Day 9 – The art of the sale.

Chances are that if you are starting a business or are already a seasoned veteran you will soon need to learn how to make a sale. Even if your business is online only, you will probably still have to make a sale at some point, including the sale of your website someday.

The first thing to remember when making sales is that you need to be prepared for rejection, and a lot of it! It is how you receive the rejection that will matter in the long run. Here are a few tips to cope with sales rejection:

• Don’t take it personally- Chances are, the buyer (or non-buyer) doesn’t have anything against you personally, they just weren’t interested.
• Believe in your product- If you believe in your product, rejection will be brushed off easier. You believe your product is the best, and settle for nothing less as you move on to the next potential buyer.
• Welcome rejection- If you expect rejection, it will be easier to take when it comes. It’s like hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
• Learn from rejection- Use each instance as a learning model. What could you have done better in the sale? What strong points and weak points were there? Learn and make improvements.
• Know your rejection rate- If you know how many rejections compared to sales your field typically gets, then it will be easy to believe that you are one step closer to the sale. Think of it as knocking out all the rejections to get to the sale.

When you go into a sale, know your product in and out, this way you will have complete confidence in the sale. Remember that most of the people you are selling to will have to see a need for your product, so create that need any way you can, just stick to your morals though.

Practice! Practice! Practice! Like anything else, practice makes perfect. After years of sales, it will come as second nature, just stick with it.

Read! Read! Read! There is no way I can give you all the tips or facts here for the art of selling. Head to your library or Amazon.com and start reading on sales. A great start would be the “Little Red Book of Selling.”

Remember, no matter what happens with you as a salesman, it is not the end of the world if you don’t make the sale. Keep trying, and you will get it right, good luck!