Sales Techniques: It takes energy to make a sale but it helps if you have your eye on the target

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, there is no such thing as a no-sales call. A sale is made on every call you make. If there is one thing I have learnt in sales, it is that sales start with energy.

In general, when two people are in a selling situation, the one with the highest energy wins. Have you ever been in an argument with someone who just wouldn't stop talking and putting their side across? Who won that argument?

If you want to win in sales, you need to ensure that you have the fuel to keep going.

There are many selling techniques, but what is most important is to keep your energy high. This you accomplish by celebrating your wins and getting excited about what you do.

There are five fundamental steps in selling a product:

# Finding someone with money.

# Presenting your product.

# Turning a "no" into a "yes".

# Closing the deal.

# Following up.

Blair Singer, a motivational speaker who specialises in accelerated training in sales, gives useful advice. "It is a huge mistake to think that everyone out there is your market. You want to find the 1 percent that is already predisposed to buy what you offer," he says.

Therefore, for you to be successful in sales, you need to determine who are the best people to talk to and who will buy what you are selling.

Sales people often spend a lot of time talking to people who have no desire to and will never buy what they offer.

Time is critical. If you want to be successful in sales, you need to put yourself in a position where your prospect is a potential buyer.

Let me give an example. Would you like to own a Ferrari? Some people will say yes, while others will answer no. If you say yes, can you afford to buy one now?

If you would like to own one but cannot afford one right now, should I, as a Ferrari salesman, invite you to the showroom? Is it worth me doing a pitch to you?

Probably not. I may give you the opportunity to look over the car of your dreams, but I certainly am not going to make a sale.

My focus should rather be on spending time with the people who said yes, they would like to own a Ferrari and could afford to buy one now.

My point is that it is critical to understand exactly who wants to and is able to buy your product. By determining these two criteria, you can save yourself a fair amount of pain in the selling process.

You must be able to identify who you can sell to. And you must understand what they want and be able to deliver on their expectations.

To be able to achieve this, you need to know exactly who your target market is.

To understand your target market, I suggest you undertake this simple exercise.

First, write down a description of who you think is your target market.

Second, ask yourself a lot of questions. Who are the people who need my product? Where can I find the people who are my target customer? Who do they work for? What problems do they face? What age group are they in?

I suggest coming up with at least 20 questions.

Once you have answered these questions, you need to test the market you have just identified. Make a list of 10 people or businesses that fit into this target market. Then call each one and tell them about your product or service.

Once you are sure that you have the right target market, get out there and sell. And remember, you have to keep the energy levels high.

Business Report, The Star, August 21, 2008

Barry Mitchell is an operations director at SalesPartners South Africa. His next column will deal with how you can make a compelling product presentation