How To Increase Your Selling Ability

Jan 25, 2022

In this article, we’ll explore eight tips that’ll exactly show you how to increase your selling ability; which are used by the top five percent of sales performers all around the world.

Many people think that what they’re able to achieve is from pure luck.

We’ll explore how this isn’t the case, and what you can do to improve your sales process, as well as your overall selling ability.

How To Increase Your Selling Ability

Increase Your Selling Ability Tip #1 – Meet With Decision Makers

The first on our list of sales mastery tips for how to increase your selling ability, is that top sales performers only meet with decision makers, or their ideal prospective clients.

Many sales professionals meet with potential clients; only to learn later that they don’t have the budget, authority to make a decision, a need for your product or service, or the right time-frame for your offer or solution.

IBM came up with an acronym called BANT; which is widely used by their team to qualify people early.

By meeting with the right people up front, you’ll save not only a lot of wasted time, but you’ll also shorten your sales cycle.

Related article: Qualifying Sales Leads – A Step By Step Guide

Increase Your Selling Ability Tip #2 – Use A Pre-Frame

Another important tip for how to increase your selling ability, is to use something we call a pre-frame.

All top sales performers use a pre-frame in their sales conversations before they ask their deep diving sales questions.

Not only does pre-framing position you as a trusted advisor; it also eliminates potential sales objections and gives you permission to dive deep and look for pain.

By eliminating sales objections at the start of your sales conversation, you’ll prevent them from coming up at the end of your conversation after you present your offer.

To learn how to use a pre-frame, as well as position yourself as a trusted advisor instead of just another commodity, read the related article linked directly below.

Related article: How To Position Yourself As A Trusted Advisor

Tip #3 – Keep It About Them

The next tip we’d like to share for how to increase your selling ability, is that you should do everything you can to keep the conversation about them.

The conversation should be focused on:

Their situation
Pain points
What their ideal outcomes look like?
How much have they put aside to solve the problem?
How much they’ve put aside to get a desired result?
What obstacles are in the way to solve their problem and buy

By focusing on these areas, you’ll keep the conversation focused on them wanting and needing a change, rather than about you or your product.

As per our article in Entrepreneur; many sales professionals make the mistake of presenting too early.

We call this ‘premature presentation’; and it kills your sales.

By presenting too early, you make the conversation centred around you, when it should be solely focused on them.

Ask the right questions, and systematically dive deeper to help them sell themselves.

Further reading: Sales Probing Questions – 20 x To Use Daily

#4 – Use Closing Questions

The next important tip for how to increase your overall selling ability, is to use closing questions throughout your sales conversations, rather than just at the end.

Closing questions aren’t scripts; as they can be changed depending on the potential client you’re speaking with.

They should be used as a guideline and can help you feel more comfortable when asking for the sale.

These five closing questions are added to your sales closing tips list, because they’ve served me well in my years in sales and should definitely help you too.

They are:

1 – “Would you like my help with this/ insert fixing problem?”

2 – “If we could find a way to deal with your *insert area of concern*, would you be happy to proceed?”

3 – “Based on your feedback and our solutions to your issues, it looks like our *insert your product or solution* is the right fit for *insert their company*. Would you agree/ what do you think?”

4 – “Would you agree that it’s worth giving us a try, to solve your *insert their problems and pain points*?”

5 – “What happens next?”

To learn more about implementing and unpacking each of these closing questions, visit the related article below.

Related article: 5 x Closing Questions To Win More Sales

Increase Your Selling Ability Tip #5 – Use A Sales Process

If you truly want to master and know how to increase your overall selling ability, you need to follow a consistent roadmap known as a sales process.

If you look closely at the top performers, you’ll find that a massive difference between an average Sales Professional and someone who’s achieved sales mastery, is that they use a consistent sales process to guide them with their sales conversations.

They don’t wing it, and they don’t leave things to chance.

Following a sales process, or sales formula as some call it, is the step-by-step system of taking a potential client on a journey from start to finish. It usually starts with getting to know the clients, following a number of steps, and finalising by asking for the sale.

A good sales process should do the following:

Is systematised in a way, that gives you some kind of clear outcome
Something you can follow consistently; a road map you can keep using
Creates certainty for both you and your potential client
Allows you to control the process

By following a sales process, it allows you to feel confident and secure before walking into any potential client interview. It gives you consistency, because you don’t have to wonder what to ask, or waste time, money or resources.

Our flagship program, The 5% Sales Blueprint – is an affordable and effective online sales training program that’ll help you take away the guesswork.

To learn more about the program, click on the linked page directly below.

Close More Sales – The 5% Sales Blueprint

Increase Your Selling Ability Tip #6 – Find Pain

As previously explored; something crucial you’ll need to learn if you wish to know how to increase your overall selling ability, is that top performers are experts at finding pain.

Finding your potential clients pain points is a crucial part of the sales process and your sales conversations, because if you can’t find what their pain points are; it’ll be hard to close the sale.

Many Sales Professionals and Business Owners go about their sales conversations the wrong way.

They generally present or pitch their idea, answer a few questions, and hope they said something to their potential client that’ll make them buy.

This old school methodology doesn’t work anymore, and a more consultative approach will gain you far better results.

The main reason this approach doesn’t work anymore either – is because you’re not speaking directly to the reason as to why they’re buying – being a current presence of pain.

Pain points; in a sales context, are the things that cause discomfort to your potential clients in their business, day to day activities, and their everyday lives.

Everyone has different pain points, and they come in different levels of pain.

Pain points are generally based on different levels of pain; and the measurement for the level of pain will be based on your potential client’s perceptions, and what they categorise their pain points as.

There are three levels of pain; in which you need to discover during your sales conversations. These are:

Technical issues
An impact on their business
Personal impact

Although all three are important, generally people buy to eliminate personal impact.

Read the article here in regard to finding pain, to learn how to do add it to your sales conversation and increase your overall selling ability.

#7 – Use Concept Selling Where Necessary

Another important tip for how to increase your selling ability, is to use something called concept selling.

Concept selling is a powerful sales tool, because it shifts the focus from speaking plainly about features and benefits, to instead something a lot more meaningful.

That is – what will it mean if they buy.

As mentioned, most Sales Professionals and Business Owners do something we call ‘Premature Presentation’; this is when they present their product or service, without first learning what it actually is a person wants solved.

Contrary to a lot of what is taught out there – people don’t buy products or services.

They don’t even buy features and benefits.

More importantly – they buy what it will mean when they own the benefits of what you’re selling.

Therefore – they’re buying the meaning of owning it.

Concept selling works so well, because you’re speaking to the meaning of owning your product.

By speaking directly to the meaning, you’re removing any assumptions about what they may think it may mean if they invest in you or your company.

Related article: Concept Selling – Tips To Do It Correctly

Increase Your Selling Ability Tip #8 – Prescribe The Solution

A lot of Salespeople and Business Owners follow an old school, outdated sales process.

This process generally means they present their product or service, hope something sticks, and then ask for the sale.

If you wish to know how to increase your selling ability, we recommend prescribing your solution instead.

When you see a seasoned Medical Specialist; they ask you plenty of questions, learn about your pain points, and then tell you what you need to do/ or take to alleviate yourself from the pain.

Seasoned Sales Professionals and Business Owners do the same thing; they learn all about their potential client’s pain points, and how it’s affecting them both emotionally and logically.

Once they’re completely clear on their pain points, they then prescribe a solution to each pain point – rather than just present an offer or solution.

To truly know how to increase your overall selling ability – you need to be an expert at prescribing a solution, rather than just asking for a sale and positioning yourself as just another commodity.

To present effectively, we recommend presenting in a way that solves each pain point – rather than present and assume they will know how it’ll serve them.