How to improve sales without cringing — ACAC Innovation – DLIT

The word sales has long been associated with used cars and unsolicited people knocking at your door.

The founder of Scrunch and Sales & Wine businesses, Danielle Lewis, wonders why it is such a dirty word.

“As founders, we are always selling,” she says.

“We are constantly trying to convince investors to buy into our big idea, for employees to join our small team and for customers to buy our products.”

In 2021, Danielle says the word sales no needs to be accompanied with shame.

“Sales is an essential skill for a founder and your ability to do it could make or break your company,” she says.

So, here are Danielle’s five tips for improving sales while having fun.

Ask more personal questions.

The best and most delightful interactions with others are when they take the time to ask questions about your life, and then remember and follow up with you about it.

When you are talking to your sales prospects (the people that might buy), take the time to ask them how they are, what they are doing on the weekend, what their interests are. 

Write it all down in a sales tracker so you remember it the next time you are speaking to them.

Have a sales tracker

If you don’t record and measure your sales interactions, how will you know what to improve? 

You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on a sales CRM if you are not ready, a spreadsheet will do just fine. 

As long as you are recording information about your sales prospects and updating it each time you interact with them, you’ve got a great basis for being able to analyse your data later.

Know what you’re selling

If you can’t describe your product/service in one to three sentences, then your sales prospect won’t understand what you do.

In fact, with our limited attention spans these days, they’re also likely to get bored.

Nail down exactly what problem you solve and how you solve it, then practice saying it over and over.

Know who you are selling to

Your product will not be for everyone, and that’s ok, you don’t want it to be.

One of the biggest mistakes founders make is talking to anyone who will talk to them, so they waste a lot of time. 

You want to identify exactly who your best customers are and where you can find them, so you optimise your very precious time.

Keep asking for the sale

Non-sales-people often worry that they are bothering a potential customer by asking for the sale too many times or following up too many times. 

This is not the case.

Everyone is busy and in fact customers need to be asked several times (more than four) before they often say yes.

So if you are giving up too early, you are very likely leaving money on the table.