10 Tips to Improve Your Sales Performance

BY JOHN H. DEAN •
The sales profession moves faster than ever today. In the blink of an eye, new
competitors emerge, products similar to yours are released, and before you know it, it’s
a race to the bottom.

No matter what industry you’re in, what worked well a few years ago isn’t good enough
today. This is no time for trial and error or order taking; this is a time to sell. Here are
some basic steps you can take to improve your sales performance, reduce your cost of
selling, and ensure your survival.

1. Clarify your mission.

Begin by understanding your business niche. What do you do best? Who needs what
you do? How do you best approach these prospects? How much are they willing to pay?
If these questions are not answered easily, campaign at the top for clarity and vision.

2. Break the mission into specific goals.

Write down the activity goals (calls per day, proposals per month, referrals per call, etc.)
that you can control. Set results goals (sales per month, amount per sale, profit per sale,
etc.) to measure your progress, and track them closely. Increase your activity and
measure the results. Goals focus your attention and energize your action.

3. Sell to customer needs.

Always assume your prospects will buy only what they need. How can you convince
them of that need? Emphasize the features of your product or service that reduce costs
and solve problems for the customer. Sometimes you can reposition your wares. For
example, you sold wool uniforms for their look and feel; now stress wool’s durability and
lasting value. Be creative in your sales and marketing.

4. Create and maintain favorable attention.

Effective marketing, referrals, strong sales skills, and strategic questions are the keys to
creating favorable attention. Diligent follow-through and above-and-beyond customer
service are the keys to maintaining it.
5. Sell on purpose.

Know both what to do and why you’re doing it at every step along the way. Who are
you targeting and why? What are you going to tell them and why? What are you going
to ask them and why? What is your proposal going to look like and why? When are you
going to ask for the order? If you don’t feel sure of yourself at every step of the selling
process, get some training or guidance.

6. Ask, listen, and act.

Better than any others, these three words summarize success in sales. Your questions
must be creative, planned, relevant, and direct. Your listening skills must be highly
developed. You must respond and take action that proves that you listened to the
customer and want the sale.

7. Take the responsibility but not the credit.

Realize that you are the team leader. The company looks to you for direction and
supports your effort. To build a strong support team willing to go the extra mile when
you need it, give your team the credit for everything that goes right, and take the blame
when it goes wrong.

8. Work on the basics.

Even the best of the best have room for improvement. Make a decision to improve your
weaknesses, and set goals to force yourself to do the things you don’t like to do. Be
more creative in your prospecting, fact finding, and presentation skills. Imagine the
perfect salesperson and compare yourself to the ideal.

9. Develop your attitude.

Your attitude is controllable. Conquer your fears. Change the beliefs that limit your
success. Your thought habits control your commitment, enthusiasm, persistence,
resilience, happiness, and confidence. Be aware of them, decide which ones are
unproductive, and then make a commitment to change. With time and effort, you can
become the person you want to be.
10. Maximize your time.

Focus on your goals. Test every activity for its importance and urgency. Create an ideal
schedule, and test your actual time use against it daily. Remember, just one hour a day
used more productively adds up to more than six extra weeks of productive time a year.

The points you made were really good. Also as an added point i would suggest to increase the sales
through online marketing which requires SEO techniques for your websites . These are more
effective than cold calling and email marketing.
I was actually struggling to increase my website traffic, then i approached LinkCollider. They are
experts in the job of SEO and advertising your websites. Their work eventually increased my website
traffic. I am sharing their link address too.

Shailesh Suthar
1.comparative study of the products are most efficient aspect to increase sale.by comparing the
price of the product similar to product which we are desired to sell.
2. analyse size of the business own by us and others entities who are already in the market.offer
your goods to distributor or seller on the price which is comparatively best and lucrative for the
buyer.
3.break the market it means offer your goods to distributors on the price which are lower than
existing similar goods in the market
4.tactics like poison pills. target your competitor and break him by such tactics (lower price,higher
creditibility,offer other incentives likes CD)
5.most important thing is patients. keep patients while you dealing with your clients.deal with clients
calmly and with patients.
Like · Reply · 2 · 15w

Michael Reid
I would saysay focus more on digital marketing campaigns:
1. Content Marketing
2. Studying your competition to see what they are doing right or wrong
3. Onpage and off page SEO

Always think about how you can add more value and you will come up with effective methods. You
have think on a higher level. Use Content And Social Media Marketing To Your Advantage

There are so many more ways to get your product to your customers than ever
before. What’s the best part? They’re all free. You can use social media such
as Facebook, Twitter, and your blog to your advantage. By building
relationships with your customers through these channels you can access
more people than ever.
Some of the benefits of content marketing include:

 More access to qualified leads.

 More channels to sell your product.
 Lower costs to acquire customers.

Learn Proper Negotiation Techniques

Skilled negotiators are usually quite concerned about finding a solution or an

arrangement that is satisfactory to both parties.

They look for what are called “win-win” situations, where both parties are
happy with the results of the negotiation.

The Best Negotiators Have These 3 Qualities

1. They ask good questions to find out exactly what you need.
2. They are patient.
3. They are very well prepared.

Pick The Right Price

Do market research on your competitors to determine the right price. If you

have a high-priced product, be prepared to over-deliver quality to your
customers. Price can be determined by “perceived value” of your product. If
you can make your product seem superior to your competitors, you can
charge a higher price.

Be an Inspirational Sales Leader

A sales leader is responsible to leading the sales team. In a small business sales
leadership and management are often combined so the sales leader is often the
business owner or the sales manager.

How Does This Improve Sales Performance?

Being an inspirational sales leader will improve your sales performance in many
ways but not least it will help to:
  Win the hearts and minds of your sales reps
 Provide a positive performance based self-managed work
environment where each sales rep is clear about what is expected on them
and feels supported
 Create a positive team spirit and a place where people want to work, which
will help you to retain good sales reps for longer

What Key Action Is Required?

Becoming an inspirational sales team leader is not something that you can
change overnight. This is because being a high performing salesperson requires
different personal attributes to being a great sales leader.

This is because the highest performing sales reps often do not have the patience
or the natural coaching and supporting skills to provide their sales reps with the
kind of leadership that will most enhance their skills, confidence and personal
performance.

However, the fact that it is difficult does not mean it should be ignored. I
recommend sales leadership training, sales leadership books and other
resources become part of your staple diet and over a period of 6-12 months you
will see the positive impact your improved sales leadership has on the sales
performance of your team

Build customer relationships Personal

interaction with customers is a great way to establish relationships and

encourage long-term customer loyalty. Your marketing can be a natural

extension of this, which means you don’t always have to be selling. Send

out thank you and birthday emails, anniversary greetings and other relationship-

building communications.
1. Don’t offer too many alternatives
People think they like choice – but too many options can be paralyzing. This is what scientists
call the paradox of choice.

In a popular study, Iyengar and Lepper (2000) set up two tables in a grocery store. At table A,
customers could have a taste from a selection of six jams; at table B, they could choose among 24
different jams. Although more people stopped by table B, where the selection was larger, only 3%
of them actually made a purchase. On the other hand, 31% of people stopping at table A left with
a jar of jam.

The lesson, for retailers, is simple: limit the flavors, color and brand options you store. If you offer
too many alternatives, you may end up selling less (and will be left with a lot of stock to turn).

2. Distract and confuse shoppers

When people get interrupted during shopping they lose focus and become less price-sensitive,
studies show. To increase sales, distract shoppers in-store with vocal pop-up ads, digital
signage, images, and by asking them “Can I help you?”. When people return to look at products
after a distraction, they are more likely to buy and spend more. For the same reason, supermarkets
and malls often have counter-intuitive store plans – they are specifically designed to confuse
shoppers, as that supports sales.

3. Have a loyalty program…

Loyalty programs are a great tool for retailers: they provide important insights into customer
preferences, increase loyalty – and, according to studies, they also make customers feel
happier in your store.

In their 2006 study, Kivets, Urminsky and Zheng found that customers with a rewards card for a
café smiled more while shopping, chatted longer with café employees, said “thank you” and left a
tip more often than customers who were not part of the program.
4. …and make rewards easy to obtain

The shorter the perceived distance to a goal, the more motivated people are to reach it. Researchers
Kivets, Urminsky and Zheng divided customers in a reward club into two groups. Group A was given a 10-
boxes stamp card, which, when completed, would entitle them to a free coffee. Group B’s coffee card had
12 boxes, two of which were already stamped. Although all cards required the same amount of purchases
to obtain the reward, customers in group B filled up the card faster. The two pre-stamped boxes gave them
the perception they were close to the goal – and they spent more money, more quickly, to get there. When
designing your loyalty program, leverage this effect to increase participation.

5. Elicit emotions – best of all, nostalgia

Emotional messages are easier to remember and more effective than rational messages. However, not
all emotions are created equal: greed (“you want to be part of this club – now!”) and nostalgia (“ah, the
good old days of youth…”), for instance, work really well to make shoppers want to buy. Research shows
that when people are feeling nostalgic, they value money less, and are therefore willing to pay more for
products. Leverage on this by using pictures and music in-store that get to people’s guts: families, holidays,
and retro music are oft-used ploys that always do the trick.

6. Personalize, personalize

When stuff is relevant to people, they pay more attention to it. This happens primarily when
we hear our name (a magic word which activates various sections of our brain), but also when we
hear something we are interested in – be it a sport we are interested in, our favorite band or the
name of a country we have recently visited.
Retailers can use their loyalty program to gain intelligence around customers’ actions, used the
data to optimize and personalize communications, products and offers. And don’t forget to use
people’s names!

7. Don’t be overly polite (if you sell luxury items)

Research shows that snobby staff in high-end stores can increase sales. This effect (which
doesn’t apply to mass-market brands — only luxury) appears to be related to people’s aspiration
to be part of a prestigious in-group. So, if you run a luxury store, allow your sales representative
to act snobby. If you run a mass-market brand, though, better stick to smiles and politeness.
8. Mimic their gestures
When talking to customers, try copying their body language and words: you will increase the
chances they will buy from you. That’s because we tend to feel stronger affinity to people we
perceive similar to us. The “mirroring effect” is a very effective sales trick.

9. Let them touch the merchandise

According to a Caltech study, consumers are willing to pay more for items if they can see them
and touch them. The sensory experience is so important that the longer people spend looking and
holding products, the more they are willing to pay for them. This is great news for brick and mortar
stores – as long as they don’t subscribe to a surpassed “Do not touch the merchandise” attitude.

10. Create the illusion of scarcity

People value things differently depending on how common or scarce they perceive them to
be. The rarer a product, service or opportunity, the more valuable it appears. Martin
Lindstrom, author of “Buyology: Truth and lies about why we buy,” found that he could increase
the sales of canned soup simply by adding the sentence “maximum 8 cans of soup per customer”.
People bought more cans even if the soup was priced the same as the day before. The feeling of
scarcity —the Millennials’ “fear of missing out”— triggers in shoppers a survival instinct that
makes them buy more, quickly.

11. Give free samples

When people receive something for free, they feel special, and want to reciprocate the favor.

In his book “Influence: The psychology of persuasion”, Dr. Robert Cialdini reports how one waiter
increased his tips by 3% offering diners a mint after dinner. When he offered two mints, tips went
up 14%.

By giving shoppers a small freebie – be it a cookie or a sticker – you can increase the chances they
will buy from you.

12. Add a really expensive item to sell middle-of-the-road ones

People tend to choose products that offer a good bargain. Most customers don’t want to go for the
cheapest option, but they still want to feel like they are getting good quality for money. You can
leverage this attitude to increase sales of specific items, by adding an extremely expensive
alternative in the same product category. Most buyers will opt for the middle-of-the-road
product, because it will look affordable and a good bargain compared to the higher-priced one.

13. Use the right sounds and scents

Background music in-store can influence not only how much people spend, but also what they buy. Stores
playing jazz or classical music are perceived as more sophisticated – and customers stepping in are open to spending
more than people entering places playing pop, or rock music. In a famous experiment, customers in a wine store were
more prone to buy French wines when French music was playing; when German music was playing instead, people
bought more German wines. Hearing is not the only sense that affects our spending habits: researcher Martin
Lindstrom found that smell of apple pie led to a 23% increase in sales of ovens and fridges in an appliance store.

14. Put popular but inexpensive items by the entrance

Drive customers to make small impulse buys, and sell more by triggering what psychologists
call the “shopping mindset”. Once people have made a purchase, no matter how small, they are
more likely to buy more, psychology says. Leverage on this effect by placing low-price, popular
products – like candy or newspapers – by the entrance of your store.

15. Offer surprise rewards

Surprise rewards are great: they make people happier and more motivated. On the other hand,
expected rewards are not as effective – they may even lead to lower levels of happiness,
says psychology.

Do you want to make your customers happy? Send them surprise coupons or deals. Avoid, though,
running repeated promotions, such as offers valid every Thursday.

Once you know how your audience thinks, what makes them tick, you can adjust your strategy to
become more effective. Make sure that you use the right approach for your industry and target
market, and that you always combine these strategies with the most effective weapon of all
– amazing customer service.