The 5 Sales Tactics Every Business Must Master
- adBidtise
- Jun 20
- 3 min read
Forget What You’re Selling
The hardest lesson for any sales professional to learn, but an especially fraught one for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs struggle to overcome their own product. The problem for founders is that they’ve developed this product or service, they’ve lived and breathed it for months, and couldn’t be prouder of it. But all that pride, while well-deserved, does not serve entrepreneurs well in a sales pitch.
The reality is that customers are more demanding and more aware of the competitive landscape than ever before. Leading with the product is absolutely putting the wrong foot forward. Entrepreneurs should master the art of approaching every sales pitch with questions about the needs of the prospect and the industry. Solve their problem. If you can identify what their need is and meet it, then you’re a problem solver, not a salesman. The relationship you build is every bit as important as the sale.
Referrals
You must religiously plan, whether or not it means scheduling in your weekly calendar or Outlook, to ask for referrals consistently. What may seem a tactic of an old boy's club is commonplace, and putting a plan into action is key.
Cold Calling Or At Least Lukewarm Calling
They call it “smile and dial” or "dialing for dollars," the standby practice of making as many calls as possible in hopes of serendipitously striking sales gold. Modern-day salesmen will agree that the days of cold-calling have all but ended. Cold calling is old-fashioned, but reaching out to unsolicited sales leads is not. Salespeople rely on technology to research potential leads in advance, in hopes of making every call hot or lukewarm. Aim for hot calling. Learn enough to position your approach towards the needs of the industry or the customer.
A lot of entrepreneurs panic in the early stages of sales, whether they’re looking for investors, potential new hires, or clients. As a result, they pursue "anything with a pulse,” leaving their efforts seeming desperate, erratic, and lacking in focus. Taking the time to research each prospect before pitching them a business helps entrepreneurs in two ways: in familiarizing themselves with the prospect to better tailor each pitch, but also to buy time to consider whether the prospect is a great fit and worth reaching out to in the first place.
Finding The Hot Button
There are different reasons individuals have for buying the same product or service, which are their hot buttons, also known as their pain points, and it’s every salesman’s mission to uncover them.
Approach every prospect with questions, not a sales pitch. It’s about the balance of open and closed questions. With closed-ended questions, you put the prospect at ease and make them comfortable, then gradually introduce open-ended questions to help them reveal the holy grail.
Putting Networks To Work
Networks afford professionals the ability to develop credibility and legitimacy in relationships more quickly than they ever could on their own, and for entrepreneurs, that street cred can often lead to revenue. But while entrepreneurs often excel at networking, just take a look at the calendar of any founder you know, and it will be jammed with openings, launches, and meetup events. They often struggle to break outside of their comfort zone. Entrepreneurs networking with other entrepreneurs, while fun, is not where sales-focused founders should be focused.
Most founders in the startup sector are looking to drum up business with very little brand equity. More often than not, entrepreneurs can’t rely on the equity of their young company name or even their own name. Which makes the people and businesses they align themselves with absolutely critical. They have to expand their network! Expand beyond their peer groups into networks and industries where their product is needed. For anyone hoping their company leaves the ground, those are the relationships worth establishing and fast.
FollowUp
The biggest mistake every salesperson makes is not following up with their prospect. Timing is everything. If you make a great connection and then you fail to follow up, you will lose not only the sale but also all the time and energy you invested in that prospect. Over 80% of salespeople never follow up to close a sale.
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