

Ask HN: How to be good at sales? - tamersalama

Selling ideas, skills, products, etc... - what should be my resources?
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aspir
In my opinion, you can't read a blog or a book to be able to sell, it just
takes practice. But I'd recommended the following goal:

Introduce yourself to as many new people a day as possible, and do your best
to remember their names. Selling is about relationships, and if you can't
build them with strangers, you can't sell.

Everyone has a cool story and something they're passionate about. Find it. On
a similar note, try to at least be able to hold a surface conversation over
lots of topics and hobbies. It's not hard: golf/sports="Tiger Woods is ...",
politics="they're all windbags", family="kids are fun". Discuss in that
surface/shallow manner until something deeper comes up. You now may have
something to spend hours talking about, and you may have laid the groundwork
for a new close friendship.

That's touchy-feely, of course. But it works. For selling, take the above
model and replace "passion" or "hobby" with "career." Ideally they should be
similar. Relational bonding is how you sell things.

In fact you're not selling anything to anyone; two associates are solving each
others problems. Think of it in that light, and you're on the right path.

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iuguy
It really depends on what you're selling and to whom.

I sell consulting services on a business to business (b2b) basis. I do a
reasonably ok job but I'm not an out and out sales guy.

It sounds to me like you need to get a better idea of what you're going to
sell and to whom before you look at how. For example:

What's your route to market? (Cold calls? Mailshots? SEO? Form signups?)

Who are you selling to? (SMEs? Enterprise businesses? Teenagers?)

What are you unique selling points (USPs)? (Price? Quality? Uniqueness?)

From there you can start looking at theory, things like the 4Ps, Sales funnels
etc. depending on your answers.

Some things that have worked for me:

Cold Caling Techniques (That Really Work) by Steven Schiffman

Spin Selling by Neil Rackham

Why People Don't Buy Things by Wallace and Washburn

Before you go off buying these books, bear in mind that you haven't sorted out
your approach yet. By all means have a look, but sort out your own answers to
the questions first.

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andrewstuart
I've done lots of selling over the years - all for my own startups. At first I
thought I was bad at it - I just didn't seem to manage to be able to get
people to buy what I was selling.

It all changed one day when I started selling something completely different -
something that people wanted, that there was demand for, and was priced
competitively. Suddenly people started buying and I was hardly even trying to
sell at all.

Sure there is always more to learn about selling, and there are lots of good
books on it. You should read them. Reading lots about selling will make you a
better salesperson.

There's no bigger lesson though than to sell something that people want -
that's when you'll start making sales.

Being a good salesperson is all about the product/service and the price that
its sold at - it's got to be something that people want.

If you can't make any sales then maybe the product or service you are selling
is wrong.

------
harscoat
1/ Listen

2/ ask open questions vs. "sell" your idea/product: to understand their pain
points, the purchasing process, their objection (which you can answer 1 by 1)

3/ Ask hard questions "what's your budget", "what's our competition", "Why
would you purchase from us vs Monster co.?"

4/ know how to shut up when you have asked a question (the 1st who speaks has
lost)

5/ Be fair and confident in the value you are selling (otherwise it's a shitty
job to sell crap)

\+ check the related question "how to close a sale":
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897543>

Deer vs rabbit or Elephant hunters:
[http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-
startups-...](http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-startups-
should-be-deer-hunters/)

------
mathgladiator
Step 1: Find a person that has a problem

Step 2: Find a solution to that problem

Step 3: Get person to pay for the solution

Repeat...

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iworkforthem
\- Illustrate the Benefits.

\- Price It Attractively for User to Take Action.

\- Follow-Up.

------
known
To be good at sales, you need to be rich and connected.

