Want to make more sales? Then stop selling right now!

Yeah yeah, I know that it is your job to sell but how to do you stop selling and still make a living? Here are some easy tips to get more sales without actually 'selling'.

First of all you need to understand this - customers hate being sold to... but they love to buy. In order to stop selling, you need to change your focus.

Crucial Tip 1: Be the Expert
Instead of putting all your energies into making the sale and risk scaring off the customer, you need to be seen as the expert who is there to help them solve their problem. Being seen as the expert will help you add tremendous value to your product or service. There is nothing worse than getting the "I don't know" response from a sales person when you have asked them a question about their product.

So in order to be the expert, you must have superior knowledge of the products you are selling. Knowing everything there is to know about your products including all the features and benefits inside and out will help you build the bridge between your customer's problem and your solution. The more questions you can answer, the least amount of objections you will have to deal with in order to close the deal. Being seen as the expert will go a long way in building your customer's trust and when there is trust, a sale is much easier to make.

Crucial Tip 2: Shut Your Mouth!
When you are selling, you are talking and when you are doing all the talking, you are not listening and when you are not listening, you have no idea how to help solve your customer's problem because you have not uncovered their needs (what a mouthful). In order to really understand what their need, you have to ask them some investigative questions.

Crucial Tip 3: Be the Investigator 
Instead of launching into your well-prepared sales-pitch, take the time to ask your customer a number of investigative questions. Ask them if it is alright if you ask them a couple of questions just so that you can understand exactly what they are looking for and can therefore give them the best solution. Find out what there current situation is, what they dislike about it, what pain is it causing them, what their ideal situation would be and what are the things that are really the most important to them? Try to find out what their buying requirements are such as key features they are looking for and what this means to them as well as budget. Asking well-thought out questions will also tell you just how serious they are about buying or if their are just tyre-kicking. Now, really listen to the responses that they give you, take the time and don't rush into that sales pitch.

Crucial Tip 4: Take the Lead
Once you have asked the necessary questions and done all the listening , it is now time to lead the customer to making a commitment, solving their problem and concluding the transaction. Your job here is to now take them by the hand (metaphorically I mean, please don't take their hand... they tend to run away when you do this) and lead them to the sale. You see, while they were answering your questions and doing most of the talking and you were doing the listening,  you should have been making links in your head to the product or range of products or services that will best fit their needs. Now here is your chance to impress them with your expertise. As you introduce each product or service that is a match, you must illustrate how each of the features of your product addresses their various requirements and issues. By doing this, you get to impress them on how well you have taken notice of their needs and that they are valued.  In this way you have lead to customer to the solution. See, no mention of sales here but in essence this is exactly what you have done. Simple.

So, stop being just a sales person and improve your sales success rate by changing your focus and being the expert that helps customers solve their issues. Take the time to ask the leading questions to really uncover their pain and needs, listen to their responses and then take them by the hand and lead them to your solution.