Sharpen Your Sales Techniques

 

Step 4

Sharpen Your Sales Techniques

If you want to be an effective seller, you must constantly work to improve your sales techniques. Just as a top athlete hones his or her skills through regular practice and coaching, you need to be continually practicing and upgrading your sales techniques if you want to make money selling your products.

Effective sellers know that there is no one perfect sales technique. While there are basic techniques to follow, there are always innovative methods being created for those who are willing to search for them. Success in selling involves being aware of and searching for such methods.

This requires a combination of practice and education. Educating yourself can be as simple as reading blogs or forum posts or as intensive as getting private coaching from an experienced seller.

The best sellers are never satisfied with their techniques; they're constantly searching for better tools to increase their performance. So if you want to succeed, you'll have to be willing to put yourself in that mindset.

Begin your search by identifying the most important sales techniques and work on them first.

Some of these techniques are listed below:

The Most Important Selling Techniques and How to Sharpen Them

  • Customer Service

    Customer service is the basis of all successful business transactions because it defines your customer relationships. A satisfied customer will return to buy time and time again, while a dissatisfied customer will look elsewhere.

    Basic customer service rules include the following:

    • Respond to all customer communications as quickly as possible. Provide a complete answer every time and include any additional information the customer requests. If you need to get more information, let the customer know this, and tell them that you'll be back in touch with the answers that are seeking. Be sure to also respond to frivolous complaints and silly questions – everything counts.
    • Be honest. Don't lie to the customer, and if somebody makes a request you cannot fulfill, let them know.
    • Fill orders as quickly as possible. You should try to complete and ship orders within one business day.
    • Give all your customers the same level of service. Many sellers focus their attention on customers who complain. Neglecting good customers is a bad idea – it will cause your overall level of customer service to decrease. A good way to keep buyers happy is to fulfill regular orders before responding to complaints or questions.
    • Offer solutions or alternatives. If you cannot meet a customer's demands, offer an option, such as a discount on a comparable product.
    • Be willing to refund a customer's money. It is the best way to smooth over complaints and avoid returns. You should resolve issues quickly and fairly.
    • Positive feedback. Don't forget to leave positive feedback for all your customers, if the site has this ability. If unable to leave positive feedback, it's better to not leave anything. Potential customers review what you write, and they will form opinions based on your feedback about others.

    For more information on providing excellent customer service, read these two awesome articles:

  • Writing Good Product Descriptions

    The product description is the sales pitch for your product. It tells customers what the product is and why they should buy it.

    The attributes of an effective product description include these tips:

    • Use good grammar and spelling. Poor use of words makes you look unprofessional, which makes your product look unprofessional. So use spell-check to check for errors. Or ask a professional editor to look over what you've written.
    • Write clearly in easy to understand language. Avoid jargon, slang, acronyms, rhetoric, obscure and archaic words. Write in plain English, and try to eliminate any words or phrases that a 12 year old would not understand.
    • Include knowledge about the product. Add any details you know and any extra information you can glean to the product description; for example, the model number of a product or the software that an item includes.
    • Hire professional writers. If you have a difficult time writing, consider hiring a writer through a website such as Upwork.com or Elance.com. There are thousands of professionals willing to write your descriptions for fairly low rates.

  • Writing Tips For eBay

    When you write for eBay you are actually writing for search engines, including Google, Bing, and eBay's own 'Best Match' algorithm. This means you need to understand how search engines work and how to write for them.

    Tips for writing for eBay include the following:

    • Add as much detail about the product as you can. The more information you add, the more likely an algorithm will spot a word or phrase in your product description.
    • Use of keywords is vital. eBay offers two opportunities to add them in the Special Attributes section and in the Add Your Own Item Specific. In these areas, list any additional information you know about the product. For example, if you're listing a video game and you know the name of the designer, add it. List the characters in the game. If it's part of a series, list the other games in the series. Include any information about the product that a customer might be looking for.
    • Make sure that your product description matches eBay's catalog. This is easy to do. When you go to eBay, choose the category and then see if your product is in the catalog section. Once there, eBay will ask for additional information, such as a title or a bar code number. Enter that information, and if you see the product displayed, match it. This creates a Best Match, which means people searching for your product on eBay will see it quickly.

    But make sure that you are not making any of these costly errors - 7 Deadly Sins When Writing eBay Product Descriptions

  • Take Good Product Photos

    Most people are visually oriented when it comes to buying items; that means they make most of their purchasing decisions based on images. They will be more likely to buy from you if you post several good pictures of your product with your listing.

    Here are a few tips for creating professional photos of your products:

    • Invest in a good camera or scanner. scanner works best for some products, such as books. A good digital camera or a phone with a high-quality camera will suffice for most other items.
    • Take lots of pictures. The biggest mistake most people make is to take just one picture. Take several different pictures, and then choose the best ones. Be sure that the item is in focus when you take the picture.
    • Be sure that the lighting and the background is right. Use a flash or take pictures in a well-lit room. Lay products on a plain background, such as a white or a black sheet.
    • Learn to use photo editing tools. Most cameras, computers, and scanners come with a photo-editing program. Use it to edit every picture before posting. This includes cropping, enhancing the color and brightness, plus a myriad of other edits.
    • Cropping. Crop the photograph so that the product is the only thing the buyer sees. Cropping will make the picture bigger and remove any elements that may distract from the product. It will also make the photo look more professional.
    • Post a number of different photographs. Take pictures of the product from different angles and with various details, such as the inside, if possible. Different views will help buyers become more familiar with the product.

    For more tips on taking good product photos check out this in-depth article on the topic - How to take fantastic photos for eBay

  • Learn How To Upsell

    Upselling means selling additional goods or services to the same customers. When you upsell, you create repeat customers, which is the best way to increase your sales volume.

    Here are some tips for upselling:

    • Look for similar or related products to add to your inventory. Adding Android products to your iPhone store would be an example of this. Try to offer different brands or items with additional capabilities.
    • Add accessories to your inventory. Sell phone covers or chargers in addition to phones. Or add items that customers will buy together, such as hair shampoo and hair clips[JW1] .
    • Offer upgrades or downgrades. Adding additional versions of the product can increase sales by offering customers more choices. A good way to do this is to add an inexpensive or more expensive model of the product to the inventory.
    • Always be on the lookout for new products to add to your inventory. Read the technology or industry news for stories about new product launches. Keep in contact with salespeople and suppliers, and ask them to send you information about new products or offers. Do occasional searches for new products. Watch your competitors to see what they are rolling out.
    • Keep in contact with established customers. Collect contact information from your customers and use this to establish a mailing list. Then send out an alert whenever you add a new product to your inventory or make a special offer.
    • Reward good customers. A great way to do this is with special offers, such as discounts or free accessories. Customers enjoy receiving special attention, and they will respond positively to it.

NEVER Stop Sharpening Your Sales Techniques

The most successful sellers are constantly honing and sharpening their sales techniques. If you can get in the habit of constantly upgrading your techniques and tools, you yourself are destined to become a successful seller.

 

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