Sales Archives - Darryn Van Hout

How To Take Better Notes As A Sales Rep

Darryn Van Hout — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 20:21:12 +0000

Want to become a better sales representative and drive better results? Take better sales notes!

Taking sales notes is not only an effective selling skill that makes one stand out, but it is also a valuable resource that will help you and your sales team to consolidate the entire selling process and corroborate the final purchase decision.

Usually, sales people engage in a myriad of conversations with their customers and prospects; hence too many details can easily be confused or escape. And yes, taking notes is one way to impress your customers and show them that you’re attentive and focused on them.

Unfortunately, majority of sales people frown at the thought of taking notes. As a matter of fact, most sales reps don’t like it.

And it’s not hard to understand why…

Of course, taking notes sounds so old school, bringing to mind those afternoons when you were forced to scribble down everything your history teacher dictated about how the ancestors of the indigenous Australians migrated from Africa because it would be in the next test.

Thankfully, gone are the days when you had to take notes in preparation for a history test. However, as a good marketer, taking notes is a must.

Yep, I know you’re thinking about those days when you have to bump into folks who believe note-taking is a waste of time. Forget about them for a moment and keep in mind that the value of taking good sales notes is more than just remembering the information.

Great sales notes are a sure way to improve productivity, boost collaboration and increase your sales revenue as it gives you greater chances of closing that deal.

Below are some tips on how to take effective sales notes in addition to actionable ways you can integrate in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to make note-taking worthwhile.

But first, let’s understand the importance of sales notes.

Why sales notes are important in 2022:

Enables you to retain information

Basically, selling is more about providing a solution by matching your product or service with client’s need. Certainly, it’s not humanly possible to remember every detail of a 60-minute conversation via phone unless you have a superb memory. What’s worse, you are likely to remember less in your next follow-up meeting, and this makes it extremely difficult to customise your product/service pitch to suit the unique needs of the customer.
Makes your customer/prospect feel special

Taking notes is impressive and assures the customer that you are keenly listening to what they are saying.

Have you ever placed your order at a restaurant where the waiter didn’t jot anything down? The thought that pops on your mind would be, “Gosh, I hope they’ll bring the exact thing I ordered”. Taking notes is a way to confirm to the customer or prospect that you are diligent and taking the time to accurately capture the details they are providing.
Enhances the sales process

Accurate and well detailed notes aren’t just for the salesperson; they are also an essential resource for the sales team as well.

When a sales team gets into the habit of comparing notes, collaboration is improved immensely as team players help each other to successfully close deals. This also enables the sales manager to stay abreast and remain on top of deals and comes in when necessary.

In addition, sales notes can be used as a quality control measure as they help sales managers to have greater insight of the entire sales process as well as sales pipeline, and this helps them to determine the right mechanism to use and when to guarantee better results.
Births fresh ideas and queries

Sometimes it can be challenging to talk and evaluate at ago. Taking time to review your sales notes after a call or meeting often opens your eyes to fresh points or connections you might have missed while engaging and speaking with your prospect.
Enables you to create an excellent pitch deck

An impressive pitch deck cannot be build without comprehensive sales notes gathered during a needs analysis exercise. The more detailed your notes are, the better the sales deck you’ll build to speak powerfully in a way that addresses the needs and concerns of your prospective customers.

7 Steps to help you take better sales notes

Excellent sales notes can be a means to developing effective selling cycles, establishing rewarding relationships with prospects, keeping your team abreast and most importantly assisting you close that deal.

(Hint: Bring your CRM along with you).

Develop a game plan

Don’t schedule a call or meeting with a blank sheet of paper. Before interacting with a client, be sure to have clear goals, game plan and questions. This should be engineered as part of your selling cycle.

Carefully review each stage of your selling cycle. Keep in mind that the processes of prospecting, needs analysis, pitching and retaining customers involve distinct strategies and hence different approaches are required.

So, what specific information is required when it comes to client discovery or developing a selling cycle?

The type and number of queries will depend on how efficient and effective your sales team is; but basically it should include:

Contact details (include name and titles)
Goals
Pain points
Main agenda (discussion topics)
Willingness to purchase
Outcome of the meeting

You can make the process simpler and save time by creating this directly into your CRM:

a) Add notes to each contact as you progress, but better still you can customise your CRM with each field and question.

b) Integrating custom fields in your CRM to draw vital details of your leads guarantees consistency that enables your sales reps to ask similar questions while providing a coherent framework to guide your sales team.

2. Personalise your sales notes

When it comes to sales, your focus shouldn’t just be selling. The process also involves building solid relationships hence every conversation should sound and feel as though it is with someone you truly value.

Once you’re through with your conversation via call, quickly jot down the most important sales information as well as any personal details.

Did the prospect mention a hobby, favourite restaurant or an upcoming anniversary? Those little things matter and can make a really huge difference.

Here’s how it looks for me:

I visit my doctor for a general check-up twice a year. My doctors some what of a champion in my eyes. He always remembers my family and my work. It may not sound such an important detail, but I appreciate the fact that he takes time to make me feel special and looked after.

3. Don’t capture everything word for word

It’s worthwhile to know that sales notes are not direct transcriptions; hence you don’t have to write everything word for word as this may make you too busy to engage and give maximum attention to what the customer or prospect is saying.

It’s better if you can think and focus on more insightful, important and actionable information. This will help you think of the ultimate goal. While at the information-gathering phase carrying out your needs analysis, consider only the information you need to keep handy during pitching.

What important details are you expecting to gather during the conversation? Breaking down your thought process to the essentials can help you stay focused during a call.

Pro-TIP

It would be more prudent of you if you recorded a call on Zoom or Google Meet as this would help you pay more attention to the conversation and take your notes later. Nevertheless, don’t skip this crucial step since taking good notes is still an important skill.

Sometimes sales persons adopt acronyms that make note-taking easier. For example, the acronym “BANT” is common in sales frameworks as it refers to budget, authority, need and timeline.

No doubt, acronyms and shorthand forms of writing are a great timesaver and you can always use them whenever you want.

4. Keep your sales notes consistent

Both CRM and sales notes are important resources for personal use as well as use by your sales team and the company at large.

Therefore as you take notes, don’t just write them for yourself, have others in mind and write in such a way that they will find it easier to read and use them to build up a database that can help the team identify common themes and problems over time.

PRO-TIP:

Ensure your notes are clear and concise, and save time and energy. Integrate CRM fields, sales acronyms and call frameworks that are standardised to enable everyone else to read and understand them with ease.

5. Note every actionable detail

Always note down any idea or issue that requires immediate action, follow-up or has a timeline. This should include tasks, customer follow-ups and internal to-dos.

You should also add actionable items to your Calendar and set reminders for tasks that need follow-up.

6. Conclude your sales notes

More often than not, this is a gap in the sales process. Have you ever tried to read through your notes only to realise you can’t read your own handwriting? Or a keyword you thought you jotted down but can’t be traced? Well, this can be avoided when you spare some minutes after a sales conversation to complete your sales notes. Finish your thoughts, fill any blanks and ensure your notes can be understood and used by the next team member in the next phase of your sales funnel or customer journey.

7. Quickly update of your CRM

Sometimes you may not take your sales notes directly in CRM. As such, ensure you update your CRM as quickly as possible. When your notes have important updates for your team or entire company, be sure to tag them using the @ within the CRM so they get to know the state of the deal or opportunity.

This is particularly where the deal is whopping and the sales process will take longer—weeks or even months, involving multiple calls and demos, and you’ll need all the information handy and synchronized in one place.

Sales notes give you all the relevant information whenever you need it

Regardless of the sales phase you are in, having your sales notes well updated in the CRM enables you to find any information needed to push a deal to the next phase and eventually close it.

While note-taking can sometimes be cumbersome, it’s a sure helpful means to build relationships and improve your chances of closing that deal.

Take time to learn the art of note taking and once you master it, you’ll find it easier to remember the small things about your customers as you impress them with your level of attention to detail. We find it a sturdy foundation for lasting relationships.

The post How To Take Better Notes As A Sales Rep appeared first on Darryn Van Hout.

Overcoming The Top Five Sales Objections In 2020

Darryn Van Hout — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 11:13:57 +0000

In the ideal world, your potential customers are willing, ready and able, thanks to the effective lead qualification process. Sadly, none of us live in the ideal world, so obviously we should expect objections.

While these are unavoidable, you can always learn how to overcome them more smartly, and creatively turn a ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ to a straight ‘yes’. Here’s how to achieve this.

“No means not now.”
If you’re in sales, this is one of the top rules.

How To Overcome Objections

We’ll take a minute to cover specific objections though there is a more defined process for overcoming objections. Put it into practice in order to learn more about overcoming objections—regardless of what it takes.

Generally, this process involves four basic steps:

1. Listen and Identify

Even when your prospects spell out their objections, be sure to listen. Rather than jumping in to give an answer or justify your product or service—or worse still interrupting your prospect before they finish sharing all their concerns, give your prospect enough time to speak. This helps them feel like you’re genuinely concerned and interested in helping; this boosts your chances of closing the deal once you address the objection.

2. Understand and Empathise

People can be complicated sometimes. We don’t always say what we mean and even if we tried to, our words are often misinterpreted.

It’s therefore crucial to digest and be able to rephrase your prospect’s concerns and demonstrate that you truly understand their objection (or that you really don’t understand, hence giving them a chance to correct you).

For instance, you may say “Just to be sure that we are on the same page here, your concern is that our onboarding costs are very high, so it’ll likely take longer and cost too much—for you to get value of our product. Is that right?”

There could be other underlying objections your prospect hasn’t shared, or may just have alluded to. This might require you to ask open-ended questions just to unearth all the objections before you respond more effectively.

3. Isolate

It’s one thing to get an objection however as a professional sales consultant, you’re responsible for controlling the conversation. Isolating an objection is often skipped on the basis of hope that you can overcome this objection quickly to close the deal.

You should always isolate the objection directly after or as part of your empathetic response.

“I can certainly understand what you are saying. Now so that it’s clear in my mind, is this the only thing that’s stopping you today?”

This simple phrase will lock the objection in, and in most instances prevent the buyer from responding with another objection. Throwing in ‘today’ subtlety puts emphasis on closing the deal now.

4. Respond

Whether or not your prospects’ concerns sound serious to you, be sure to acknowledge that their concerns are valid. If they seem to think that you’re not taking their objections with the weight they deserve or just trying to lure them into an agreement, your chances of closing the deal are very slim.

If you feel you have the authority to handle the objection at hand, don’t shy away from doing it. Otherwise, just explain that you may need to push it up the flagpole and schedule an appropriate time to revert to them.

5. Confirm and Overcome

Recap the objection and confirm with the prospect that if you would overcome the objection they would be willing to go ahead with the deal.

This next part is very crucial as there’s no need of taking your time to overcome an objection if it won’t get you closer to securing business. Keep in mind that some prospects will simply never buy no matter what you to—in which case it should never be considered as an objection but rather a brush off. If they have insufficient budget, aren’t a fully qualified prospect, have no authority to make the decision and have no signs of escalating your pitch to anyone higher in the chain of command, then you are probably wasting your time.

In summing up, these four steps could be narrowed down to the following:

Prospect: “I honestly can’t take this any further because I fear caterpillars, and there’s one right there on your logo.”

Listen and Identify and I – Employ active listening skills.
Understand and Empathise – “So you mean you have a caterpillar phobia, and even mere pictures of caterpillars make you uncomfortable?”
Isolate – “Is this the only thing that’s stopping you from signing today?”
Respond – “I totally understand. Phobias can really have a serious effect on everyday life. I bet we could probably remove the logo from your instance of the tool. Would that help?”
Confirm and Overcome – “Great, so if we can go ahead with this, I’ll speak with the tech team to see about removing that logo.”

Overcoming Specific Objections

After reviewing the basic process, here are the 5 most common sales objections you’re likely to face, and how you should handle them.

1. “Now isn’t a Good Time.”

Timing objection is so common for a couple of reasons. As a matter of fact, there are two underlying objections here: 1) Personally I have no time to handle this and 2) This is just not the right time to buy it.

Either way, you need to do further investigation to know how to handle this objection.

How to Handle It

If your prospect feels it’s not a good time to purchase, consider the following before going any further:

Ensure the prospect is qualified (avoid wasting your precious time)
Don’t oversell just because you feel desperate

Check this article for more inspiration on how to respond to this objection. Try a few until you find those that best suit your style. The main goal is to cause the lead to come to own conclusion that now is the best time to proceed.

If the prospect seems too busy, consider #5 below.

2. “Too Expensive.”

This objection can be ambiguous and while your prospects could be truly lacking cash, it could also be a brush off or they may not really think your product or service is of much value equivalent to the cost.

How to Handle It

Again, you have to work smart to get the real reasons for the objection. Pause for a few seconds after the prospect objects the price, as this will prompt them to voluntarily provide more information. Give them time to talk after which you can ask a few questions to really get to the root of their objection.

Find out why the prospect thinks your product or service is expensive (probably in comparison with alternatives). In most cases you’ll realise their reason is a mere vague feeling and nothing concrete. Here, employing a few hard facts can help put their minds at ease.

If you think the prospect just requires a little reassurance, explain the pricing in relation to the ROI and how much it would cost the prospect if they failed to act. It’s more about demonstrating its value and less about proving that the product is worth its price.

3. “Competitor is Cheaper.”

This sales objection is commonplace and once in a while you won’t miss to meet a target who will try to shut you down by mentioning your competitors. Take this as a blessing in disguise since a true comparison with a worthy competitor will give you a chance to highlight overlooked opportunities and ride on them to bring out new ideas. It’s possible that the target is well informed and knows exactly what they need (since they have been researching more about your competitors or talking to them), relax, this will sure save you time.

How to Handle It

Ask questions to find out how well they know the competitor or the offer received from them. While they may not be willing to switch to your product or service immediately, be sure to use it as a learning experience and if they happen to highlight problems that your product or service can solve, you’re in luck as you may just end up making the sale.

4. “It Doesn’t Have This Extra Feature.”

In this time and era, consumers are used to and expect personalised products. Sometimes that can happen and other times can’t. If it’s impossible, you can choose to go and make your prospect feel like your solution is actually personalised by giving them more time during your interactions and listening keenly.

How to Handle It

Sure thing, customise where you can and to the extent you’re able to. But also understand that if your prospect asks for something you can’t provide they may just not be a good fit after all.

5. “I Don’t Have Time to Talk to You Right Now.”

Despite sounding like a mere brush-off, this objection can sometimes be true as rarely do people have anything extra nowadays. If your target seems too busy, there’s simply no guaranteed solution, give yourself a pat in the back that at least your alternatives are quite straightforward.

How to Handle It

First, try to find out if truly it’s a lack of time or something else. By following the above general objection process, your interaction may sound like this:

“I’m sorry I really don’t have time to talk to you today.”

Listen – Pay careful attention.
Understand – “I perfectly understand. I’m swamped too, and this is definitely a crazy time of the year.”
Respond – “I honestly don’t want to waste your time. I can tell you about the product in exactly three minutes. If you’re really interested, I’ll send you more information, and if not, we’ll leave it at that.”
Confirm – “Awesome, so not more than three minutes of your precious time. How does that sound?”
- If your prospect says yes – “Excellent, can I go ahead now?”
- If they say no – “I’m looking at my calendar; how about today afternoon at 3 o’clock?”

If the answer is still a no, you may have to explore more deeply to understand what’s really going on. If you’re struggling to find your way around the objection, assume the target might truly be in need but that need isn’t huge. If this is the case, you may have to reassess the target’s journey to this point as you could have missed something that makes them feel the problem is less important.

Punching It All Together

There you have it—5 most common objections and opportunities to turn them into real sales. Ideally, if you practice and perfect the general objection technique, you’ll remain with a virtual skeleton key that will help you deal with any form of objection that may crop up along the way.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that objections are a natural part of any sales process and not necessarily a reflection of your skills as a salesperson. As a matter of fact, an objection serves as the training ground to perfect your technique. If you never face any, you may be missing out on priceless chances to become an excellent salesperson.

If you wish to horn your objection-overcoming abilities even further, this is how to take it to the next level:

Perfect your sales process from start to finish. Remember that objections don’t pop up in a vacuum, and if you break the other parts of the sales conversation, then the whole process will collapse (objection or not).
Practice makes perfect. Practice on the job, in front of the mirror as well as in your personal life. Your sales numbers will impress you.
Self-awareness is important. Any person can learn the sales and objection scripts, but employing them with flair requires a lot of empathy, patience and understanding. Be sure not to patronise your leads or recite responses like a robot.
Know when to call it quits. Of course, the data compels us to contact a lead multiple times in order to gain greater chances of getting through, but it reaches a point when more follow-up is unwise. So pay careful attention to the signals your prospect is or isn’t sending.

The post Overcoming The Top Five Sales Objections In 2020 appeared first on Darryn Van Hout.

Psychology Says You Can Actually Sell Anything, So Long as You Use These 5 Hidden Switches

Darryn Van Hout — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 06:05:50 +0000

It’s always the number one thing on every sales rep’s mind—to pitch better, sell faster and win more customers. I can tell you for free that it is possible and can be found in the power of persuasion.

Mastering and practising the art of persuasion is a must for anyone looking to set up a successful business. If that’s you, below are a few timeless switches to help you tap into the possibilities of human psyche and eventually turn potential customers into real buyers.

But first, did you know that the most seasoned and notable marketers worldwide don’t consider marketing as an “art form” but as an exact science? I thought you should know.

This is simply because marketing, just like any other science, has been researched so extensively, tested since time immemorial and proven to the point of predicting exactly what will work or what won’t.

I’ve been deeply interested in understanding the art of persuasion and marketing, and this has compelled me to study and learn from the very best—Seth Godin, Robert Cialdini, Gary Vaynerchuk among others.

After tapping into the experience of these marketing gurus, putting into practice and trying out a few marketing methods for about a decade, I can confidently confirm that there’s no brand in the world that can’t sell if you and I can just hit the five switches hidden in the human psyche.

1. Solution Switch:

Prove that your product provides a solution to their problems

People don’t just buy products; they buy solutions to their problems. If you can convince your potential buyers that your product offers a solution to whatever problems they might be facing, you will capture their interest and ignite the most important switch needed to make a successful sale.

For instance, if you are making a sales video to promote online businesses, as an innovative online entrepreneur, first ask yourself what would lure you into purchasing a sales video from another seller for your internet business. Is it the humour or creativity in the sales video or the additional effort and attention involved in making it? It’s definitely none of the above given that true excitement has nothing to do with features of a video but more about the leads and prospective customers generated by the sales video. So the next time you have a product, don’t market it, instead sell the source of your potential buyer’s excitement.

2. Trust Switch:

Become the authority figure

Trust is a fundamental element of making a successful sale and regardless of whether consciously or sub-consciously, every customer wants to confidently purchase from a legit source. One of the effective ways to gain a customer’s trust is to convince them that you’re actually an authority figure—a trusted expert in your field.

To demonstrate how crucial the trust switch is, try and recall the last time you went to see your doctor and why most people trust their doctors. It’s because doctors are considered as authority figures when it comes to matters health and medicine. That’s why when doctors tell us to do this and that to fix our health issue; we obey because we trust them even though we have no idea about the medical reasoning behind the solution they recommend. This very reality underscores the reason why trust is a great persuader. When you consider someone as an authority figure, you will buy anything he or she sells to you.

3. Likeability Switch:

Befriend your target customers

People resonate well with those who share their beliefs and values, and find it difficult relating with those who don’t. In the same way, customers will prefer buying from marketers they like. This is the main reason why some sagas like overbooking by United Airlines and BP oil spill became a PR nightmare for the respective companies and resulted in significant declines in business. It’s no wonder that companies will go out of their way to publicise their philanthropy acts.

This switch works best on a higher level particularly of a company’s image, but is even more powerful when applied at the customer level.

Customers always want to feel that you are truly dedicated to their well-being and that you’re listening and understand their needs and wants. This means you should know your customers’ needs and tailor your product or service in a way that solves their distinct problems.

When you befriend your customers and build robust relationships with them, you curve for yourself a niche that is above your competition since customers will not view you as a selfish corporate brand, but rather as a friend.

4. Evidence Switch:

Give proof, not promises

In most cases people are sceptical as to whether or not the product or service will provide the ultimate solution they hope to get from the purchase. This uncertainty leaves them teetering on the edge, given that sometimes it can be challenging to determine the quality and usefulness of the product or service you’re selling before buying and using it. In essence, customers are wondering, will signing and paying up for this marketing course truly turn me into a smarter salesman and multiply my earnings? Will purchasing this brand new outfit make heads turn? Will paying a little more to get a professional resume writing service really increase the number of interview invitations I will get?

This is where you need to come in. Give your prospects some sensible reasoning, customer testimonials and quantitative data that validate the truth and solutions they are looking for.

Feed them with hard evidence that supports the fact that they should expect to reap all the benefits they expect when they choose to purchase your product or service, and be sure to win them over as enthusiastic consumers.

5. Emotional Switch:

People buy on emotion, then they justify with logic

This may seem like nonsense however the statement makes perfect sense to me. I learned this basic sales fact at the start of my career yet can confidently say that I relied on my teachers experience when practising in my first sales role.

Hey, I didn’t have a psychology degree but it worked!

Through an extensive career in sales and business I have experienced first hand the pro’s and con’s of not only applying this to sales. What’s more important is understanding the psychology behind it.

The choice to buy a product or service is a subconscious choice, and it’s these subconscious decisions that are developed deeply through an empirical mental processing system followed by it’s own logic or justification.

In short, turn your product or service into a customer-centric story, allowing your prospective buyer to feel a part of your idea. Do this by identifying your customers needs and emotional triggers.

How you say? well this depends on your marketing strategy. For example, in direct sales you can develop a series of questions that escalates the triggering of the emotional switch so that you can efficiently close.

In conclusion, it is the understanding of human psychology that will aid your efforts to increase sales within your role or your business. If you are making sales without applying this then imagine what you can do to your bottom line when you adopt these 5 hidden switches.

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5 fears every salesman must overcome to be successful in sales

Darryn Van Hout — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 02:40:32 +0000

FDR, a renowned leader once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” At the time, he was referring to war and political issues. Regardless of that, the same old saying does so perfectly, apply to sales.

When it comes to sales, facing your fears isn’t any easy walk in the park. And I get it. But did you know that nearly all the things you are afraid of will never happen? Fear is simply emotions emanating from peptides present in the brain.

Of course as marketers or salesmen, we all feel BS fear at some point but before you flat out and avoid facing it completely; this post is timely and will teach you how to get over this 4 letter word. So keep reading!

Fear is just another 4 letter word that starts with F……

If you’re going to generate any money in sales and become successful, facing your fears is paramount. It boggles me seeing how sales people struggle with fear. And it’s not that you’ll not close the sale, or the prospect will kill you—neh! Yet countless salespersons continue to wallow in fear.

To be a solid salesman, you must man up and overcome the 5 fears below. Facing your fears head on is the secret to leaping from a wonderful salesperson to a renowned one. Let’s dig deeper into a few anxiety-filled situations to find out how we can face and fix fear.

1. Fear of Not Making Money

This fear is expected especially if you have no ambition to work hard. When it comes to sales, this is how it works: the more hands you shake, the more the sales and the more money you make. Your main assignment is to get out there and shake the hands of as many people as possible. Connect with more people, talk to them and you’ll make good money. It’s that simple.

Truly, many salespersons have become penniless to the extent of having to beg for a job somewhere. It sure happens. But if you can work hard, understand your product and keep being consistent, then you won’t have to worry about making money.

2. Fear of Rejection

If you can’t overcome this fear, you might have to throw in the towel just now. I know without a doubt that the fear of rejection is a real deal for most salespeople. To earn money in sales, you’ve got to get over this fear and get over it real quick.

An effective way of getting past the fear of rejection is to step out with confidence, pitch your products and get used to it. The more people reject you (and trust me, it will happen), the more you’ll get used to it. You cannot overcome this fear if you aren’t trying. So go ahead and face all the rejection and get them out of your way and learn to be confident in sales regardless of whether you close or fail to. After all, rejection isn’t entirely about you, it’ about them—now say that again back at yourself!

3. Fear of Annoying People

As a salesperson, you’re definitely going to piss potential customers off. You can’t make everybody happy. Most people, especially the low end buyers, are hard to please. It’s your job to initiate uncomfortable conversations with potential clients. If they get pissed off, it’s their problem, not yours.

Always be aggressive and push for the sale especially if you’re dealing with the right prospect. Potential clients often have some kind of BS objection with which they hit you with and the moment you move past it, friction is created. Don’t be afraid of the friction. Just keep your cool and keep closing. Eventually, they will buy from you and will even be excited that you pushed them through to the close. I’ve done these thousands of times.

4. Fear of Looking Stupid

We all do stupid things sometimes. That’s just how humans are wired. From trying to sell the wrong product to uttering the wrong things and at the wrong time, and so looking stupid will at some point happen to you. Thing is, just accept this fact and keep selling anyway.

The most effective, tried and tasted method to help you avoid looking stupid is to stay informed about every single aspect about your product. When you educate yourself more, the more you’ll know, and the less you’ll come off as someone ignorant and dumb. So go on and study, practice and just get over it.

5. Fear of Commission-based sales work

Yeah, making the transition from a salary to a commission-only sales job can be scary particularly at first. Hunting and killing down only that which you’ll eat isn’t for the faint hearted. I know the idea having a sales job that is 100 per cent dependent on closing deals to get paid truly freaks many marketers out there.

But here’s the thing; don’t be scared of working on commission. In fact, what you SHOULD be afraid of is working 40 hours a week for a sales job that pays you significantly less than you earn in sales. Salaried workers are everywhere. Commission closers are strong-minded people who are aggressive and choose to win no matter what. Instead of being afraid of commission, fear salary.

In conclusion

The most effective way to avoid fear is through education and action. The more you learn, the less fear you’ll have, since you will know better. If you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed with sales fears, do not hesitate to follow me and my work on Google+, Facebook and Twitter and put your fears to rest.

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