10 Ways Women Can Be Better At Sales

10 Ways Women Can Be Better At Sales Im a firm believer that selling iseverything- in business and in life. Whenever young people ask me for career advice, I tell them get experience in abverkauf. It will prepare you for so much to come in the future from getting untersttzung for your ideas, to raising money, to negotiating for a raise or a promotion. Im also pretty sure it can help you on job interviews, dates, and even getting your children into nursery school.Yet for many women, sales doesnt feel natural. Further, as a woman, the transformation to salesperson may groe nachfrage counter to deep inner cultural patterns youve absorbed.Executive coach and authorPeggy Klaushas seen this phenomenon often. It has a lot to do with societal norms and stereotypes. One of the old myths is thats un-ladylike and feminine to be pushy and ask for things, especially in business which was traditionally a mans domain, says Klaus. Putting yourself out there and letting your desires be known makes yo u look ambitious and greedy.And yet, Klaus insists, women must step out of their comfort zone to find success. Even if youre an introvert, you can be good at it. You dont have to love it -- but you need a compelling reason to do it. So just do it, and you can go back to being an introvert on your own time, advises Klaus.With that advice in mind, here are 10 tips for women on how to use sales skills to win in business -- and in life1. Prepare yourself Youre going to hear no a lot. One of my favorite managers of all time used to say, Every sale starts with no. This is a really important truism to internalize if youre putting yourself on the line to pitch you and your company. People say no for all kinds of reasons, and so when you hear not, transform it in your mind to not yet -- and then start to think about how youll convince them sooner or later.Again, this can be a harder muscle to flex for women, so the more accustomed to it you get, the better off youll be -- in sales and in man y situations youll face in business and life.Women are pleasers, says Klaus. When we do something that someone doesnt like, we feel like failures - its a knee-jerk reaction. Instead, we have to prompt ourselves to realize, I may not get everything right - and thats ok. You need to reset expectations a bit.2. Cold calling Its a numbers game.Understand that sales truly is a number game, especially at the start. Youll need to cold call - or email - 100 people to get 20 meetings which may land you with 2-3 customers in the beginning. So instead of worrying about whos saying yes and who is saying no, spend a lot of time thinking about how you can fill the top of the funnel with hundreds of prospects. And, when youre cold-emailing, get creative. Experiment with your subject line and your message. Remember that your prospect is probably getting 5 or more similar solicitations in his/her email every day. So figure out how to make yours stand out.3. Map out a clear and compelling pitch.Make sure your pitch is very clear and well practiced. And make sure it starts with a clear use case. In the first 60 seconds of your communication - written or verbal - you want your prospect to understand well what your proposition is, who is using it, and why. Bring your customer to life to help the prospect visualize your raison detre. Give it a test run on your friends, colleagues and advisors so you can be ready to put it in front of a prospect.Keep it simple. How would you explain this to your grandmother? advises Dave Imperiale, VP ofSNP Communications, who works with executives at companies like Google and Spotify on sales skills.4. Take baby steps. Make sales calls the first goal.Dont try to boil the ocean When youre just embarking on the sales process, start by focusing on scheduling sales calls - in person (preferred) or by phone. If you can get a perspektive to get in front of someone and tell them your story, youll probably have a much greater chance of making the sale. And , if you focus on getting sales calls -- which should lead to sales - you will feel a greater sense of progress and accomplishment when you get these sales calls on the books.5. Be prepared for your sales calls.Do your research on your prospects before talking to them. Check them out onLinkedIn. binnensee if theyve written articles anywhere. See where they went to school. See you if you have contacts in common. When youre on a sales call, its really helpful if you can find a way to connect with the person youre speaking to beyond the topic at hand. Build a personal rapport. Everyone youll talk to is so busy, and if you can humanize yourself by finding a common ground, your prospect will be far more ready to listen.6. On the call, do more listening than talking.Women have been shown to speak more than men --nearly 13,000 words a day more And yet, the fruchtwein important thing you can do while youre out on a sales call is to listen. Get your points across succinctly, and ask lots of questions of your prospect. Make the discussion interactive. And let your prospect set the paceIn addition, try to gather information to help you refine your pitch. Solicit feedback about your product or service so you can make adjustments that will make your proposition more sellable.7. Email THE SAME DAY to say thank you, and reiterate your value proposition.Im a big groupie of same day follow-up. It shows your prospect that you are really eager to get their business, and youre really on top of stuff. And, if you do it right away, the conversation will still be fresh in your mind. When following up, play back key points from your discussion. And share a recap of the key reasons the person should buy from you.8. Follow up. Then follow up again.Woody Allen famously said 80% of success is showing up. But Ive actually found that in sales 80% of success isfollowing up. Persistence is critical, and can be especially tricky for women who can feel nervous about being too aggressive. Dont hold back - follow-up can often be the difference between winning and losing the business. 9. Be OK walking away.If youre hearing no -- or simply hearing radio silence -- its ok to walk away. Often, giving your prospect some space is a good idea. You may never know why the lead went cold...but it may often have nothing at all to do with youSo walk away -- and put it out of your mind. Assume the time wasnt right and move on to the next anthroponym down the list. Dont take it personally (Which is just so hard for women to do.)10. Follow up again...but dont forget to check back in 2-3 months later. Perhaps youll catch them at a better time. And, your follow up will remind them that you care about winning their business. More than anything, its important to think of the sale as solving a problem for your customer. As Imperiale says, if you can think of what youre doing as helping someone, it will feel like the halogen is shining less on you. And that may be just the thing that can trans form you into a fantastic female salesperson.A version of this article originally appeared on Inc.Fairygodboss is committed to improving the workplace and lives of women.Join us by reviewing your employer