[Avnet] Top 6 SELLING Strategies for Solution Providers

As sales professionals, we understand the importance of a strategy; yet, we sometimes have a tendency to over-complicate the actual sale.  Below are 6 basic selling strategies to help you simplify your sales and business approach and win customers in 2015.

1. Listen to your customer.
   We are often so consumed with what we want to sell or need to sell in order to hit our quota that we forget to listen to our customers.  Ask a lot of open-ended questions that will help unveil where you can really add value.  Your ability to really listen and understand what challenges they are facing will help you gain credibility.
2. Sell your value to your customer.
   You should know the value of your solution like the back of your hand. If you don’t, study and then study some more.  Your biggest challenge comes in understanding how to pick the right value that best fits your customer’s specific business requirements.  Our customers are not a one size fits all, so it’s your job to understand your value, your customer’s needs and how to find the right match.   You must come across as knowledgeable in the industry and also know when you need to leverage the right expertise to help better support their solution.  You want your customer to view you as an extended member of their team and the go-to person when initially white boarding a problem statement.
3.  Be the best at what you do.
   Don’t be mediocre in your sales approach, do your research on each company and their position in the channel and tailor your sales method to their solutions and services. Do some practice runs, role-play, and do whatever you need to do to work out the nervousness so you can focus all your efforts on your customer. Your customers will notice the difference when you stop thinking about what you’re selling them and start focusing on how you can help them reach their goals.
4. Get out of the box!
   How many different solution providers are customers speaking with these days? They can pull up a list of 10 from a Google search offering the same solution as you in 3 seconds. Find a way to differentiate yourself and leave your customer with a positive impression. Take the time to stay away from only offering cookie-cutter solutions and think out of the box in your delivery.