97 Sales Tips From Experts For You to Benefit In 2022
Sales tips are helpful for everybody. You might be an expert, a professional, an intermediate, or a complete newbie – it doesn’t matter, you’ll always find something special.
A little piece of advice can be priceless in difficult situations at work. It can only help us make the right decision and get valuable experience.
New best practices, strategies, techniques, and approaches spring up like mushrooms and it’s hard to keep track of them. Yet, you wouldn’t like to fall behind your competition and what they’re doing.
To help you stay on the front of the race we’ve compiled a list of 97 super-effective sales tips and tricks for 2022 that will help you take your sales skill to the next level.
These are tips for salesmen used by top sales gurus who know exactly how everything should be done.
Using them you’ll be able to keep up with the rest of the field or even overtake them. I can guarantee that you’ll find the sales tips that are made for you!
Sales Tips from Top Sales Gurus
To help you easier crunch through the sales tips list we’ve divided it into 10 different sections. You can jump through each of the sections using the menu below or just use it as the navigation help while browsing all 97 of the sales tips.
Table of contents:
- Sales Tips #1-10
- Sales Tips #11-20
- Sales Tips #21-30
- Sales Tips #31-40
- Sales Tips #41-50
- Sales Tips #51-60
- Sales Tips #61-70
- Sales Tips #71-80
- Sales Tips #81-90
- Sales Tips #91-97
Sales Tips #1-10
1. Learn more about the problems your product sells, and less about your product. Once you understand the problems of your prospects, your sales will improve drastically. — Also practice just as much as you play. – Kevin Dorsey, VP of Inside Sales at PatientPop
2. Be transparent. It may be hard to imagine, but something as counterintuitive as leading with your flaws can result in faster sales cycles, increased win rates, and make competing with you almost impossible. 82% of consumers specifically seek out negative reviews when making a purchase. Why not engage buyers with unexpected honesty? – Todd Caponi, author of The Transparency Sale
3. I have found in my 33 years of life insurance sales that giving a prospect 3 choices of coverage from low cost, high cost, and medium-cost almost always results in the middle choice being taken. The prospect doesn’t want to feel cheap by selecting the lowest cost plan, nor overpay by selecting the highest cost plan so they choose the middle-cost plan. I have found this to be very successful in getting people to move to a buying decision. – Mike Raines, SpecialRiskTerm
4. One of my favorite sales tips is to provide value before asking for money. I like to start my calls by saying something along the lines of “I’ve got extra customers who are looking for the service you offer, can you serve them for me”. And before even asking for them to purchase something I give, by giving them a few free leads. After, they see that we provided them the value they almost always sign up with us. – Sean Pour, co-founder of SellMax
5. Spend time with decision-makers who get what you are doing. Stop trying to convince the wrong people or those that just don’t get it. Move on. – Rebecca Gebhardt, RiseWithRebecca
6. Don’t start thinking about what you’re going to say next – listen to the prospect well enough that you can almost feel their own emotions. They’re most likely thinking emotionally – it’s how the human brain works. – Devin Beverage, Founder & Growth Strategist at DevBev Co. Digital
7. My advice to find new customers is to go on a Listening Tour! Politicians do it all the time and it is great for business too. Make a list of the movers & shakers, people you admire, and prospects, ask a few smart open-ended questions then sit back and take notice. They will be more than happy to tell you what is on their mind. If you listen to what they share with you there will be plenty of opportunities to help them. – Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO of Mavens & Moguls
8. Believe in reciprocity even if it has to come out of your own pocket. I found that treating prospects with coffee gift cards even before a demo was booked resulted in massive ROI for my sales pipeline and surpassing quotas. – Kris Rudeegraap, CEO at Sendoso
9. Focus on building a relationship with your leads rather than making the first sale your main goal. Most of your leads have an entire company behind them and will be much more willing to work with someone they know and trust. – Jeffrey Forbes, Elite Ethics
10. Outbound Marketing — conveying value & Networking is for the AE’s, BDR’s & Marketing Reps should stick to volume, as right timing is everything in an oversaturated SaaS world. – Louis Balla, Director of Sales and Marketing at Nuagecg
Sales Tips #11-20
11. It’s not your batting average that matters, it’s how many hits you get. It’s a simple law of averages. The more times you step up to the plate, the more chances you’ll gain to have a hit. Outwork your opponent! – Bob Bentz, President at Advanced Telecom Services
12. You can sell only something you believe in – If you are not sold on the product or service, it will be an uphill battle to sell someone on else. Your lack of conviction and passion will scream through. So make sure you selling something you LOVE and have fallen in total love with what you are selling. – Scott Watson, Scentsy
13. Text messaging is the most underutilized communication channel by salespeople today, but it is the most effective and time-efficient. It is also surprising because 78% of consumers could text businesses. Why not meet them where they are and give them what they want? I can’t think of any reasons not to. – Josue Sanchez, Head of Growth at ReplyBuy, Inc.
 14. Don’t send an introductory email on a Monday since it’s typically the busiest day for many recipients and also have weekly planning meetings. Nowadays, the technology exists where you can track your outgoing emails and be notified when a prospective client does or does not open them. This allows you to either send another introductory email at a different time or send a personalized follow-up email knowing they opened it. – Chris Michaels, Frugal Reality
15. Consistent Prospecting solves most sales challenges. The biggest challenge I see in most organizations is that their salespeople simply don’t meet with enough real prospects. Prospecting every day, if done well, should supply a steady stream of appointments which turns into prospects and some of which will become customers. – Jeff Goldberg, President & Lead Sales Trainer/Coach at Jeff Goldberg & Associates
16. Simply implementing a sales script for my inbound calls allowed me to increase my close rate by 34% overnight. I strongly suggest to anyone in a sales position having a well-structured script. Mine goes from an initial assessment of the situation of the client aimed at understanding if he qualifies to work with us, to a set of phases focused on convincingly presenting our offer. Most importantly, make sure that you include in your script ready-to-use responses for the most common objections your clients come up with. Test these responses over time. Objections are a good thing, as it means that there’s interest in buying; however, you have to be ready with a compelling but transparent way to effectively deal with them. – Angelo Sorbello, CEO at Astrogrowth
17. Be human. I often read that salespeople should read from a script packed with fireworks that will land a lucrative client. From my experience this is false. Just be a human – let your persona shine and you will reap the rewards! Businesses or customers prefer to deal with someone that is not robotic and has a personality. – Marcus Langmaid, Digital Marketing Consultant at MarcusLangmaid.com
18. First ask any potential client, “how may I be of service”. Most salespeople are clear on what their product or service does but fail to address the needs of the client first. What problem are they trying to solve? The only way to find this out is to ask pertinent questions and let them take you through their WHY. It’s all about filling a need, instead of making a sale. – Robyn Mancell, co-founder of Girls Gone Forex
19. From my personal experience, one of the best sales tips I’ve come across is embracing the consultative sales approach. Most sales managers and gurus preach the philosophy of getting the client to buy by any means necessary; which many times involves an aggressive approach. This may have worked in the past however, these days consumers are highly educated and are looking for a liaison for guidance instead. I advise listening to what exactly the customer is saying to provide a suitable solution. Not only will the customer not feel the pressure of deciding on the spot, but they will also pick up on the fact that you have their best interest in mind. Not only will this result in a low turnover rate but, you will also start to receive a potential increase in referrals. The success of this approach ultimately relies on you becoming an expert in your product. – Mack Dudayev Co-Founder and Realtor Chance Realty LLC
20. On a typical sales call, the very first challenge encountered will be getting past the ‘gatekeeper’, whose job it is to filter unwanted sales calls. Your tone of voice will greatly assist you in this task. Using a flat intonation, be ‘familiar’ with the decision-maker you wish to speak with and address them by their first name. More often than not, you are put straight through! – Ollie Smith, Chief Executive Officer of ExpertSure
Sales Tips #21-30
21. Know your stuff. You need to be able to successfully sell the product and have knowledge of relating products that your company also sells. A salesman without knowledge of their companies products makes customers believe that they shouldn’t spend their money with you. When it comes to knowing your stuff although you need to know your products and company, you also need to know yourself and quickly get to know your customer. Knowing yourself allows you to send the best message across to your potential buyer, as well as which ways you feel most comfortable pitching. Gaining an understanding of your customer is also important so you can adjust your pitch to be the most effective for them. – Mike Sheety, Director at ThatShirt
22. When you’re cold calling prospects for the first time, preface the conversation by telling them you just want to ask them three questions. On your end, you’re qualifying your prospects, which helps with your conversion rates; at the same time, this makes your prospect more likely to agree to speak with you. – Will Cannon, Founder at UpLead
23. Don’t go through normal channels; Use Video; Don’t take more than 60 seconds; Aim to provide value and a bit of entertainment – show that you are professional first, fun to work with the second. – Jeff Howell, CEO at Lease Ref
24. You have to get committed to being great, not just average. Sales can be a painful profession for the average and bottom performers and massively rewarding for those that are great. Those that live, breathe, and eat their profession become great. I have never met a GREAT closer that wasn’t all in and completely consumed by his/her trade. – Grant Cardone, Author of The 10X Rule
25. Get around the right people. Get around positive, successful people. Associate with men and women who are going somewhere with their lives. Get away from negative, critical, complaining people. Remember, you cannot fly with the eagles if you continue to scratch with the turkeys. – Brian Tracy, Author of Eat That Frog!
26. Make full contact with the other person’s hand while maintaining direct eye contact. Be aware of the fine line between a comfortable, brief clasp and an intense vice grip: this looks like a power play. Also avoid the limp, dead fish-type handshake, and never go with a high five or fist bump. – Joe Pici, Sales Guru at Pici&Pici
27. Turn off the Internet. Turn off your email. Turn off your Smart Phone. Focus. Tell your friends you have a newfound discipline and that you need their support; promise to catch up with them later. Hang a sign on your door saying “Do Not Disturb! Prospecting!” If you don’t have a door, use a string and hang the sign over your desk. The more seriously you take yourself and your work, the more seriously others will take you. If you have a lazy attitude toward prospecting, it will fall to the wayside. You’ll let other things take priority while your competitors start surpassing you. It happens all the time. – Anthony Iannarino, Author of The Sales Blog
28. Every time you’re with a customer, make it a point to learn something personal and professional about them. Don’t allow your time together to be so focused on the immediate business opportunity that you miss out on additional, long-term information. It’s the long-term information you gain that will help you retain the customer, and the longer you have a customer, the more likely they are to refer others to you. When you’re gathering information about the person, look for items that are of common interest to you both. These are the items that will help you propel the business relationship to the next level. – Mark Hunter, Author of High-Profit Selling
29. Consider the “decision-making barrier.” Sell your vision of a more positive future! Keep in mind the fact that people fall into two groups. It is very easy to sell anything to the first group, and impossible to the second. – Jordan Belfort, Sales Coach at JordanBelfort.com
30. Be a follow-up specialist. Many people talk about a good game and then never deliver. Sometimes the cause is hypocrisy and sometimes it’s simply being sloppy and careless. Successful people do what they say they’ll do, and they pay close attention to detail so small issues don’t get neglected and become major catastrophes. – Tom Hopkins, Sales Trainer at TomHopkins.com
Sales Tips #31-40
31. Break down the sales process and the story into chapters. It’s possible to identify as many as 14 critical stages in the sales process after the original inquiry or self-generation call. Start by focusing on the key seven: establishing trust and rapport, the introduction and the agenda, probing questions, a presentation, stories of success, a trial close, and the close. – Matthew Pollard, Founder of Rapid Growth
32. Be confident. Weak people repel. Arrogant people are turnoffs. Confident people attract. Confidence is driven by your self-image, product knowledge, attitude, style of dress, health, and even your spirituality. This is why, even if you are an inside sales rep, it pays to dress for success. When you look good you feel good. Your level of confidence is a direct reflection of your willingness and self-discipline to invest in yourself. – Jeb Blount, Sales Couch at JebBlount.com
33. In business, it’s important that you avoid humor at someone else’s expense. That’s where affiliative humor comes into play. You can tap into your audience’s shared frustrations in a lighthearted, maybe even sarcastic, manner. It’s not meant to humiliate or embarrass anyone, but it does indicate that you appreciate the issues they face. – Ian Altman, B2B Keynote Speaker at IanAltman.com
34. A new way to think about your close: If it doesn’t start right, it’s not gonna end right. How friendly were you? Engaging? Emotionally connected? How valuable were you? How compelling was your presentation? How believable and how trustworthy were you perceived to be? No close needed. When you do those things, no close is needed. – Jeffrey Gitomer, Author of Little Red Book of Selling
35. Try to serve first. When I say, Serve first, I mean go out into the community and start to help others to get exposure for you and your business. Discover what educational, trade, and social communities your target prospects are likely to belong to and offer to help them out. Speaking for free is a great way to do this. – Blair Singer, Corporate Sales Coach at BlairSinger.com
36. So many entrepreneurs are so passionate about their product or service that they forget to focus on what’s in it for the customer. You need to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and look at the fears and concerns they may face. Proactively address these concerns and hesitations in your messaging, social media posts, audio, and other work. – Kelly Roach, Sales Coach at KellyRoachCoaching.com
37. Stop talking about extracting value from your customers, instead start talking about how you can ADD value to your customers. – Brian Halligan, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Hubspot
38. Give short, value-focused demos: When it comes to giving demos, there are three golden rules. Qualify first. Keep it short (15 minutes to demo, 15 minutes for Q&A). Focus on benefits, not features. – Steli Efti, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Close.io
39. Go find a product that you just believe in. Go out and sell it—practice selling it even if that company doesn’t hire you—just sell it for them. Because if you’re trying to get a job and you came to us and said, hey I’ve signed up four customers for you, I’m ready to take it full-time and now you can start paying me, I’m going to take your call. – Noah Kagan, Chief Sumo at Sumo.com
40. Allow your passion and excitement for the product to come through in your sales calls. Make it something the prospect can be infected by. In my experience, sales reps can achieve this by standing up and doing sales calls in the main common space, instead of hiding in a cubicle or a conference room. – Max Altschuler, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Sales Hacker, Inc.
Sales Tips #41-50
41. Solve for my success, not your systems. Let me take you through our sales process captures what’s wrong with not having a truly customer-focused approach. If a customer wants to skip some process steps – let them! Remove friction. – Dharmesh Shah, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer at Hubspot
42. I would say the case study wins. At the end of the day, birds of a feather flock together. People want to know that other folks similar to them buy your solution. There are really cool and clever ways to pepper in those case studies through references and credibility indicators if you have the skills. – Dan Martell
43. Raise prices 20%. Pricing is not a science, even in B2C companies. Not really. Raise prices 20%. You can always also discount 20%-25% the next day. Discounting back to your old list price even if far better than discounting from your old list price. – Jason Lemkin, Founder of SaaStr
44. Develop straightforward, customer-focused processes (some call these playbooks) with stages, milestones, and steps. Then embed these processes into the salesperson’s workflow so that they’re in front of them over the course of their day and guiding them to each next step in a dynamic way. From prospecting to opportunity management, account planning, and customer success. – George BrontĂ©n, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Membrain.com
45. Most buyers have an inherent problem with salespeople. The problem? They all sound alike. Every salesperson from every company says the same thing: “We’re the best. We have the best quality. We have the best service. We’re the industry leader.” Look, your prospects may not be NASA scientists, but they do know one thing – every company cannot be the best. However, even assuming it’s true, how would the prospect know? Just because you said so? If three salespeople all have an acceptable solution and all three claim to have the best quality and service, the only differentiator left is….price. – Kelly Riggs, Chief Sales Officer at Business LockerRoom
46. Engaging your customers in conversation, be that in person or over the phone, is one of the best ways to find new ways to improve your business, and add that personal touch to the customer/brand relationship that can help solidify it for years to come. – Phil Gerbyshak, Sales Coach & Chief Connections Officer at Make It Great Institute
47. You must know your market and your consumers as you know your own wares. If you have a true interest in developing your curiosity, you will be truly good at selling. Modern salesperson demands to spend more time researching prospective markets and knowing more about them than the past salespersons. This can help every interaction you may have with a prospective buyer from the first contact, developing your sales pitch, and closing the deals. The good news is the salespersons now have the modern tools they need to do this. Portals such as LinkedIn now allow salespersons to collect insights and information on their prospects which they never had access to in the past. – Koka Sexton, Founder of Social Selling Labs
48. Time is like a new house. We eventually fill a bigger house with furniture, and we eventually fill a block of time with “work.” So take the opposite approach. Limit the amount of time you allow yourself to complete an important task. You’ll be more focused and motivated, your energy level will be higher, and you’ll actually get more done. – Jeff Haden, Ghostwriter, contributing editor to Inc. Magazine
49. Listening is the most important part of social selling, in my opinion. The reason I say this is because it is where I catch key conversations that are important, leverage details from those conversations, and then get engaged in a conversation as naturally as possible. You must leverage listening to educate yourself about who it is that you are going to engage with and what is important to them. I know that my competitors aren’t spending the time to “listen” effectively, and it gives me a competitive advantage to engage with the right people, at the right time, with the right message that I know is of value to them. – Jack Kosakowski, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Builder of the US division of Creation Agency
50. It’s not about you. No one cares what you want. It’s about the customer; their issues, their goals, their problems, and their business. They couldn’t give a shit about your quota, your product, your needs, your anything. It’s all about the client, and once you get that into your head, everything about selling changes. – Keenan, CEO of A Sales Guy Inc
Sales Tips #51-60
51. Remove any finger-pointing and look at the data and understand quickly where bottlenecks are occurring. Is it a lack of leads (then dig into the SDR processes)? The slow movement from demo to the next step (we need to improve our demos)? Using data to quickly analyze where things are failing compared to the historical data points will be a great first step in trying to fix the problems. – Ben Sardella, Co-Founder of Datanyze
52. If I could say nothing more about sales to the thousands of entrepreneurs I counsel, it would be simply this: At the end of it all, sales is still a numbers game. The one immediate way to increase sales results is to increase the number of sales conversations you have. – Ken Krogue, President and Founder of InsideSales.com
53. Take a holistic approach to connecting with colleagues, influencers, and potential buyers. Everyone involved in social selling should always be connecting to leverage the power of their contacts, coworkers, and colleagues. Since the modern buyer is digitally and socially connected, it’s never been more important to have contacts in place that can introduce you and give you credibility to your potential buyers. By connecting daily with people, you increase the likelihood of being able to get an introduction or to get exposure to buyers you never knew existed. – Julio Viskovich, Founder of NexLevel Sales
54. Lead by Example. Sales managers set the standards for their teams. As an example, your presence during an internal sales meeting sends the message that the activity is important and that you expect everyone to attend and actively participate. By routinely contributing to the meeting and participating in team discussions, others most likely will follow the same behavior. – Janice Mars, Principal, and Founder of SalesLatitude
55. Get Multi-threaded. Once you’ve met with a key influencer or even decision-maker for the deal, don’t stop there! A thorough discovery process uncovers insights beyond one single employee’s vantage point, and the best deals create groundswell across an entire department or company. Ask for introductions to other relevant members of the team by suggesting short user interviews. Conduct these interviews pitch-free, focused on uncovering the common pain points across stakeholders that your product could relieve. When circling back with the decision-maker, you should be able to reinforce the value of your product through the words expressed by his or her own employees. – Dannie Herzberg, Director of Sales at Slack
56. Modern sales techniques include allowing salespeople to think for themselves at crucial junctures. Arm them with the right tools, allow them to do so—and watch your sales soar. – Nikolaus Kimla, CEO of Pipeliner
57. For organizations to practice digital sales well and move from being just another anonymous vendor to a trusted advisor, the sales dialogue needs to shift from “What can I sell you?” to “How can I help you?”. “What can I sell you?” says: I care about your money. What else can I sell you? Thank you for your business. “How can I help you?” says: I care about you and your business. How else can I add value? Thank you for helping us do business better. At first glance, that might seem like an easy change, but the reality is that a strategic shift is necessary to make it work. To be an effective social seller you need to move to value-based selling. – Melonie Dodaro, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at TopDog Social Media
58. 2019 is going to be the year of LinkedIn. Whether it’s through the written word, audio, or video, my biggest advice for you all is to publish an enormous amount of content on LinkedIn every day. This is especially true if you’re in the B2B space. The organic reach on LinkedIn is similar to what Facebook’s reach was several years ago. The ads are expensive because there’s a “floor” on pricing, but there’s a massive opportunity with organic content right now on LinkedIn. Just putting your profile URL in your email signature (if you’re someone who emails a lot) is enough of a “match” to start your LinkedIn content career. (HINT: Use Rebrandly URL Shortener if your links look too clunky) – Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia
59. Work on your public speaking skills. Learn how to get comfortable talking in front of a group of people. Rehearse your material. Don’t go over time. Talk slower than you think you need to. Check your teeth, tie, and fly. Remember when people come to one of your events that they could be doing ANYTHING else, but they came to see you. Don’t treat that lightly. Make sure you give them a good show. Help them get something out of it. – Austin Kleon, Author of Steal Like An Artist
60. Practice. The only way it gets easier, and you get better, is by doing a lot of selling. And as you gain experience, it’ll become easy to identify when you should challenge people on their beliefs. Don’t hesitate to say “you should/should not do this for these specific reasons … ” when an opportunity to challenge arises. – Aaron Ross, Author of From Impossible to Inevitable
Sales Tips #61-70
61. Create Clear Revenue Goals. When you combine your given revenue targets with the market strategy you’ve created based on an assessment of the past and current situation, you can generate real revenue goals for territories and individuals. Now is time to think about what support your sales team needs to reach these goals. Get your marketing team, sales team, and product team together to work on a plan. Handing your sales team new quotas with no basis, in reality, will leave all parties disappointed and frustrated. – Alice Heiman, Co-founder, and CRO at TradeShow Makeover
62. Salespeople should only use social to the extent that it helps them sell more. For instance, if your prospects are active users of LinkedIn, then you’d better make sure that you use LinkedIn to some degree. But I would not advocate that you start getting on board with tweeting and updating Facebook. We already have an issue with sales capacity and spending time with clients. So, it could actually mean death for sales reps’ performance level if they don’t use social the right way at the right time. – Nancy Nardin, Founder of Smart Selling Tools,
63. There are plenty of skilled sales professionals out there who know how to close, who can navigate past objections, who are adept negotiators, and great at networking. And sadly all of those skills will never really be applied fully unless those same salespeople each possess the discipline to get to their desk every day and make those prospecting calls. It’s not enough to just be good at prospecting, you have to be good at being persistent about it, too. – Colleen Francis, President of Engage Selling Solutions
64. The first place to start is improving mindset. Long ago, I used to stress about will I, or will not, make the sale. Thankfully, I utilized a new approach that helped changed things around. Positive thought saved my day and can save yours, too! – Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sales
65. Beg or Brag. Once a month take a weekly sales meeting and offer the reps the chance to beg or brag. They can beg for help on an account or brag about something they did. Everyone listening wins because they learn something from each Beg or Brag to make a difference in their sales conversations. – Alice Kemper, President of SalesTrainingWerks.com
66. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business, if you even have one client, have you asked them for a referral? Ask every single client you’ve worked with and built a good relationship with through the buying process for a referral. Referrals are the most underleveraged resource to get new clients. – Joanne Black, Founder of No More Cold Calling
67. Don’t Be A Distraction. Rambling on and on about what you do only distracts your ability to not only attract attention but to build the relationship. The result of such rambling is you sound like everyone else and people are running away from you, not to you. – Leanne Hoagland-Smith, CRO for Advanced Systems
68. If you find you must schedule something else during your sales prospecting time because there is no other option, reschedule your prospecting date with yourself. Don’t just let it drop. It’s just as important as any other client meeting and you wouldn’t ignore one of those if you had to reschedule. – Kendra Lee, President at KLA Group
69. Don’t mix business and personal. When working for someone else, it’s a good idea to keep your friends and family profiles separate from those that you use for your organization or company. You might consider LinkedIn as your primary networking tool (depending on your ideal buyer type, of course) and Facebook as the place where friends and family gather. If you do decide to mix the two, do so with careful thought and consideration. – Barbara Giamanco, Founder and CEO at Social Center Selling
70. Create Accessible Dashboards: Leave the guessing out of it. Dashboards provide accountability, visibility, credibility (by offering ROI figures), and can serve as a single source of truth for results that both teams can access. This eliminates the possibility for Sales to accuse Marketing of under-delivering on results, and vice versa (unless the data proves it!). – Jeanne Hopkins, CMO of Lola.com
Sales Tips #71-80
71. When buyers book remote demos or meetings with salespeople, they sometimes provide the conference line. Just one problem: they often provide the same conference line and dial-in information for each meeting. Believe it or not, I’ve heard of salespeople who dial into their competitors’ meetings, mute themselves, and spy to their heart’s content. This is just flat-out despicable. If you’ve ever done this, you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself why you got into sales, to begin with. Was it to help buyers or to take your competitors down? Get your heart in the right place or get out. – Jill Rowley, Member Board of Directors of Affinio
72. Make shamelessness your superpower. I won’t even get started with all the ways shame can hold you back from being successful in business and life. To be an effective negotiator, you need to get past worried about seeming impolite or cheap. While you may not always win or get exactly what you were hoping for, you won’t know what’s possible until you try. You’d be surprised with how often you can get exactly what you want–with almost no pushback–just by asking. Other times, the other party will meet you somewhere in between, but that’s still usually better than if you hadn’t asked at all. Likewise, don’t be afraid to walk away if the deal isn’t what you want; this kind of shamelessness is one of the strongest negotiation tactics. – Heather R Morgan, CEO at Salesfolk
73. Enchantment is the purest form of sales. Enchantment is all about changing people’s hearts, minds and actions because you provide them a vision or a way to do things better. The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person’s best interests at heart, too. – Guy Kawasaki, Author of The Art of the Start 2.0
74. Prioritize good business relationships. When I am dealing with people I like, in businesses I find stimulating (what business isn’t?), and achieving worthwhile overall returns on capital employed (say, 10-12 percent), it seems foolish to rush from situation to situation to earn a few more percentage points. It also does not seem sensible to me to trade known pleasant personal relationships with high-grade people, at a decent rate of return, for possible irritation, aggravation, or worse at potentially higher returns. – Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
75. Selling is about a lot more than your product – the buyer is investing in you as an individual as much, if not more, than whatever you have for sale. – Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
76. Understand the true power of brand identity. Don’t underestimate the power of your company’s identity. Perception is everything and a powerful and unique identity is the ultimate competitive advantage. This will make you stand out and will make your brand top of mind with clients. – Tony Robbins, Author of Awaken The Giant Within
77. Slow down your sales speed and speak with leads in a consulting manner to close more deals. Do not overwhelm them with product information or statistics, instead, parse the information out over the course of a few meetings or calls to build a rapport, this will allow them to ease into the process and the product. Everyone is looking for transparency in their dealings as well as a consultative approach versus an overtly sales-driven approach. – Jared Weitz, CEO/Founder at United Capital Source Inc
78. Be a Subject Matter Expert. As a salesperson, your job is to solve a problem for your client. Be it sheetrock or insurance, knowing your industry and being knowledgeable allows you to demonstrate your competence to your clients, greatly increasing the chances of forming a mutually beneficial relationship. – John Capra, Sales Market Director at Combined Insurance
79. Use referral programs to encourage satisfied customers to tell their friends about your company. Set up a simple referral program such as “$5 off for you and your friend if you bring your friend along”. This would easily entice existing customers to do word-of-mouth advertising for you as they benefit from it as well. – Bernice Quek, Sales Manager at Singapore Forklifts
80. Provide free samples or discounted services to your personal and professional network. If they are impressed, they will voluntarily spread the word to their own network and this will further raise awareness and increase sales for your brand. – Charlotte Ang, Authorized Distributor at Legend Age Lipstick Malaysia
Sales Tips #81-90
81. Never reveal your price during the first point of contact. Quoting your price upfront will scare your customers away most of the time. Always let your customers see the value that you can bring first before they know about the price. 80% of my sales are closed because I was able to let my customers know they are paying for quality. – Emma Lim, Sales Director at Rentalorry
82. Invest your time in making small talks to build a relationship with your potential customers. People buy because of emotions and relationships. Your customers will most likely buy from the salesperson who has a stronger bond with him or her. – Melissa Ong, Sales Director for M&P International Freights
83. Find out who your competitors are so you can provide a better deal. The best way is to find out directly from your customers who else they approached. When you know your competitors well, you will be able to provide a counter-offer and make your deal more attractive. – Gary Goh, Sales Manager at Fixwerks
84. Be prepared for every possible question that will be coming. Having a good template for every possible question will make it seem like you are experienced and professional. It leaves a great impression on your customers and you are more likely to get that deal. – Shawn Lim, Sales Manager at New Age Polish
85. Arrange a face-to-face meet-up instead of texting if it is the first time your potential client is contacting you. Meeting up with your clients shows your sincerity and creates a better bond with them. It will leave a deeper impression on them, increasing your closing rate. – Jeremy Tan, Sales Associate at Port Education
86. Follow up with your clients after you have made a sale. A good after-sales service gains the trust of your clients and they will most likely buy from you again. Sales from returning customers have the best ROI for sales professionals because you don’t have to spend as much time nurturing a new lead. – Madeline Ong, Sales Director at Legend Age Lipstick
87. Don’t settle for word of mouth or referrals. Turn your client’s or customer’s willingness to share your value into a solid introduction. When speaking with clients, prospects, and strategic partners, always talk in terms of “Introductions.” – Bill Cates, Founder of Referral Coach International
88. While there’s value in establishing a rapport with a client, one of the most important pieces of advice is also a very simple one: Shut up, and listen. No matter what you are selling, it is never about you. It is about the client, their wants, and their needs. Don’t interrupt them, let them speak, and hang on to every word. They’re giving you hints on how to move forward with the sale. – Chris Baumann, Loans & Investments Team Leader of Socotra Capital
89. Don’t be attached to the outcome. Yes, we want to close the sale, but if closing becomes a priority over doing what’s best for your prospect, it will show. I refer to this as “commission breath” because it will end up driving away your prospects. If you prioritize doing what’s best for your prospect, not only will you create a better experience for them, but you’ll find yourself a lot less heartbroken when you get a no. – Jeremy DeMerchant, founder of Permission To Sell
90. Never try directly to diminish or minimize something important to another person. By making a direct challenge to a crucial criterion you are more likely to strengthen it than to diminish it. Your best strategy is to begin by accepting that the criterion is legitimately important. – Neil Rackham, Sales Speaker at NeilRackham.com
Sales Tips #91-97
91. Research prospects in advance. Go beyond just gathering a list of names and contact details. Anybody can find that information. Take the time to make sure you’re sending to the right people. In this case, more is not always merrier. Dig deep to uncover your prospects’ interests, skills, hobbies, and more. What are their needs? What are their biggest pain points and how can you solve them? – Sujan Patel, Growth Marketer at SujanPatel.com
92. Take time to stay on top of what your competitors are up to, and how they are getting themselves and their products out to market. Learn from them – especially their mistakes and triumphs. Let their work inspire you, but don’t flat out imitate them – you want to be distinct. – Michele Romanow, Co-founder of Buytopia.ca, Dragon at Dragons’ Den
93. Don’t Be Afraid to Test, Trial, Fail, and Grow. Change is necessary, and, yes, it can be scary to put yourself out there for exposure to failures. But you only score if you shoot the puck (proverb from Wayne Gretzky), so you’re going to have to take shots. The best-in-class create pilot groups (proofs of concepts) with various business units to A/B test the process, tech stack, and knowledge transfer process. There will be items that don’t take root. Identify if it’s the medium, message, or reinforcement that’s too far off your corporate culture to execute in the short term. – Jamie Shanks, CEO at Sales for Life
94. Systemize repeatable tasks. The rule is simple — if you do something more than twice, systemize it. For example, as soon as you start moving your leads down in the sales funnel, you will need a call summary, different offers, and follow-up emails. You can create templates for all of them and systemize these steps. – Jean-Baptiste DaguenĂ©, Co-founder of Evergrowth.io
95. Be conscious of how much time you spend with each lead. There’s an ROI calculation in play; time is money and the opportunity cost of sales labor is real. With ads, you pay for impressions or clicks. With sales, you pay for every hour of lead interaction. – Julian Shapiro, VP of Marketing at Webflow
96. The more prospects you talk to, the more sales you expose yourself to, the more orders you will get. But never mistake a number of calls for quality of salesmanship. – David Ogilvy, Legendary Copywriter and Founder of Ogilvy & Mather
97. When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. – Dale Carnegie, Author of How to Win Friends and Influence People
