The unlikely sales stars in your team

As a business owner, you probably spend a lot of time working with your sales team to make sure they have all the information and training they need to sell your products or services. But when was the last time you spent time and energy training the rest of the staff to sell your product? If it’s been a while, you’re probably missing out on quite a few sales. So today I wanted to discuss some ways you can get everyone on your team in a sales mood, even if they’re apprehensive when it comes to asking for the sale.

Create a sales culture.

The fastest growing companies are companies where everyone plays an active role in the growth of the company. From the person who answers the phone to the CEO and everyone in between. There is a corporate culture that sells as much as possible. This starts by helping everyone on your team understand that a sales culture benefits everyone – it helps create opportunity, security and stability for all team members, regardless of their official title. Share stories of team members who have resold to customers and help celebrate wins across the company.

Start small.

One of the easiest ways to get your team on board is to make recommendations. Anyone who has shopped at Trader Joe’s is likely familiar with this technique. The cashier will often share their recommendations based on the contents of your cart, or quickly point out the products in your cart that they personally tried and loved. So simple and natural for an employee to do can be a very powerful sales tool if used properly. And the pressure to “close” the sale is very low, so even the most apprehensive team members can easily apply this technique.

Practice Lead Spotting.

Another way to increase your sales across the board is to get better at lead spotting together. This is where you start to notice signals that a prospect is ready to buy or looking for an upgrade or additional product. Train your team to ask the right questions in daily interactions, then give them a process to hand those leads over to another team member to follow up and close the sale. This not only increases the number of leads your sales team gets, but gives your entire team the chance to actively participate in the sales process, regardless of their title.

Practice the elevator pitch.

Your sales team knows the pitch by heart. But if someone asks your IT guy in the elevator who they work for, do you have any idea what they’re saying? Don’t leave this one to chance. Instead, write a script and practice it often with your entire team. We use something like this:

Formula: “You know how __[insert #1 biggest pain point of your target market that you solve]___, what we do is ___[insert your biggest solution and benefit to that pain point]†

It’s simple, it’s to the point and helps everyone get on the same page.

With a little practice, anyone can become a salesperson in your business. By focusing on a sales culture, starting small, spotting leads, and practicing your elevator pitches, you might be surprised who the unlikely salesperson on your team can become.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not Inc.com’s.

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