From the blog bearonbusiness, guest blogger Teresa tells the tale of a pretty bad sales person. The lesson as she sums it up:

“Most sales people walk into a customer meeting with a “me me me us us us”
pitch. Little time is spent with probing questions like “What are your team goals for the year? How can we help you accomplish those goals? What are your biggest concerns/issues you are facing with vendors today?” It’s not a novel idea-but it’s one easily forgotten.”

There is a sales process that the top salespeople execute all the time. It consists of 5 steps (inspired by this article on StartUp Nation).

Prospecting or as I call it Disqualifying. Identify who needs your product; wants your product; and can afford to pay for your product. Must have all 3.

Needs Analysis. After you find the prospect, you engage in a conversation to understand if there is a need. Where’s the pain? No pain. No way to make the prospect a buyer.

Presenting and proposing. This is where you lay out how your product can solve the pain usually in budget.

Closing. Look for buying signs. Ask for the sale. Re-phrase and ask again.

Follow Up. the key to sales is the number of touches. It can take seven touches to persuade the prospect to buy. It could take more or less depending. But you need excellent follow up as a sign of commitment, responsibility, and expectations.

Improve upon each step of the sales process and you improve your sales.