Have you seen the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross? If not, you’re still likely to have heard one of its most famous lines — “always be closing!” These words were imprinted by Alec Baldwin to his listeners in the scene as he was giving them an aggressive sales pep talk.
Now, that scene may have been too intense and borderline abusive, but the core message is right. If you want to improve your sales game, you should always be closing. The things you do should build up to that glorious sale.
And if you’re wondering what more you can improve, here are some ideas.
Know Your Product
It may sound like a cliché, but it’s one of the core essentials when dealing with sales. Product knowledge, according to Forbes, is equal to job security.
Knowing your product is more than just memorizing some spec sheets. It’s about really knowing its ins and outs, its use cases, its strengths and weaknesses — basically everything you can know about it.
That means you have to spend some time with the product. You need to picture yourself as one of your clients and use the product as they would. You can also ask previous clients about their experience. The more information you can gather, the better for your sales pitch.
Just imagine setting a friend up with someone. It wouldn’t be as effective if all you can say about them is their height, weight, and age, right?
Know Your Market
It is the flip side of the coin. Understanding your market is the key to better communication. Communication, yes. Selling is all about making a connection with your market. The best way to do that is to understand their issues, their habits, their happy places. As with knowing your product, the more you know about your market, the more informed your strategies will become.
Commissioned market research is essential and useful, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of learning about your market. Nothing beats speaking to the people who are buying your products to understand more about them.
You can also set up open communication channels that will encourage your customers to engage in conversations with you. The more interactions you have with them, the higher the likelihood they’ll remember you and your products the next time a need arises.
Know Yourself
Now that you have your product and your market covered, there’s still one factor in the equation for the sale to work, and that’s you.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is essential to improving at anything. When it comes to sales, it’s all the more necessary. You’ll have to leverage every edge you have to close the deal. If you’re excellent at writing but are having difficulties when speaking, for example, then it would be better to have written correspondence.
When you meet with your potential customer, make sure that you are dressed to impress, or at least appropriately, depending on the nature of what you’re selling.
Hygiene is also paramount. People will take every cue they evaluate you and your products. Iron your clothes, shave, wear personal care deodorant, pluck your eyebrows, anything you can do to squeeze every advantage you can. It will pay off.
After you’ve got these three ideas down, you’ll be all set. As you can see, it’s all about getting the right information and making the most of it. Remember, always be closing.
