Most of the people you pitch to will say no. In a normal market it is around 80% of prospects, and when times are hard it can climb to 90% or even 95%. If you run a small business and do most of the selling yourself, that rejection lands on you personally, and it is easy to start believing that sales is about luck, charm or price.
It isn't. Some people sell well in a downturn and even when they cost more than everyone else. What sets them apart is method. The sales tips for small business owners below follow the process those people use, from the research you do before you pick up the phone to the letter you send after the meeting.
1. Research the prospect before you make contact
On The Apprentice, the candidates who reach the interview stage are always asked the same thing, and plenty of them freeze.
So what do you know about this business and what preparation have you done for this meeting?
The Apprentice, interview stage
Your prospects are silently asking the same. With websites and LinkedIn, there is no excuse for turning up cold. Find out:
- why they buy from you, or why they don't
- what your competitors do well and badly
- which contacts you have in common and how the company is performing
2. Plan your time, your pitch and your follow-up
Showing up prepared improves your chances enormously. Remember the 6 P's: proper planning prevents poor performance.
Decide what your desired outcome is and what good looks like. Plan your week, leave enough time between meetings that you are never late, and be clear on your USP and how you will handle objections.
Planning also means knowing your numbers. On average, 70% of people only decide to buy after five or more interactions with a vendor, yet 48% of salespeople give up after the first contact and only 20% are still going after five. Stay the course and most of your competition has dropped away. Plan at least five touches, each designed to win Attention, build Interest, create Desire and prompt Action (AIDA).
Then track your conversion rates. If 10 calls give you 2 appointments, 2 appointments give you 1 quote, and 5 quotes give you a £5,000 order, a £20,000 monthly target means 200 calls, about 10 a working day. The pressure shifts from "sell £20,000" to "make 10 calls", and a no stops feeling personal.
3. Get your brand and sales materials in order
Retailers never leave their window displays to chance, and prospects will judge your company and personal brand just as quickly. Before you even ring for an appointment, check that:
- your brand is consistent across leaflets, brochures, business cards and email signatures
- your website and social media profiles are up to date
- samples, special offers and referral schemes are ready
- past PR stories and testimonials are to hand
4. Use the phone call to win the appointment, not the sale
The first call is not about selling the product. It is about securing the meeting. You may have only 10 to 20 seconds before the person loses interest, so plan and practise what you will say, and stand up while you say it.
Give them a reason they cannot afford to miss you, for example: "Would you like to see a system that can increase your sales by 20 to 30%?" If they ask you to explain it there and then, resist. Say you only need ten minutes to show them, and offer a time that suits you: "I'm in your area tomorrow, or how about Thursday?" That keeps you in control.
Offer to visit them at their premises, as they are less likely to cancel, and get an email address to confirm the details.
5. Run the meeting and uncover needs with SPIN Selling
Ring ahead to check they are still expecting you, carry a printed copy of your presentation in case the technology fails, and look professional.
Most sales meetings have five stages: introductions, identifying needs, stating your idea, selling the benefits and closing. The needs stage is where the work happens, and Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling, based on more than 35,000 sales calls, is a strong model. In successful calls the buyer does most of the talking, and good questions build rapport. All things being equal, people prefer to buy from friends.
- Situation: background questions. Research these beforehand and use them sparingly.
- Problem: questions about difficulties with current suppliers.
- Implication: questions about the consequences of those problems, such as "How much money do you lose when you lose a customer?"
- Need-payoff: questions about the value of a solution, such as "How valuable would it be to know which customers you made the most profit from?" Only ask these once the customer has admitted a need.
6. Sell the benefits, not the features
A feature is a characteristic, such as a kettle with an 1800-watt element. The benefit is what it solves: it boils in under 60 seconds, which means a busy café owner can serve tea faster. Benefits in measurable terms sell far better than features.
Brainstorm with your team: list every feature, add "which means that" and write the benefit. If you can still say "so what?", keep going. Andy Bounds' "Afters" idea from The Jelly Effect helps too: describe what the client can do after buying from you.
7. Handle objections calmly and with curiosity
Objections are either accidental (a misunderstanding, fixed with an explanation) or real. Real ones take work, but resolve them and you have the sale. Techniques include Boomerang, Reframing, Pre-empting, LAARC and LAIR. A practical sequence is:
- Listen: ask "what else?" and "how come?" to find the real objection and the emotion behind it.
- Accept: acknowledge the objection and the person. Feel, felt, found works well: "I understand how you feel; many customers felt the same, but what they found was..."
- Commit: trial close with "If I can address your objections, will you go ahead?" If not, find the next objection.
- Explicit action: deliver on what you agreed and close.
If someone is happy with their current supplier, ask before you leave what that supplier does well, then what they could do better. That is your reason to call again.
8. Negotiate for a win-win
Aim for an outcome where both sides feel they have won. If you felt you lost a negotiation, you probably didn't go back, and nor will your customers.
Don't negotiate too soon or appear desperate, and be ready to walk away rather than concede everything. Give away things that cost you little but matter to them, like the car dealer's free paint protection: £300 retail, about £15 in polish.
9. How to close a sale without pushing
Check you have covered every key concern, summarise the benefits, then ask. If a direct request won't land, try the alternative close ("the green or the red one?"), the assumed close ("what day suits for delivery?") or the conditional close ("if I could satisfy you on this point, could we proceed?").
After a closing question, stay quiet and let them speak first. If they are interested but won't sign today, offer a tailored proposal and book a second meeting within a few days. If they will never buy, thank them and ask who else might be interested.
10. Admin and follow-up: the most overlooked sales tips for small business owners
Make good notes so you never mix up meetings, and after every contact update your customer management system, complete the paperwork, and diary a date to check satisfaction and ask for a referral.
Most of all, write a thank-you letter, ideally the next day, whether or not they bought. Post it rather than emailing, sign it in blue ink, keep it brief, and don't try to close. Save that for your follow-up meeting.
Where to start
This week, work out your own numbers. Look back over recent months and count how many calls became appointments, appointments became quotes and quotes became orders. Then work backwards from your monthly target to a daily number of calls.
Then block out a fixed hour each morning, ideally 9:30 to 10:30, and make those calls one after another, standing up. Once you know a certain number of noes leads to a yes, selling becomes a routine you can manage.