How to Sell Anything | 2024 Reveal | 12 Excellent Sales Techniques

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Astrid Tran 27 January, 2024 9 min read

How do you increase sales by 5%, 20%, and more?

If you want to know how to sell anything, check out the 12 best sales techniques from experts.

Today consumers are more demanding, and the market is more competitive. To stay ahead with its competitors, target new customers, and gain customer acquisition effectively, each company should differentiate sale techniques for different types of customers and markets. In this article, a range of valuable tips will help you adopt sales techniques to sell anything you want.

How to sell anything
How to sell anything | Source: Shutterstock

Table of Contents

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#1. Social Selling

How to sell anything online fast? The answer is adopting Social selling, which uses social media platforms to build relationships with potential customers and sell products or services. Take the Facebook marketplace as an instance. Half the population are social media users, so social selling is the best place to sell anything.

But not all Social platforms are effective for your sales success. Identify what is your primary social selling platform (LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs, Instagram, TikTok...) or combine multiple social network platforms to promote and sell your products or service. Paid ads or live streams might be a good tactic to attract potential customers.

A top tip is to try to engage with potential customers through social media through live Polls, Customer Gift Takeaway events. If you are worried about how to make engaging live Polls, check out with AhaSlides.

live polling feature in AhaSlides
How to create a poll?

#2. Omnichannel Selling

Social media is not the only place to sell your products or services, it is better to combine with other channels to give everyone a chance to know and purchase your product. It is called Omni Channel Selling, which offers a seamless and integrated shopping experience across multiple channels, including online and offline, to provide customers with a consistent and personalized experience.

How to sell anything with Omnichannel Selling

  • Providing consistent product information, pricing, and promotions across all channels to ensure a seamless customer experience.
  • Implementing a unified inventory management system that enables customers to check product availability across all channels and locations.
  • Offering multiple fulfillment options, such as in-store pickup, home delivery, or curbside pickup, to provide customers with flexibility and convenience.
How to sell anything
How to sell anything | Source: Shutterstock

#3. Premium Pricing

How to sell high-end products or services? Premium pricing can be a great sales strategy as it creates an image of exclusivity and quality that sets a company's products or services apart from those of its competitors. You can set the price of a product or service higher than the prices of competing products or services. This can be particularly effective when targeting consumers who value quality, status, or unique experiences, and are willing to pay more for them.

#4. Consultative Selling

How to sell if you belong to the consultancy industry? Another basic selling technique that can boost your sales is Consultative selling. This sales technique is particularly effective in situations where the customer is looking for a solution to a complex problem or has a unique set of requirements. Rather than simply pitching a product or service, the salesperson takes the time to understand the customer's situation, provide expert advice, and recommend a customized solution. 

#5. Personal selling

How to sell anything effectively in a B2B context? Personal selling is a preferred sales technique if your clients are companies. It is often an effective approach for selling complex products or services that require a high degree of expertise and customization. 

In particular, Strategic-Partner Selling is a type of personal selling, which involves a direct, one-on-one relationship between the salesperson and the customer, and aims to build long-term relationships with customers by positioning the salesperson as a strategic partner and trusted advisor.

#6. Needs-satisfaction selling

How to sell to demanding customers? The needs-satisfaction selling approach might be an effective solution in situations where the customer has specific needs or challenges that they are looking to address. In this approach, the salesperson takes a consultative approach to the sales process, by asking questions, listening to the customer's responses, and then presenting products or services that can address those needs and desires.

#7. Direct Selling

Direct Selling is a sales technique that involves selling products or services directly to consumers, typically in a face-to-face setting or through personal contact information at home, online, or other venues that are not a store. One of the best advantages of Direct Selling is that it can be a highly flexible sales technique. Salespeople can work at their own pace and often have the ability to work from home or set their own schedules. Direct Selling can also be a highly profitable sales technique, particularly for those who are able to build a strong network of customers and develop a deep understanding of their needs and preferences.

How to sell your products with Direct Selling | Source: Shutterstock

#8. Upselling 

How to sell anything with Upselling? Upselling is a sales technique that involves offering customers a higher-end or upgraded version of a product or service they are already interested in purchasing. The goal of upselling is to increase the average order value and generate additional revenue for the business. Upselling can be effective when done correctly, but it's important not to come across as pushy or manipulative.

#9. Cross Selling

Like Upselling, Cross Selling also aims to increase the average order value and generate additional revenue for the business. However, the primary difference is to offer customers related or complementary products or services to the ones they are already interested in purchasing.

An example of cross-selling might involve a customer purchasing a new smartphone and being offered a phone case, screen protector, and wireless charger to go with it.

#10. Soft Sell

Soft sell is a marketing approach prioritizes subtlety and relationship-building over direct sales pitches. Instead of using aggressive tactics to persuade potential customers, soft-sell techniques focus on creating a friendly and informative environment that allows customers to make informed decisions.

#11. B2B Sales Funnel

How to sell to businesses? To succeed in the B2B market, businesses need an innovative approach to their sales funnel. Rather than relying on traditional cold calling and direct selling methods, businesses should focus on building relationships with potential customers and providing personalized solutions.

#12. Transactional Selling

How to sell anything quickly? You might find Transactional Selling helpful as it involves focusing on closing the sale quickly, often through the use of discounts or other incentives; for example, they might also offer add-on products or services, such as a protective case or an extended warranty when customers buy laptops or smartphones in a store. Transactional Selling is often used when the product or service is relatively simple, and the customer is looking primarily for price and convenience.

7 Key Steps to How to Sell Anything

How to sell anything to anyone? There are some basic principles that every business needs to follow to optimize selling strategy and maximize sales success.

#1. Understand your products or services

How to sell when you don't even really know your value? Do people come to convenience stores because of their reasonable price or quality of products? Not actually, their price is a bit higher compared to other retailers. People pay for convenience not yields. "People will never ask for less convenience" (Jeff Lenard, VP of Strategic Industry Initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores) and it is the reason why the number of convenience stores is rising exponentially.

#2. Know who is your clients

Again, how to sell when you fail to segment your customer. You can't sell the products to those who don't need them, therefore, knowing your clients is essential for any business to succeed. To understand your clients, start by creating buyer personas. This involves conducting research on your target audience and identifying their demographics, behavior patterns, pain points, and goals. Use this information to create a fictional representation of your ideal customer, including their needs, preferences, and decision-making process.

#3. Apply the right sales techniques

How to master the art of selling anything? Companies should think of a range of selling techniques to different targets of customers, as B2B and B2C are quite different contexts. Each of the sales techniques has both advantages and disadvantages, using a single or multiple techniques at one time is worth considering. 

#4. Organize Salesforce training

Salespeople should equip themselves with both soft and technical skills, thus it is crucial for HR and team leaders to offer more effective training. 

AhaSlides can be used for remote training sessions, which is particularly useful for teams that are geographically dispersed. You can use video conferencing tools, such as Zoom or Google Meet, to facilitate the training session, while using AhaSlides to deliver the interactive content. In addition, you can create personalized quizzes, polls, and other interactive features that are tailored to your salesforce training program.

"How to sell anything" training - AhaSlides Sales Meeting templates

#5. Employ psychology

Sales success cannot lack psychological and social factors; Bandwagon effect, Decoy effect, Anchoring, Personalization, and more are some effective tricks. For example, companies can take advantage of the fear of missing out to promote brand popularity. By emphasizing limited availability or time-limited offers, you can create a sense of urgency and encourage customers to purchase before it's too late.

#6. Track your customer

Regularly collect feedback from your clients to understand their evolving needs and preferences. Use customer surveys, reviews, and social media to gather insights and adjust your approach accordingly.

AhaSlides allows you to create custom surveys that can be used to collect feedback from customers. You can use a range of question types, including multiple-choice, rating scales, and open-ended questions, to gather detailed customer feedback.

#7. Be persistent

Joe Girard, the author of a famous "How to sell anything" book, mentioned, "The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs… one step at a time". There is no shortcut or easy path to being a successful salesperson, and you must be willing to put in the necessary time and effort to achieve your goals.

Bottom Line

Even if you have the best product or service in the market at a competitive price, there isn't a 100% guarantee that you can't sell it forever. Understanding the essence of how to sell anything strategy is essential for a company's strategic planning in an ever-changing environment.

Ref: Forbes | Indeed | Retail Dive