Want to boost your selling skills, even though you’re not a salesman?

At any point in your life, even though you’re not a salesman, you’re going to have to sell something— whether it’s your idea, your company, or yourself. And how do you develop your selling skills, particularly if you don’t always pitch people? Where are you going to work on first? So, what are you going to do if you miss a sale?

What the Experts Say
Selling gets a bad reputation, says Thomas Steenburgh, professor at the Virginia Darden School of Business. “Very few parents say they want their children to grow up to be a salesperson,” he says. His MBA students aren’t that special. “Most of them tell me that sales is something they never want to do with their professions.” And yet, he adds, “Sales is the most important talent.” Scott Edinger, the founder of the Edinger Consulting Group and author of The Secret King, claims that aversion to sales derives from an “antiquated belief that marketing is forcing customers to buy things they don’t like, don’t need, or can’t manage.” “Selling is pushing someone else to practice,” he says. So that’s part and parcel of working life. “When you look at things you’ve been doing over the course of the day, from in-house meetings with coworkers to customer calls, almost all of the experiences require some sort of sale.” Here’s how to get better.

Reflect
Being familiar with selling needs “understanding what it’s like to market,” says Edinger. Move beyond the used cliché car salesman. “Delivery doesn’t involve putting undue pressure on and chatting incessantly,” all while “wearing a light blue polyester jacket,” he says. Instead, marketing “is persuading, encouraging, and directing.” The goal is to “act in partnership” with a partner or friend to “transform progress.” Steenburgh advises focusing on your excellent interactions as a buyer to get into the right way of thought. “If you talk of the best selling experiences you’ve had in your career, it’s almost like the dealer wasn’t there,” He says so. The seller was just “a guy who took a genuine interest in your dilemma and helped you solve it.”

Put yourself in your counterpart’s shoes.“People are buying for two reasons,” says Steenburgh. They either have a business problem that needs to be addressed or have a personal need, such as a desire to move up in an organization that helps speed up your idea. It’s your responsibility to work out your client’s motives: “What does it take to get your manager to sign up for a project or to get your clients excited about what you have to offer? “He tells Edinger. Conduct your homework by talking to people you’re competing to impress, and those in the field long to submit your plan. Talk about the details you intend to discover. “Be empathetic, man. Emphasis on knowing the other side — How they ought to learn and how they assess performance. “It should help you refine your advice.

Plan and practice
Crafting a sales message will not be a solo endeavor. Edinger advises that you have “a trustworthy mentor or boss” in “role-play” so that you can “see what happens and what doesn’t.” The goal is to “understand how the rhythm of these interactions looks and sounds.” The friend will show you how to get through and how to enhance your execution. Steenburgh advises training in front of the novices. “Talk to someone who isn’t a field specialist, like your grandmother,” he says. “Her questions are going to help you frame the problem.” Chances are, your first attempt at a pitch will miss the mark. “People waste so much time in their minds, worrying about their proposal that they can’t respond to how the invention can change anyone else’s life,” he says.

Stay calm, and don’t brag.However, with good planning, the pitches will go awry. The dopamine is on the rise, and you can end up talking too fast or struggling to get to the point quickly. There’s no simple solution, Edinger states. His advice: “Chill out.” Try to “relax your facial muscles” and keep your body’s language relaxed and free. Test the sound and pace. “Nobody needs to be a professor. Be respectful, “but not too deferential, he adds. “Establish an interaction between peers. Another typical thing, says Steenbergh, is “making your pride get in the way.” Often, you get wrapped up in “lying about your abilities, not what your counterpart wants” He says so. “At best, the individual is getting bored. And most of all, it sends a warning that you [do not] have a career.

Close the deal
Getting good at marketing means that all of you “appreciate the ‘customer’ and appreciate the process they need to go on to buy,” says Steenburgh. It’s unlikely for someone to bite right after hearing the pitch— no matter how good it is. Your counterpart can need to determine the financial effect of such a transaction, “review rivals or consult with a higher-level counterpart before signing off. Irrespective of what the next steps might be, you can “seek permission to go on.” He suggests asking something like, “Are you ready to take the next step? Anything else I can do to help you with the decision? “Be” flexible “and able to innovate,” Edinger notes. Think about how you can “work together in collaboration to improve a product, service, or idea.” Suppose the answer is no, or not yet, take advantage of the opportunity to test gently. “Is this latest idea too threatening? Too tough, huh? Perhaps that’s too expensive?”

Think long term
Veteran salesmen know it’s likely that “you’re going to fail more than you’re going to excel,” says Steenburgh. “You just have to have the confidence to keep going on.” To gather your strength, tell yourself, “It’s not just about you.” Your partner needs to take other desires into account. Note, too, that sales are never a “one-and-done deal.” When the offer is insufficient, “go back to the target in three months and say, ‘How’s it going? Are your needs being met? ‘If they are, fine, but if not,’ you might have another chance. “Talk about a big picture.”

Principles to be considered

Do:

• Your research. Find out what’s important to your colleague and what market issues they’re working to overcome.
• Role-play the pitch with a trustworthy friend and ask for input on how to improve the pitch.
• Ask for permission to go ahead after your original pitch by asking something like, “Are you ready to take the next step?

Don’t:

• Get worked up. Relax your facial gestures and lose your body language.

• Talk too much— and don’t brag, in particular. Focus on how to help your counterpart.

• Rough up if you’re bad. Think of a big picture. Stay in touch and look for a chance to try again.

Case Study #1: Gain an awareness of the needs of your client and demonstrate empathic care.
Damian Vaughn, Head of Services at BetterUp, a San Francisco-based organization that introduces workers to executive coaching, claims that being successful at selling ensures that you appreciate the “financial and personal dimension” of any buying decision.

“You need to be able to connect the dots between [your customer’s] business needs and their personal needs,” says Damian, a former NFL player turned entrepreneur. “And you need to show empathic concern.”

Damian served as a strategic consultant early in his career. He decided to market his company’s management appraisal and leadership growth capabilities to “George,” the CEO who had taken the helm of a technology corporation poised to make a great deal of progress.

Before he developed his pitch, Damian did his research. “I needed to get a sense of the broader macroeconomic environment George was operating in,” he says.

He talked to George’s peers to gain a better understanding of the CEO’s personal motives. The discussions were enlightening. “George was a seasoned CEO but not a veteran, so this was his first transition,” he added. “He tried to achieve company outcomes, but he had to be positive. He tried to prove that he was in this ring.

George was willing to make contact with his staff. “The human aspect was crucial to him,” Damian says.

He used this detail to adapt his message to George. It was subtle: “The message was that the progress we were trying to achieve should be specifically connected to him,” he says.

Damian also showed how his consultancy services would encourage George to interact and work with his employees. I told him how they should all feel linked.

At the beginning of the pitch, Damian offered a short description of the services of his organization. He hesitated, then. It was George’s turn to speak to me. “I’ve been listening to George’s dreams and thoughts,” he says.

Once George had concluded, Damian had raised his case. “Our approach was what I’m sure I heard like a personalized company,” he says. “This was exactly what the company needed and what it wanted.”

George signed the document, and the successful engagement lasted about 18 months.

Case Study #2: Learn from errors and be able to partner with your clients to find a solution.
David Neenan, President of the TransUnion International Consumer Credit Reporting Agency, also holds C-suite management sessions. “I’m not a salesperson, so I try to show the best of what we do and why it’s important,” he says.

Later on, he was making errors. “Sometimes I came in with so many suggestions about where we could be useful, so the audience became confused,” he says. “I’ve learned that sales are disciplined and that I need to pick and choose what to talk about once I understand the customer’s problem.”

Some times, “I left regretting that we didn’t make the ‘ask’ or that we didn’t do it vigorously enough,” he says. So he understands that the team wants someone at the meeting who’s “not afraid to challenge the client to agree to the next move.”

He claims he soaked up a lot from TransUnion’s top salesmen and conversations with customers: “A friend once told me, ‘A good salesman takes you where you want to go. A great salesman gets you where you need to go,’ and that’s real,” he says.

A couple of years ago, David was in a sales conference with a central bank that decided to shorten investors’ clearance period to less than 10 seconds.

“We knew that this wasn’t going to be a fast remedy because we didn’t have an off-the-shelf solution,” he says. “We needed a few steps forward and brainstorm with the client to see if we could construct a model or structure to address the problem.”

David loves that kind of partnership. “I work in 30 countries, and I want to exchange insights from other markets by bringing what we think works in Market A and adapting it to Market B,” he says. “It is why you continue using the term ‘us’ as ‘we fix the problem together.'”

David and his staff have mobilized internal capital to create a solution for the bank, and they have partnered with TransUnion.