Knowing When To Sell

It can be hard to know when to sell and when to wait. You don’t want to seem to pushy and cause them to leave. Nor do you want to wait too long and lose the sale. Here are some simple guidelines to help you know when to try for the sell.

The 80/20 Rule

If you know anything of the marketing world, you may have already heard of the 80/20 rule. Basically, when advertising you need to do 80% educating and 20% selling. This is a good mixture as people love to be educated before buying a product. If you constantly show them ads asking for the sale, they will be less likely to buy and may go to one of your competitors instead.

Ask qualifying questions.

Qualify your leads to make sure they are in a position to purchase your services. This will keep you from wasting their time and yours. Time is money in business and you can’t afford to spend your time pitching to people that are not able to afford you.

Listen to what your leads say.

When you are qualifying your leads, make sure you pay close attention to the answers you are getting. Your service or product may not be exactly what they are looking for and you don’t want any misunderstandings. Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions to make sure you are both clear on what is wanted and what you are offering.

Earn trust and show the value.

One of the best ways to know when to sell is by gaining the trust of the potential client. Be transparent about what you are offering them. Don’t try to confuse them by having fine print and they will trust and believe in what you say. Once you have their trust you can show them the value they will get by purchasing from you. Once they understand what they can gain from buying from you, they are more open to completing the purchase.

Knowing when to sell has no set timeframe. These are just suggested guidelines, not hard and fast rules. The best way to know when to sell is to follow your intuition. You are the best person to know the person you are selling to. Just follow your gut and get selling! Next week we will talk about setting goals for the upcoming year.