One cannot understate the importance of confidence in sales. You can know everything about your product and possess significant experience in the field, but if potential buyers don’t perceive you as confident, you’ll never succeed. You can offer all the discounts in the world on the amazing features of your product, but if a buyer doesn’t sense your self-assurance and feel comfortable around you, they’re not going to make a purchase.
A large part of being successful in sales is developing sales confidence. Selling with confidence doesn’t mean that you feel 100% confident all the time – no one does. Instead, selling with confidence is immediately putting a customer at ease and talking to them with conviction and sincerity. This is not a skill people are always born with, but it is one you can continuously refine and improve.
There are several proven ways to build confidence in sales. If you can adapt these strategies into your career, you’ll achieve massive success.
1. Learn more about your product
When you don’t know your product or service well enough, you are likely to feel less confident in sales. How to know whether you know it well enough or not? It’s simple – Ask yourself: “Do I still need notes or a presentation to sell or promote a product or service?” You’ll know the answer.
However, it doesn’t mean that visual aids are not important to help you sell. But if you couldn’t talk about the product or service without using these aids, then there’s a problem. When you’re comfortable and familiar with the product or service, you will appear to be more confident in your own ability to talk about it.
To sum up, you should take the time to learn about your product and understand: What does it really do? How does it work? How has it helped your current clients? What do they like about it?
Being able to handle the details of the product and speak about it more qualitatively will make a huge difference.
2. Be clear of what has already been converted
Have you noticed that many companies like to include case studies when they sell? The reason is simple: People like reviews, unboxings, data and evidence that a product actually does what you say it does. However, beyond being more convincing, knowing what already worked can help to boost your confidence.
It’s always better to include real-life examples in your sales pitch instead of making an empty promise to a customer. When there is proven growth or success in your clients, you can present your sales pitch better and promote your product or service more effectively.
3. Use the "DIP" method
“DIP” stands for Discover, Identify and Position.
The DIP approach focuses on segmenting and addressing the expectations of your client. You should find the reasons why your client wants your product and how it can be the perfect solution to their problems, instead of jumping into why your product is so amazing.
- Discover: Ask any questions about your client. How many leads do you have now? What's the deal from you? What marketing campaigns are you implementing at the moment? Remember, do not interrupt them in this section or respond for them. Let them speak to you about what they're doing without filters or standards in their marketing and lead-capturing.
- Identify: Based on their answers, you should know what problems they’re having. Do they have little to no leads? Do they have a problem converting leads? Are they not running any marketing at all? Identify the problems and relay them back to your customer so they can confirm them. Often, the customer may not recognize them for themselves, but since you’re basing it on the answers they gave, they can easily accept them to be true.
- Position: Here's where you shine. Position your product or service to solve the problems you and the customer identified. Tell them you and your product can help and explain how. This is where you make your sales pitch, getting into benefits, features and pricing. However, it should always be focused on solving the problems they’ve identified.
Related: The Myth of Selling Confidently