession in the world? Well we've probably all had at least a few of those days, and a lot of this derives from the fact that so much of selling is in the mind and in our mental approach. I can still remember those moments from my selling days when on one day it seemed like opportunities were scarce and getting new business felt like a mountain to climb, the next day you could wake up in a great mood and suddenly the glass is half full again. This is a really common problem in selling but it's easily resolvable with some simple techniques:

This may seem stupidly obvious but you need to avoid negativity. Keep away from whiners and negative people. They just want to pull you down into their black world where nothing grows. Hang around with winners and the effect will rub off. Read inspiring stories of rags to riches people who started with nothing and won against all odds. We really do become the voices talking in our conscious minds. Really successful people have a different conversation going on in their head even though they are not really very different from anyone else. I can't stress this enough because if you don't try, you won't know if it can work for you or not. The secret to getting the mindset is to repeat positive expectancy in your thoughts over time. It won't work if you just do it for an hour one day and then go quickly back to your old ways again.

Goal Setting

Nobody would have the will to sell if there wasn't some kind of reward at the end of all their efforts. As sales people we either need to be managed by someone or to self-manage our selling time. Either way we need to set specific goals that will drive us forward. These goals can be fine tuned and should be reviewed on a regular basis, especially if targets are not being achieved.
I always believe in breaking goals down into smaller chunks and having mini celebrations when each target has been reached. I feel this works better than just having one long term goal because it's so much easier to get discouraged if we set a sales target that seems so insurmountable and far away.

The ABR (Always Be Relevant) Rule]

It never ceases to amaze me how a lot advertising I come across appears to wander aimlessly from the main marketing message intended. Marketing people in these companies must feel they can waste loads of their customer's money on building their brand. Well, my article is not meant to be about marketing but I think a similar problem exists in selling. Sales people are always getting into conversations with customers that really don't count towards their sales results.
In order to avoid this it's necessary to follow the ABR rule (Always Be Relevant) and stick it up all over the place on sticky notes or wherever it will be seen. Always remember to narrow the focus to highly relevant money making opportunities and you'll be on the right track.

One great way of doing this is to place a value on every conversation or piece of writing we need to produce throughout the day. So just before you start writing an email, think of how much value this will provide towards your financial goals. I know it sounds a bit like a money machine with no other thoughts, but it will produce incredibly powerful results if applied consistently. I know it's hard but we need reduce as much irrelevant conversation as possible and simply learn to plan our conversations in a more co-ordinated fashion. This may mean breaking down a presentation into three or four key areas that can lead the conversation in the right direction. So keep working on your mind and your attitude because it's the only way to reach the top of your game in selling.

David Lynch is a Sales Training Designer & Accomplished Author. He has more than 20 years experience in a variety of industries including software, insurance & hospitality. If you would like to learn more sales skills from David you can download a Free Copy of his E-book "25 Mistakes To Avoid When Selling" at http://www.saleswillgrow.com/freesalestraining2.html