In previous articles, I’ve mentioned how important sales skills are for entrepreneurs. This eventually begged the question of which sales skills are essential for entrepreneurs. While the natural answer should be all of them that would only pose the question of what are all of them? So this article is about breaking down the specific selling skills that entrepreneurs should possess if they desire to be successful. Of course, the idea is to learn and use all the skills mentioned but mastering them one by.one may be the better idea.

Listen actively

Active listening goes beyond just hearing what someone.someone.is saying. The active listener gives immediate and sometimes subtle feedback that lets the speaker know that not only are they being listened to but that they have the full attention of the listener. This involves asking questions for them to clarify or expand on things they said, nods and hums of approval. Showing you’re completely invested in what the speaker is saying gives them confidence.

Product knowledge

While some products are extremely complex in nature the more you know off the top of your head the better of you are in a sales situation. Note however it is not your ability to recall product specifications and details but rather your ability to relate them to the underlying needs that a person expresses when they are asking questions about product features. It’s easy to see how this applies to an entrepreneur pitching their business and the likelihood they will have to answer some tough questions from would-be investors and prospects.

Closing

Closing is the business end, no pun intended of sales. So important it is that closing can be a role on its own in some organisations. The closer solidifies the deal. For the entrepreneur this is getting that investor on board, signing a deal with that whale or getting customers signed up daily. Informing people about a product is hard in itself but knowing when and how to push for the signature on the dotted line is a critical sales skill that often separates high performers from amateurs. In order to close effectively, the salesperson needs a combination of reading the person and the situation correctly and approaching the close in the right manner.

Different sales techniques

As suggested above there are various closes that can be used for different sales techniques. So it is with actual sales techniques. The approaches to selling cars, life insurance, homes and photoshoots will vary differently. As an entrepreneur, you’re not always selling your product. Sometimes you’re selling your business, your ideology, your technology or your approach. Each of these requires a different technique to get them across to recipients.

Master time management

We speak so much about time management on this platform you would think I would have enough of it but no. Speaking specifically in a sales context and what it has to do with the entrepreneur time management is a key selling skill for entrepreneurs. Firstly, one of the best growth strategies is recurring business so how much time do you spend on checking on customers who have bought from you before compared to chasing new ones? Secondly, when you make a sales call or set a meeting do you know your agenda for the meeting? Or are just going to let it take as long as it takes? Finally, are you spending too much time chasing potential leads that are actually dead? In the business, I work it is customary to complete within 2 months of the first contact. If it drags a little longer than 2 months the chances of completing it drastically dwindle. So are you spending time on dead leads? Investors? Potential partners?

Negotiating skills

In a sense, all sales are negotiations so the need to master this skill is obvious. On a deeper level, negotiation isn’t as simple as it is made out to be. Ultimately a negotiation seeks to find mutually beneficial common ground between two parties which includes the ability to walk away if the deal is not beneficial to you as a party to it. The ability to stay the course and hammer out an agreement even when you don’t seem to have common ground is a skill in itself.

Improve your decision-making skills

A study once found that the only discernible difference between great managers and average managers was that the great managers made decisions faster, not necessarily better decisions. The study went on to say that the great managers, even if they made the wrong decision, made it faster and realise their mistake early on. Having realised this they managed to correct their decision all while the average managers would still be pondering on the decision. It is very easy for decisions to drag and this where decision-making skills come in. The ability to discern information that is critical versus excess information and filter it out is one such skill. Perhaps the most important one. Building your decision-making skills becomes very important in many situations as an entrepreneur. Make or buy, employ or outsource, accept or reject. These are the sort of decisions you have to deal with and quite often.

Mastering each one of these and then combining them will not only make you a better salesperson but also a better entrepreneur.