All About Sales
Sections in This Topic Include
Foundations for Successful Sales
What is Sales?
--- Understanding the Sales Process
--- Understanding the Sales Cycle
Value of Product Knowledge
Useful Skills to Have in Sales
--- Useful Business Skills for Salespeople
--- Useful People Skills for Salespeople
Understanding Types of Clients and How
to Engage Them
--- Types of Clients
--- Multi-cultural Customers and Sales
Sales Process and Sales Pipeline
1. Generating Leads - Using Sales Channels
--- Direct Postal Mail
--- Email
--- Face-to-face
--- Internet and Web
--- Social Networking
--- Telemarketing (Phone)
--- Trade Shows
2. Qualifying the Client -- Is Client
a Prospect?
--- First Impressions and Establishing
Rapport With Leads
--- Understand the Needs and Wants of
Each Lead -- Ask the Right Questions
--- Getting to Decision-Makers
3. Sales Interviews and Presentations
With Prospects
--- Opening Statements
--- Establishing Rapport and Trust
--- Really Listening (Verbal and Nonverbal)
--- Effective Sales Presentations
--- Dealing With Objections
4. Sales Proposals and Negotiations
--- Proposals and Sales Letters
--- Negotiations
5. Closing the Sale
--- Techniques for Closing
--- Sales Contracts
6. Account Maintenance and Management
--- Customer Service
--- Customer Satisfaction
Miscellaneous Perspectives -- and Challenges and Pitfalls
Various Philosophies of Marketing and
Sales
Challenges and Pitfalls
Managing Yourself for Successful Sales
Staying Motivated
Keeping Positive Attitude
Organizing Yourself
Managing Your Time and Stress
Managing Sales Activities and Sales Force
Sales Staffing and Training
Sales
Success Rules - Free Sales Training
Sales Forecasting and Goals
Motivating Sales Force
Measuring and Evaluating Sales Activities
Compensating Sales Force
General Resources
Resources Providing Many Resources
Glossary and Dictionaries About Sales
Free Tools and Templates
Also consider
Related Library Topics
Learn More in the Library's Blogs Related to Sales
In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blogs that have posts related to Sales. Scan down the blog's page to see various posts. Also see the section "Recent Blog Posts" in the sidebar of the blog or click on "next" near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.
Library's
Business Planning Blog
Library's
Building a Business Blog
Library's
Customer Service Blog
Library's
Marketing Blog
Foundations for Successful Sales
What is Sales?
Before learning more about how to do successful sales and selling, it's important
first to get a sense of what sales is, so you can more accurately understand
the guidelines, tips and tools provided throughout this topic. Also, it's useful
to understand different viewpoints about sales, especially so you can more accurately
understand how your clients talk about sales.
What's
"Advertising, Marketing, Promotion, Public Relations and Publicity, and
Sales?"
Unlocking
the True Definition of Sales
Legal Definition
of Sale
Sales - Definition
Also consider
Marketing
(scan the subtopics to understand Marketing)
Understanding the Sales Process (Sales Pipeline)
There is a general, overall process that successful sales people follow, although
there are different perspectives on that process, including names for the various
steps along the way. The next major section in this topic includes more detailed
guidelines, tips and tools for each stage of one perspective on the sales process,
or sales pipeline as some people refer to it.
Sales
Process
What
is a Sale Process?
Basics
of the Sales Process
Sales vs. Procurement -- tips from an expert.
Understanding the Sales Cycle
The sales cycle is often referred to as the time it takes to do the sales process
mentioned above. Timing is critical because the faster and shorter the sales
cycle, the faster that more revenue is generated, customers are satisfied and
more customers can be gotten by the organization.
What
is the Sales Cycle?
Sales
Cycle Steps
The
Best Way to Shorten the Sales Cycle
Value of Product Knowledge
There's an old saying that a "good salesman can sell anything." That's
not so true today when the nature of products and services can be highly complex
and the nature of customers and clients can be highly demanding. Yet there's
an ongoing argument about which is best -- product knowledge or sales skills.
Benefits
of Product Knowledge
How
Product Knowledge Can Mean More Sales
How
Much Product Knowledge is Enough?
Also consider
Product
Development
Useful Knowledge and Skills to Have in Sales
You don't have to read all of the resources referenced from the following links. Rather, a quick scan will give you an impression of the different types of knowledge and skills to start learning over time. Perhaps for now, realize that there's more to being a good salesperson than learning the sales process and sales cycle. Many of the following are also more directly associated with other subtopics in this overall topic of Sales.
Useful Business Skills for Salespeople
Advertising
and Marketing Laws
Advertising
and Promotion
Communications
(Writing)
Contracts
(Business)
Customer
Satisfaction
Customer
Service
E-commerce
Ethics:
Practical Toolkit for Business
Etiquette
(Manners)
Marketing
Positioning:
Deciding and Conveying Your Unique Selling Position
Pricing
Public
and Media Relations
Telemarketing
Useful People Skills for Salespeople
Assertiveness
Conflict
(Interpersonal)
Etiquette
(Manners)
Feedback
Handling
Difficult People
Listening
Non-Verbal
Communications
Presenting
/ Speaking
Questioning
Self-Confidence
Team
Building
Negotiating
Diversity and Inclusion
Understanding Types of Clients and How to Engage Them
Know Your Customers' Needs
Customer Relationship Management
Also consider
Product Development
Questioning
Useful People Skills for Salespeople
Types of Clients
8
Types of Clients -- Adjust Your Pitch, Increase Your Sales
5
Types of Customers
8 Types Of Client To Avoid At All Costs
Multi-cultural Customers and Sales
How
to Develop a Multicultural Sales Force
Multicultural
Client Skills For Small Businesses – 8 Point Strategy For
Intercultural Negotiations
Selling to Multicultural
Customers
Also consider
Diversity
and Inclusion
Planning Your Sales Strategy
Your sales strategy is the approach you have designed to powerfully describe your products and services to your current and potential customers, so that they appreciate their benefits to them and thus, are more inclined to purchase them from you.
Your sales strategy should be associated with a variety of methods to guide current and potential customers through the typical sales pipeline (described below). Methods might include, for example:
- Qualifying prospects, that is, deciding which prospects are most likely to become customers
- Contacting them via communication channels that are most suitable to them
- Effectively describing, or pitching, the product or service to them
- Closing the sale, that is, getting formal agreement from each customer to buy the product or service
- Ensuring follow-up activities, for example, strong customer service to ensure strong customer satisfaction
Sales Process and Sales Pipeline
1. Generating Leads -- Using Sales Channels
21 Lead Generation Strategies
7
Deadly Sins of Lead Generation
Marketing
Benefits of Using Lead Generation
Five
Ways to Beat Prospecting Anxiety
How to Generate More Leads
A lead is a potential customer. (Later, in the sales process, you will qualify the lead to determine if he/she is a prospect, that is, is someone who is very likely to buy from you.) Sales channels are the methods by which salespeople and customers communicate with each other. The resources that are referenced in this subtopic usually give advice about how best to use a particular channel in sales, but don't go primarily with that advice -- also follow the guidelines in each phase of a sales process, so that you're following guidelines in a systematic manner.
Direct Postal Mail (Sales Letters)
How
to Write Direct Mail Sales Letters
Sample
Images of Sales Letters
Direct Mail Marketing - 101
10
Direct Mail Order Ideas to Boost Your Response
Also consider
Using
Direct Mail
Business
Writing
Steps
to Selling by Email
Writing Email Copy That Turns Into Sales
Email
Marketing vs. Email Sales
Also consider
Email
Marketing
Email
Writing, Management and Policies
Face-to-face
The Importance of Face-to-Face Selling
Face-to-Face Sales Training
The Importance of Face-to-Face Sales in a Sales 2.0 World
Also consider
Communications
(Interpersonal)
Interpersonal
Skills
Internet and Web
The
10 Secrets of Selling Online
Birth of an E-Salesman: A Tragedy in One Act
Also consider
Computer,
Internet and Web
Social
Networking
Social Networking
Boosting
Your Sales With Social Networking
5
Social Networking Steps for Sales Professionals
Also consider
Computer,
Internet and Web
Social
Networking
Telemarketing (Phone)
Cold
Calls
Selling
on the Phone
It Takes Practice to Sell Successfully Over the
Phone
Also consider
Communications
(Interpersonal)
Interpersonal
Skills
Trade Shows
Ten
Trade Show Exhibit Best Practices
How
to Increase Your Trade Show Sales
Learn How to Maximize
Your Trade Show Success
2. Qualifying the Client -- Is Client a Prospect?
Once you have a list of leads, you need to qualify them, that is, you need to assess whether they are likely to buy your product or service based on, for example, their needs and wants, match between their needs and wants and the nature of your products and services, key decisions by the decision makers, ability to pay and preferences for the timing to buy. A qualified lead is a prospect. (Depending on the nature of your product or service, you might be asked to provide a proposal, even without having an opportunity to more carefully qualify the lead. In that situation, you can skip to the section Proposals.)
7 Prospecting
Ideas That Work
Sales Prospecting Myths
Sales Prospecting Techniques -- How Winners Prospect
80-20
Rule of Customers: Stop Thinking 20th Century! Attract Only the
Top 20%
First Impressions and Establishing Rapport With Leads
10 easy ways to build a quick rapport with anyone
Value
of Building Rapport
Also consider
Communications
(Interpersonal)
Interpersonal
Skills
Understand the Needs and Wants of Each Lead -- Ask the Right Questions
One of the worst approaches now is to start "pitching" or pushing your product or service. Instead, learn more about the lead, especially by asking useful questions. Here's where the guidelines in the previous topic Understanding Types of Clients and How to Engage Them are especially useful because you'll need to really understand more about the lead in order to discern if they are a prospect, if they are likely to buy from you.
What are the Secrets of Question Based Selling ?
World's
Best Sales Questions
Your Customer is Lying -- Did You Catch It?
Also consider
Skills
in Questioning
Getting to Decision-Makers
Often, the person you first contact is not the person who ultimately will decide whether to buy from you. So even if the first person really likes your product or service, it's as important that you influence the real decision maker. Many times, that person is a very busy upper manager who does not want to be bothered by someone trying to sell something to him or her.
Identifying Sales Prospects: Gatekeepers, Influencers, and Decision Makers
Reaching the Decision Maker
How
to Reach Decision Makers
Following-Up With Potential Prospects
Effective follow-up shows you are thorough in your work and are sincerely committed to working with the prospect. Also, your follow-up often reminds the prospect of your initial contact-- a contact that they might have forgotten in their busy work lives.
How to Be Persistent in Sales Without Annoying Your Prospects
Follow-Up
Marketing -- How to Win More Sales With Less Effort
Follow-Up
Calls Can Give You the Competitive Edge
Knowing
When to Follow-Up a Sale (includes for prospects)
3. Sales Interviews and Presentations With Prospects
Effective Sales Presentations
Keys to Great Sales Presentations
How to Create Powerful Sales Presentation
How
to Recession-Proof Your Sales Pitch
Also consider
Presenting
Convincing the Customer and Dealing With Objections
6 Techniques for Effective Objection Handling
Dealing with Difficult Customers
The Ultimate Guide to Objection Handling: 40 Common Sales Objections & How to Respond
Also consider
Power
and Influence
4. Sales Proposals and Negotiations
Proposals and Sales Letters
If you have been successful in prospecting the lead and the prospect indeed is interested in your product or service, then you might be asked to provide a proposal that provides more information about your organization, its products and services, and how you would work with the potential client. The client also might be asking several vendors to provide proposals, so that the client can have more choices from which to choose.
All About
Business Proposals
How
to Write the Perfect Sales Letter
Proposal
Checklist
Sales Letters and
Proposals
How
to Write a Sales Proposal
Negotiations
Often, your proposal or sales letter is the first time that the client really absorbs the details of the opportunity that you're bring to him or her. It's not uncommon that the client wants to modify certain terms or pricing. Thus, it's useful for you to have at least some basic skills in negotiating.
Ten Tips for Convincing the Buyer to Pay More
Managing the Sales Negotiation Process
Managing the Sales Negotiation Process
Sales Strategy Checkup
Also consider
Conflicts
(Interpersonal)
Negotiating
5. Closing the Sale
The closing process is getting the commitment of the prospect to buy your product or service. The close is when the client has committed. It represents the close, or ending, of the sale process. However, many would assert that the sales process really doesn't end there, rather the sales process continues to ensure a strong, successful relationship with the client even after a contrast has been signed.
Techniques for Closing
Tips for Closing the Sale
Closing the Sale Is Just the Beginning
After
You Close a Deal
Sales Contracts
Contract
of Sale
Understanding
Sales Contracts
Many
Images of Sales Contracts
Sample Sales Contracts
Also consider
Business
Contracts
6. Account Maintenance and Management
What's Account Maintenance and Management?
Account
Maintenance
How
to Development Key Account Management Strategy
After
You Close a Deal
Also consider
Management
Customer Service
One of the main responsibilities in this phase of the sales
process is responding to the needs and questions from customers.
This phase also is where you can learn a lot about how well your
product or service is meeting the needs of customers, and about
any changes that you might want to make to those products and
services. The following link is to many other links about customer
service.
Customer
Service
Customer Satisfaction
The ultimate goals of a sales process should be customer satisfaction. Without that, the revenue won't follow. The necessary learning won't follow about how to continue to improve products and services, about how to innovate to produce new products and services. The following link is to many other links about customer satisfaction.
Also consider
Customer
Satisfaction
Miscellaneous Perspectives -- Challenges and Pitfalls
Various Philosophies of Marketing and Sales
Before reading the following links, the reader is encouraged (if he or she has not yet) to scan the subtopics in this overall topic to get a sense of the activities required in sales and the order of those activities. This is in lieu of trying to learn about sales primarily be reading numerous different perspectives and opinions. Do come back to read some of the following after getting an overall impression of sales.
The Ultimate Guide to Relationship-Selling
Who is selling your product?
Don’t Take the Sales Order
Are you Pushy? How do you Pull in Sales Instead?
Mean Target Marketing-Parents Beware
Challenges and Pitfalls
6 Trailblazing Ways Around Sales Productivity Pitfalls
Hard Sell -- Solutions to the 21 Biggest Sales
Problems
Pitfalls in Your Direct Sales Business
Managing Yourself for Successful Sales
Staying Motivated
Achieving
Sales Goals Requires Drive and Motivation
Images
for Self Motivation
Motivating and Inspiring Yourself
Sales Motivation: A Game-Changing Strategy to
Beat Your Competitors
Also consider
Motivation
Keeping Positive Attitude
Do
You Have a "Sales Success" Attitude?
In
Sales, Your Attitude is Important
What
Sales Attitude Should You Have?
Change
That Negative Attitude and Increase Your Sales
Also consider
Attitude
Organizing Yourself
Organizing
Yourself From the Inside Out
You Can Do It: No Fail Ways to Finally Get Yourself Organized
Organizing
Yourself Isn't an Instant Process
Also consider
Organizing
Yourself
Managing Your Time and Stress
Are You In Control of or Controlled By Technology?
Basics of everyday planning and tasks management
Triple Your Personal Productivity
Also consider
Stress
Management
Time
Management
Work-Life
Balance
Managing Sales Activities and Sales Forces
Sales Staffing and Training
Sales Force Structure
Expand
Your Sales Force - Part 1 of 2
Expand
Your Sales Force - Part 2 of 2
Sales Training
Sales Training & Techniques
Sales
Success Rules - Free Sales Training
The Dirty Secret of Effective Sales Coaching
How
to Use Virtual Sales Clerks
Also consider
Staffing
Team
Building
Training
Sales Forecasting and Goals
3 Methods of Sales Forecasting
Conduct a Sales Forecast
7 Steps to Achieving Your Sales Goals
Also consider
Staffing
Team
Building
Motivating Sales Force
Expand
Your Sales Force - Part 1 of 2
Expand
Your Sales Force - Part 2 of 2
Optimizing
Sales Performance
Sales Managers: Are You Motivating in the Middle?
Building
the Killer Sales Force
How to Manage a Virtual Sales Force
Five
Ways to Re-Energize Sales
Also consider
Employee
Performance Management
Motivating
Measuring and Evaluating Sales Effectiveness
5 Ways You Should Be Measuring
Sales Performance
Evaluating Your Sales Techniques
Measuring
Sales Force Performance
When
to Set Sales Performance Reviews
Are Your Sales Reps Spending Too Much Time in
Front of Customers?
Also consider
Evaluations
Evaluating
Performance
Compensating Sales Force
How
to Set Up a Sales Commission Plan
The
State of Sales Compensation
3 Tips to
Design a Sales Compensation Plan
Also consider
Benefits
and Compensation
General Resources
Resources Providing Many Resources
Websites With Many Free Resources for Nonprofits and For-ProfitsOptimizing Sales Performance (an online book)
Inc's numerous articles about sales
SalesMarks.com articles
B2B sales leads tools for business-to-business marketing
Glossary and Dictionaries About Sales
Sales Dictionary
Glossary
of Sales Definitions
Glossary
of Sales and Selling Terms
Free Tools and Templates
10 Free Sales and Resources
Free Sales Plan Templates
15 Free Online Sales Tools
For the Category of Sales:
To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may
want to review some related topics, available from the link below.
Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.
Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been
selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.