It’s 2023, and the rules of sales have changed significantly due to the explosion of digital powerhouses like Amazon. To succeed in the saturated market, salespeople have to meet ever-increasing demands for innovation, excellence, and customer satisfaction.
Selling is hard. How hard? Well, let’s take a look at a few statistics:
- At least 50% of your prospects are not a good fit for your product.
- On average, it takes 18 calls to connect with a buyer.
- Only 24% of sales emails are actually opened.
- 80% of sales require five follow-up calls.
So how exactly are salespeople supposed to keep up? In this article, you will find 10 tips on how to succeed in sales in 2023! Keep reading so you don’t miss out.
Contents
1. Aim to solve pain points
If you want to succeed in sales, you need to understand, identify, and empathize with your customers’ troubles. People are most receptive to product marketing that can clearly communicate how your company solves their pain points.
Don’t just tell the people you can help. Show them how you do it. The most successful salespeople sell solutions to challenges.
2. Use sales technology
Proper use and implementation of sales technology are by far one of the easiest ways to achieve sales success. The key word here is “proper” since sales technology alone is not enough to guarantee a golden ticket to the sales big leagues.
As Matt Heinz, the president of Heinz Marketing said:
“Tech for tech’s sake doesn’t help you win deals. Tech that makes you faster, smarter, more effective, more efficient – that’s the tech you need.”
Use sales tools to make your life easier, streamline your work, and boost your productivity. Remember, you’re not looking for software to do your job for you. Rather, you want technology that will help you be the best salesperson you can be.
Automation software and sales CRMs are great examples. Chatbots, for instance, can be programmed to collect data, identify signs a customer may be ready to buy, and provide your team with a qualified lead with no extra effort necessary.
We recently rolled out a brand new HubSpot integration. Now you can sync your Encharge marketing automation data with HubSpot and the other way around, along with many other features. Make sure to check it out!
3. Know your audience
Aiming to solve your customers’ pain points is a top priority. But how are you supposed to do that if you don’t know your customers?
Our third tip for sales success is to thoroughly research and learn about your audience to the point that you truly know them.
Social media is a great place to start. Social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are full of information about your customers’ interests, experiences, skills, and education.
The more information you have, the more opportunities there are for you to relate to your clients and provide experiences they really appreciate.
Never miss a chance to divulge some information about yourself either! Showing vulnerability to your customers allows them to see you as a real person rather than just another salesperson.
Establishing a true human connection through common understanding goes a long way in sales success.
4. Know your product
It’s only logical that you need to know your product just as well as you know the customers you’re trying to sell to. And while your reaction may be: “Of course, I know my product!”, you’d be shocked to see how many salespeople have only a surface-level understanding of the thing they’re selling.
Knowing your product goes far deeper than the specifications, price, and functions it performs. You have to be able to place yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about it from their perspective.
What questions might they have about the product? Can you answer every question about the product that you can think of? How exactly will they use the product to solve their problems?
If you’ve been stumped by any of these questions in the past, it may be time to admit that you may still have some learning to do.
Just to be clear, that is totally okay! Constant dedication to knowing your product better over time is a good thing. Don’t be discouraged by the times you may have failed or been stumped by a question. Use it to improve your craft instead!
5. Be an active listener
Being an active listener is our next tip for sales success. Active listening is a technique that keeps both people engaged in the conversation, even if only one is speaking. Furthermore, it makes your customer feel heard and valued.
How do you become an active listener? Let’s break it down:
- Pay attention – devote your complete attention to the person you’re speaking with and make sure you show it. No distractions from your phone and try to shut your mind off from off-topic thoughts. Nodding, smiling, and open body language are great ways to show engagement.
- Repeat what is said – essentially, you want to paraphrase what the other person has said. For example, you could say, “So what I am hearing is that you’ve found customer service to be an area that we could improve”. You are not giving an opinion or offering any advice, but rather you are summarizing and clarifying.
- Don’t judge – remain free of judgment in your responses so the person you’re talking to feels compelled to continue speaking. If the other person feels you are judging them, they won’t continue to be vulnerable and open up with you. You want to convey that they can trust you.
Active listening will change the nature of your conversations with your customers, allowing them to lead you to a place where you can close. The difference can be noticeable almost instantly.
6. Personalization
It’s 2023, so it’s high time to say goodbye to robotic mannerisms and say hello to personalization! Customers are very sensitive to phrasing and will notice if you don’t take care to treat them as an individual.
Simple tactics like referring to the customer by their name can make all the difference in the world, simply by showing them that you are committed to helping them as an individual. Remember, one size does not fit all calls. So make sure to change up the call script or add personable flairs from time to time.
According to Forbes, 84% of consumers say being treated like a person rather than a number is very important to winning their business.
Here are some more benefits of personalization:
• Customer trust – personalization builds trust between your company and your customers. Showing people they can trust you boosts their relationship with your company and shows them that you care about them and their experience.
• Customer loyalty – customers who trust your brand don’t need to seek other options. Trust builds loyalty, and this loyalty keeps your customers coming back.
• Increased sales success – if your customers are loyal and satisfied, they will have no problem continually buying from you. Also, loyal and happy customers who had positive experiences will share their experiences with 11 different people. A reputation of personalized customer service and positive experiences will generate new customers.
• Better data – the more a customer buys from you, the more you learn about them for the future. Personalization relies heavily on the efficient collection, analysis, and implementation of data.
Personalization is essential for sales success because of its effect on the customer’s psyche. When customers feel you have made an effort to show them they are valuable to you, they will be inclined to buy from you continually.
7. Improve your soft skills
Sales success depends on many soft skills, such as empathy, patience, and flexibility. Improve those skills, and you will improve your sales success too!
It’s no secret that customers can get angry from time to time. Empathy and patience will be your best friend in those times because being talked to rudely or screamed at can quickly cause you to lose sight of your goals, being patient will really help you in your full-time job.
To reference the words of Matt Heinz once more, “practice positive and proactive empathy. Thank them for sharing their concerns and complaints, and ask how you can make it better. Put yourself in their shoes and listen.”
Empathy is a great skill to have for life in general, but in sales, it can be the difference between success and failure.
Considering the massive amount of change brought on by the pandemic, flexibility is an important skill to improve. Some people are more or less cautious or afraid of the risks that Covid still carries, be adaptable and understand these concerns.
Flexibility in sales success is necessary because often, you must adjust your personality to meet the demands of a given situation. It is a crucial skill for sales success and can always be strengthened.
8. Quality, not quantity
Sales success in 2023 lies not in the number of leads you close but rather in the quality.
Pursuing large amounts of unqualified leads can be a huge time commitment that results in only a small percentage of actual sales. While it can feel like it’s your duty to pursue every lead, no matter how small, it’s not a good business practice. Also, unqualified leads are more likely to churn sooner, which results in smaller customer lifetime value.
Make sure to go after quality leads that can be nurtured from prospect to customer and have the potential of turning into long-term, loyal clients.
These types of leads may be fewer in number, but they will provide larger and more consistent revenue to your company in the long run.
9. Provide visuals
Every person absorbs information differently, which is one of the reasons why sales cannot be a one-size-fits-all business.
Many people do not learn through sales pitches or conversations but instead are far more captivated by visuals.
Even those who wouldn’t describe themselves as visual learners benefit from graphs, tables, or charts that convey talking points visually.
Providing visuals is a great tip for sales success because it allows people to see evidence of your words in a visual form.
Whether you choose to provide visuals is up to you, but having them on hand is a must for sales success.
10. Never give up!
Our last tip for sales success in 2023 is to never give up! Becoming discouraged and tired is common in sales and can happen after only a few bad calls or meetings.
Never giving up is crucial to success. You cannot let a few bad experiences determine your skills and value as a salesperson.
After a bad call, meeting, or even a bad week, remember to take a deep breath and think about all of the great work you have done.
Keep pushing forward — you can do this!
The bottom line
Sales success in 2023 is just as achievable as every year before. The landscape of the sales world is as tough as it always has been, so don’t let that scare you. Knowing your audience and product and being dedicated to solving problems will bring you success anytime and anywhere. Just remember to be empathetic, flexible, and listen actively.
Do you have any tips for sales success that we may have missed? What sales techniques do you use at your company? What has been the most influential sales tip for you this year?
