Ways to Find Customers 4

I always feel uneasy about pressuring people to buy from me if they don't want to. How can I overcome this problem?

To overcome the problem, you need to think about sales in a different way. A good salesperson never pressures anyone into buying anything. Instead he or she helps the prospect make a decision that will solve a problem or achieve some kind of desirable benefit.
Thus, to overcome any dislike or fear of selling you may have, you must:

• Believe in your product or service. Would you buy what you plan to sell at the price you plan to charge and be satisfied with the quality of the product or service? If you can't immediately say "Yes!" don't expect to be able to convince many customers that your products or services are worth buying.
  
• Know how the product or service helps customers. Your customers don't really care whether you are starting a business or that you need their business. All they care about is how well your products or services match their needs. Demonstrate how your goods fill real needs, how your services solve the customer's real problems or help the customer achieve some goal, and your products or services will almost sell themselves.
  
• Learn not to take rejection personally. Many times people are afraid to go out and sell their products because they fear personal rejection. They worry prospects won't want to talk to them, will complain about the call or visit, will slam the phone down, or won't like the product or service. Although such concerns are natural, you shouldn't let negative responses to your sales efforts get you down. No matter what you sell, there will always be people who don't want or need your product. No matter how good it may be, only a tiny percentage of people who hear about it (through calls, contacts, ads, or any other method) are going to be willing to buy and buy today. The rest are simply not going to be interested. Some may even be rude. You have to learn to roll with the punches.
  
• Make sure you have capabilities to meet customers' needs. Don't try to sell your services as a consultant, programmer, desktop publisher, auto mechanic, dressmaker, copywriter, or anything else unless you have the experience in the field. Without experience you will find it very difficult to convince people to buy from you. Your inexperience might also result in monetary loss or personal injury to your customer. If that were to happen, you could get sued. If you want to start a business in a field you know little about, get experience or hands-on training before you look for customers. Go to work for some other business, take training courses, volunteer your services to friends or community groups, or do whatever else may be necessary to build experience on your own time and at your own expense. Once you have the training and experience and can prove (to yourself as well as to potential customers) that you can do the work you say you can, selling will be much easier.
  
• Don't sell yourself short. If you are experienced and good at what you do, don't let the competition scare you off. If your research has shown there is room in the market for both you and your competitor, market to your strengths and don't worry too much about the competitor, even if they are much bigger or more widely known than your company. Your small size may actually be a hidden advantage if it lets you offer customers more personalized service or attention to details than your competitor can.

How else can I convince customers to buy?

There are a slew of techniques salespeople use, but the most important techniques for the small business person to remember are these:

• Qualify your prospect. Make sure he or she can afford what you sell and has the authority to make the purchase decision. You don't want to spend hours demonstrating your product to the manager of the marketing department if he or she doesn't make the buying decisions, or have any influence on them, for your type of product or service.
  
• Know what objections you are likely to hear and have answers ready to meet them.
  
• Know your product and your competitors inside and out.
  
• Give the customer a small sample of a product to test.
  
• Don't knock the competitor. Sell your product's benefits instead.
  
• Learn to ask for the order. Once you've interested a prospect in your product or service, ask them for an order. If you don't, he or she may just buy from your competitor instead of you. Tricks of the trade that make it easier to get the order are to ask what color the customer wants or when he or she needs the product delivered or the work completed. For products or consumer items, asking how the customer would like to pay for the product can work, too.
  
• Think of the word no as meaning "I need more information."
  
• Don't exaggerate. Have facts to support all your claims.
  
• Encourage your prospect to ask you questions and talk about his or her specific needs. Then explain how the feature of your product or service can meet those needs.
      

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