Ask HN: How to sell?

moonsoonmenu · on Oct 3, 2012

My advice would be not to look at it as a "sale". Even framing it that way can scare people off and give people the wrong mindset, I think framing it as a value proposition shown within a conversation is the best way to look at it.

Imagine talking to a friend or someone you know and finding a real need they have and simply recommending it because you strongly believe it would help them.

Forget "always be closing" just listen to people and see if you have a valid proposition for them. The most successful salesmen I've seen have had way more knowledge on the topic then their customers and have provided them with what was really necessary for them reducing wasted time they could have spent searching, while also explaining why it was logical.

Lastly, I think you should have good body language not to make people think you're a serial killer and after a few practice sessions you should be fine. You earn courage by doing the task itself, either in little chunks e.g. doing a bit more and more each stage at a time, or doing the whole task at once without breaks.

Best book I've read on sales is: Spin Selling by Neil Rackham

conaws · on Oct 3, 2012

Closing a sale requires at least three things: you need to get yourself in front of the person with purchasing power, you need to build trust with that person and convince them they want what you've got (much easier if the product is good and you believe in it), and you need to give them enough of a feeling of urgency that they don't delay and talk themselves out of the sale.

The bad news, all three of these are easier to learn when you're an extrovert.

The good news, it's possible to learn all these skills and push yourself to become more extroverted.

A couple good books that help you become extroverted in the right way--How to Win Friends and Influence people (corny/scammy sounding title but a true classic, the tldr is--be genuinely interested in people if you want to be interesting, listen, smile, remember people's names, apologize when you're wrong really quickly)

Another great one is Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. Basically, take people out for casual lunches, but do it ALL THE TIME, try to help them even if they can't help you right now, introduce people to other people who can help them, etc.

Then the hard part, get used to talking to strangers. If you want to learn sales, you have to get over that fear. I'd say start, get used to saying hi to everyone you encounter throughout the day and trying to have a friendly conversation--hard for an introvert, but like going to the gym, it'll make you stronger and that subtle social confidence will pay off in a sales meeting. (Plus, you never know what random interaction will lead to a sales meeting).

Also, to be honest, there are a lot of similarities between closing a sale and dating. The difficulty is that in the second you're selling yourself, so rejection stings a lot more and the approaches can be a little scarier. That said, if you can strike up a conversation with a strange man or woman you find attractive and get them interested in you, you'll have no problem learning to sell any other reasonable product.

spapa44 · on Oct 3, 2012

Two pieces of advice.

1. Read. A lot! Some of the best salespeople in the world, the very best in their industries have written books. You can save yourself a lot of time by learning from the best. Commit to reading a sales related book a week, more if you can.

2. Spend as much time as possible in front of customers selling. Not preparing to sell, not going to sell, not travelling or pracitising.. just selling. It is like anything else, the more you do it the better you will get.

If you do just those two things you will become on of the best salespeople in your field. Not to mention the other benefits such as more confidence and money.