Learn from others mistakes and success

This post is about learning how to improve your sales process. I've learned so much about sales and how to optimize my sales pipeline over the past 6 months by working with some of the best consultants in the industry.


So, in the spirit of sharing the knowledge, here are a few of my favorite sales lessons that can really help you improve your sales process and increase your revenue.

1. Spend More Time Up Front

You'll hear this advice all the time, but it's worth repeating: spend more time up front and less time in the middle of the sales funnel. You need to learn how to engage your prospects in a compelling way before they even contact you.

If you spend most of your time trying to close deals, you will never have enough time to properly prepare. By being more proactive in your sales, you're building relationships and trust which results in more sales down the road.

1. Give Value Up Front

Another common mistake is giving too little information about your product or service right from the start. If you don't do this right, you may lose opportunities and get nowhere.

Giving too little value upfront can result in a poor experience for the prospect and create mistrust which could make the prospect want to avoid you. It also means you'll end up giving up value along the way. This happens a lot with product demos.

Here's an easy way to overcome this hurdle: show your prospect the total return in a few seconds. Let's say the average client spends 5 minutes browsing a site that has an average of 10 pages. That means the customer gets 5 x 10 = 50 pieces of value for 5 minutes.

Now think about what would happen if the prospect came across a 50% off discount? It's the equivalent of a 20 minute sale. The only difference is your prospect came across it during a free trial while he was still on the website.

So, in this case, if the prospect came across the special promotion and didn't make a purchase after clicking through, he would be willing to give you the full value of his purchase (50 pieces of value) in exchange for your product or service.

1. Treat Prospects Like Gold

One of the easiest things you can do to optimize your sales pipeline is treat prospects like gold. Instead of wasting time on mediocre leads, focus your efforts on getting more out of the ones that actually want to buy from you.

If you focus on the prospect's needs first, it will pay off in the long run. For example, if you know that your prospect needs video content, find out exactly what kind of content he wants before you send him your proposal.

1. Don't Wait for the Perfect Opportunity

When was the last time you did something because someone told you to? Think about the last time you took a leap of faith or tried something new. The difference between those experiences and your decision to follow up on leads from your sales pipeline is motivation.

Motivation comes from within. If you do something just because someone asked