Everyone wants a silver bullet for maximum sales success.
So, if you had to pick one area of sales for a silver bullet, would it be:
* Cold calling for new prospects?
* Leveraging referrals from relationships?
* Pulling leads from inbound marketing?
* Networking in-person & online?
* Creating persuasive proposals?
* Making engaging sales presentations?
Of course this is a trick question because there is no silver bullet.
Wait a minute. Yes, there is, and it’s unsatisfying. It’s this:
Be a “Jack of all trades, master of one” — where “one” is whatever sales skill you need to be doing at the time.
In other words, many things must be done well to win a sale; not one of them alone will seal the deal.
Apologies for the tough love, but we need to master all selling skills for a long and successful career. Here’s a list of articles that can help.
Cold calling for new prospects
Many sales gurus say cold calling is dead. However, when faced with a short-term immediate need for prospects, cold calling in volume can help. No, it’s not sustainable but in a pinch it gets you into the roulette game of “right-place, right-time.” Here are some thoughts on that.
Leveraging referrals from relationships
Word of mouth is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, source of new prospects and eventual customers. Get really good at it, or lose out on easy wins. Consider these “not-for-beginners” approaches to the age-old dilemma of referrals:
- Referrals: 8-Steps to get Customer-Friends to Help
- The Quick Sales Funnel and Super 8
- Deconstructing Sales Referrals for More Juice
- The Next Best Thing – Referrals
Pulling leads from inbound marketing
Depending on your age, it’s a new sales world or it’s the only one you’ve ever known. Either way, inbound marketing is now a sales function, so don’t cry about your lack of Marketing. Here’s a 101 on the topic that’ll help start you getting smart things done.
Networking in-person & online
Chamber of Commerce lunches and industry association meetings are analog versions of networking, and now salespeople must network digitally too. And lucky for us, there’s a go-to social networking destination for business. It’s LinkedIn, and networking there, as well as prospecting, is a gift of the 21st century. Check this out:
Creating persuasive proposals
While salespeople must be good at all skills listed in this article, they must be really good at sales proposals. Because if they blow the proposal, they’ve lost not only the sale but all that time invested ahead of the proposal. And they’ll never get it back. Here are a number of articles that can help.
Making engaging sales presentations
Many B2B salespeople believe they’re great but unfortunately are more likely mediocre. They don’t know what they don’t know. Here are a few articles to help raise their game and win more with engaging presentations.
- 12 Tips for Great Sales Presentations
- 23 Tips for Delivering Great Sales Presentations via Web Meetings
