HIDDEN SECRETS that impact your DECISIONS I PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL

We humans make a lot of irrational decisions which are not random but predictable , dan ariely after spending three years in hospital started studying about this topic and founded some really usefull information to make better decision . some of the findings of the book are as follows 1) The truth about relativity Everything is relative even when it should not be. we humans make a lot of comparison regarding everthing. which has an impact on our decisions. so with relativity we tend to make made decision. 2) problem of procrastination laziness is one of the most common problem faced by us . we tend to procrastinate a lot regarding every good things which we should do. one important suggestion by author is to assign deadlines to complete otherwise we would easily procrastinate. and to make it work be serious about it and if not completed the task on time give yourself penalty like giving treat to friends or anything that would just force you to complete your task. 3) the cost of social norms In the world we live in there are two kinds of norms. one is SOCIAL NORM and second is MARKET NORM . SOCIAL NORM meaning things we do for sake of humanity , community, and as a good human and for which we don't want any return favor or something. we just do it to feel good. on the other hand MARKET NORM are the things which do clearly just for getting money according to the market rate or for some return . author gives a strict warning to not mix them both as that could cost you your relationships .

17 Sales Skills That All Reps Need

Key Sales Skills Every Rep Should Have

1. Communication
2. Prospecting
3. Discovery
4. Business Acumen
5. Social Selling
6. Storytelling
7. Active Listening
8. Objection-Handling
9. Presentation
10. Negotiation
11. Territory Management
12. Technology
13. Buyer Research
14. Time Management and Planning
15. Curiosity 
16. Judgment
17. Collaboration

Customer-Facing Sales Skills

1. Communication

Strong communication skills are the foundation of building meaningful relationships with clients, setting expectations, and (tactfully) discussing a buyer’s pain points.

This might seem obvious, but it’s important to remember that communication is about much more than speaking clearly and concisely:

• Writing and presentation abilities are needed when it comes to interacting over email, social media, video conference or in person.
• Salespeople must also be able to communicate effectively throughout the sales cycle, from cold outreach and follow-up, to moving an opportunity along.

Quick Tip: Leverage video coaching assessments that test whether reps can clearly articulate value messaging and AI-powered analysis to detect the right emotions and right word usage.  

2. Prospecting

Unfortunately, we’ve all experienced poor sales prospecting. For example, the “spray and pray” approach in particular can rub buyers the wrong way.

For prospecting to be effective, salespeople need to develop a strategic approach for identifying new business opportunities – and then commit to working on it daily. That means having the ability to research potential buyers, conduct cold outreach, and create new opportunities.

Quick Tip: Consider organizing your onboarding or training curriculum so reps are focused on mastering skills for a specific sales activity (such as prospecting) before moving on to training for their next activity.

3. Discovery

Can your sales reps ask intelligent questions, identify buyer needs and follow-up accordingly?

Today’s reps must be able to gain an excellent understanding of any prospect’s company, business challenges and current priorities. This means asking well-informed questions that can identify pain points, desired outcomes and give your organization a better sense of the buyer’s political hierarchy.

Quick Tip: If your reps aren’t uncovering enough of the right information on discovery calls, a peer learning strategy can help. You can document and distribute tips and tricks for discovery from your A-players and incorporate them into your training content.

4. Business Acumen

The basics of good business – whether it’s understanding an annual financial report or factors that affect the buyer’s customers – are always critical.

Salespeople should be able to use business-level information (like financial statements) to move a conversation forward around relevant pain points and ROI.

Quick Tip: Leverage subject matter experts – such as a finance team member or an experienced executive – who can provide you with the expertise needed to create related training content.

5. Social Selling

Your salespeople don’t need to be experts on the very latest social media trends, but they should at least know the basics of using major networks like LinkedIn (and tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator).

Reps should also understand what is and isn’t acceptable when it comes to engaging prospects on social media. You want to make sure sellers aren’t copying and pasting your sales pitch into every direct message or posting on LinkedIn five times a day. Personalized outreach coupled with a steady presence is key.

Quick Tip: Create a training course that teaches reps how to deliver effective messaging on social media, identify ideal buyers, and leverage tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Your sales enablement strategy should also include a documented social selling plan that reps can reference as they learn.

6. Storytelling

You might think of storytelling as a component of good communication. But it’s a distinct skill because it requires reps to be clear and concise, as well as engaging and authentic. This is critical, because an authentic story will:

• Help your company stand out in the minds of buyers
• Appeal to buyers’ emotions and encourage action
• Help buyers see how “like” clients have solved similar challenges with your solution

“When you tell a story, you are educating prospects on a transition from where they are now to where they want to be,” says sales consultant, Matthew Pollard. “The moral of your story is, ‘we did this for that client and we can do this for you, too.’”

How to Develop It: Coach reps on how to tell stories, and especially how to use case studies, research, and other proof points that add to the story’s credibility. For instance, ask reps to deliver a relevant narrative to a prospect in a key market. Your feedback should point out whether your sellers used appropriate content and whether the delivery came across as genuine or “sales-y.”

7. Active Listening

It’s no secret that reps need good listening skills to connect with clients. But in today’s fast-paced business world, there’s always a temptation to formulate a response or follow-up question before the buyer is done talking.

Active listening is all about staying in the moment and ensuring that the seller clearly understands what the buyer is saying. This can involve reps paraphrasing what was just said, or slowing the conversation down as needed, to ensure they can truly position themselves as consultative sellers.

Quick Tip: Use role plays to help reps improve their listening skills. For example, have someone act as a potential customer describing their business challenges, and then ask reps to summarize the information to see whether they understand key points.

8. Objection Handling

Sales objections are a fact of life for reps, and when approached the right way, they provide sellers with a valuable opportunity to ask more questions. An objection managed poorly, however, can derail an otherwise good conversation.

The key is that your sellers, at minimum, understand how to respond to the major types of sales objections, such as skepticism (is your solution scalable at our fast-growing company?) or indifference (we don’t really need what you provide)

Quick Tip: Design coaching activities that allow reps to practice responding to your company’s most common objections on video, and then review them to provide feedback. 

9. Presentation Skills

Sales reps deal with the unexpected every day, which makes it even more important that they nail what they can practice ahead of time. Sales presentations and demo calls certainly fall into that category.

Many sales presentations become too feature-centric, when they should really focus more on the buyer’s challenges and needs. The presentation content and the sales message delivery both need to be engaging and informative – or else you risk putting your buyers to sleep or worse, losing them all together.

Quick Tip: Managers can evaluate reps’ presentations via screen recording capabilities or by sitting in on calls and providing feedback afterwards.

10. Negotiation Skills

After building an effective proposal, reps must lead a disciplined negotiations process. That’s important because high-stakes negotiations can lead reps to make errors, such as offering a discount that’s too steep.

Quick Tip: Consider role-playing exercises that involve a hypothetical buyer who is pushing for price concessions  or has deal demands that are specific to your industry. You’ll want to examine a rep’s ability to protect the value of a sale and highlight the advantages that only your solution provides.

Non-Customer-Facing Sales Skills

11. Territory Management

Reps’ ability to understand their target accounts and the market factors affecting them is critical, because the last thing you want is a high-potential territory that hasn’t been maximized.

Ensure that sales reps are engaged in the right messaging based on their territories. (For example, a territory full of growing tech startups would want to hear how your solution can help expand their businesses.)

12. Technology

Experience using new technologies has quickly become important for sellers, and that trend isn’t going away anytime soon. Reps must know how to take advantage of various sales tools, whether it’s a free productivity app, the CRM, or a sales enablement tool.

Of course, technical knowledge shouldn’t completely fall on the sales team. Your reps should know enough to ask the right questions of sales engineering and IT as needed.

13. Buyer Research

Knowledge is power, and it can be a true differentiator. That’s why reps need to be up to speed on different types of buyers, market trends, the competitive landscape and be able to research specific buyers, companies and any possible sales triggers.

A company that just doubled its headcount, for instance, is probably dealing with a lot of growing pains! Reps who do their due diligence by checking social media, news articles, public financial documents or even your CRM are positioned to deliver a sales experience that is much more personalized (and therefore more relevant).

Quick Tip: Show salespeople how and where they can find relevant research and news articles about your target industries and incorporate those tips into your training content. To ensure reps understand how to utilize those tips correctly, you can have them complete a video coaching assessment where they share how they used research to enhance a sales interaction.

Soft Sales Skills and Traits

14. Time Management and Planning

There’s only so much selling time in the day. Good salespeople can make the most of the buyer’s time and their own.

Specifically, reps should have a clear sense of the specific steps needed to close each deal, and how long each step typically takes. If a client is requesting product information or thought leadership content, they should respond in a timely manner. And as priorities change, they should know how to shuffle their day-to-day activities accordingly.

Quick Tip: Use one-on-one, informal coaching to go over the rep’s time management and planning strategies together. If you notice opportunities for improvement, coach the rep on how to make their plan more efficient and prioritize tasks effectively.

15. Curiosity

Curiosity sends a message that the rep is not solely focused on making a sale. Rather, they are actually interested in the buyer’s challenges. Imagine that! Great sales reps are inquisitive and possess a willingness to understand the “why” behind the client’s pain points.

16. Judgment

Sales reps have to make quick decisions constantly. Ensuring that they’re savvy enough to make the right call is key.

If a call is in danger of going off the rails, for instance, can your sellers read the vibe the buyer is giving off? Are they catering to the client’s preferences in terms of communication style? Do they have a good understanding of where the buyer is in the decision cycle? There won’t always be someone there to hold your reps’ hands; they need the ability to make those judgments in real time, on their own.

Quick Tip: Although some reps innately have this skill, others may need some help. Sharing the best practices of your star salespeople through a formalized peer learning program can be a good starting point.

17. Collaboration

Complex B2B sales cycles require reps to be good orchestrators of people and resources. After all, many deals now involve multiple buyers and a handful of internal teams, such as sales ops, marketing, customer success and legal.

That’s why team players who can advocate on the customer’s behalf and get the right people involved in each sales process are more likely to achieve positive results. In addition, you’ll want to make sure reps can collaborate internally to plan and deliver compelling business proposals to your clients.

VIA

দিন শেষে কিন্তু ব্যালান্স শিটই সব

ই-কমার্স ভিত্তিক কুরিয়ার বিজনেস সবে যখন শুরু, সময়টা ২০১৫ এর কথা। তখনই ইন্টারনেট ঘাটাঘাটি করে বেশ কয়েক রকম কুরিয়ার ব্যাগ, ফুড ডেলিভারী ব্যাগ বানিয়ে ফেললাম। ছোট ছোট কিছু কোয়ান্টিটির অর্ডার কমপ্লিট করে দিয়েছিলাম। ব্যাগ নিয়ে সাধ্যমত বেশ R&D ও করা হয়েছিল। তারপরে অন্য কাজের চাপে কুরিয়ার ব্যাগ কিংবা ফুড ডেলিভারী ব্যাগ খুব একটা বানানোর সুযোগ হয়নি। মার্কেটের গ্যাপটা আমি গ্র্যাব করতে ব্যর্থ হলাম।

কিছুদিন আগে একটা স্টার্টআপ দেখলাম দাবী করছে - বাংলাদেশে তারাই প্রথম ফুড ডেলিভারী ব্যাগ তৈরী করছে। দাবী করতেই পারে। ১ম কিংবা ২য় হওয়া নিয়ে আমার কোন মাথাব্যাথা নেই। এন্টি থেফট ব্যাগের প্রটোটাইপিংও আমি সেই ২০১৫ সালেই করেছিলাম। সেটার কমার্শিয়াল চায়না প্রোডাক্ট মার্কেটে আসে ২০১৭ সালে। দারাজের এক সেলারের ডাটা অনুযায়ী - ঐ ব্যাগটা সে এক সিজনে বিক্রি করেছিল প্রায় ৪ হাজার কপি! মার্জিন কত? আমি জানি কিন্তু উচ্চারণ করলাম না। আপনাদের কিছু না হলেও বিষয়টা মনে পড়লেই আমার মাথা ঘুরন্টি দেয়। :P

গুগল কিন্তু পৃথিবীর প্রথম সার্চ ইঞ্জিন নয়। তেমনি ফেসবুকও প্রথম সোশ্যাল মিডিয়া প্ল্যাটফর্ম নয়। এমন আরো শতশত উদ্যোগ আছে যারা মার্কেটের প্রথম না হয়েও মার্কেট লীডার। প্রথম হওয়াতে আসলে কোন কৃতিত্ব নেই। কৃতিত্ব আছে দ্রুততায়। আপনি কত দ্রুত আগাতে পারছেন সেটাই প্রতিযোগীতার বাজারে আপনার পজিশন ক্রিয়েট করবে। প্রথম হওয়া আকাঙ্খা আপনাকে নিছক একটা আত্মতৃপ্তি দিয়ে বরং কমফোর্ট জোনে ঠেলে দিবে। দিন শেষে কিন্তু ব্যালান্স শিটই সব।

এটা বলার উদ্দেশ্য হলো - আমাদের অনেক তরুণ তরুণী যারা উদ্যোক্তা হতে চায় তাদের মধ্যে "বাংলাদেশে প্রথম" টাইপের কিছু করার একটা প্রবণতা বিশেষ ভাবে লক্ষ্য করা যায়। তাছাড়া তারা সব সময় ইউনিক আইডিয়া খোঁজে। জগতে কোন কিছুই ইউনিক নয় এটা বুঝতে যে সময় লাগে তাতে করে ফিরে এসে আবার শুরু করার সুযোগ কিন্তু থাকে না। নতুন বোতলে পুরোনো পানীয় বিক্রি করতে পারাই উদ্যোক্তার কৃতিত্ব। হাংরিপান্ডা স্টার্টআপের ব্যাগ করতে গিয়ে উদ্যোক্তার সাথে আলাপে কিছু মার্কেট ইনসাইট পেলাম। বিজনেস কিন্তু এখন আর ঢাকা কেন্দ্রিক নেই। ঢাকার মার্কেটের ইঁদুর দৌড়কে যদি আপনি বাই বাই বলে একটু আশেপাশে ছড়িয়ে পড়তে পারেন তবেই ব্যালেন্স শিটে পজেটিভ ইমপ্যাক্ট সৃষ্টি করার সুযোগ আছে ।

VIA

The Right Place Values Your Value

A father before he died said to his son: “this is a watch your grandfather gave and this is more than 200 years old, but before I give it to you go to the watch shop on the first street, and tell him I want to sell it, and see how much it is”. 

He went and then came back to his father, and said, "the watchmaker paid 5 dollars because it's old”. He said to him : “go to the coffee shop”. 

He went and then came back, and said: “He paid $5 father”. “Go to the museum and show that watch”. 

He went then came back, and said to his father “They offered me a million dollars for this piece”. 

The father said: “I wanted to let you know that the right place values your value in a way right, don't put yourself in the wrong place and get angry if you don't. 

Who knows your value is who appreciates you, don't stay in a place that doesn't suit you".

Know your worth.

4 PSP Formula

All the top brands are successful today because they have adopted the Problem Solving Product (PSP) Formula. This formula helps them to increase their sales automatically.

In PSP formula, you study the four main reasons for the decrease in sales revenue.


Reason #1: People Don’t Like to be Sold

It is one of the reasons for low sales.

Remember, people generally don’t believe on strangers. So, if you suddenly go to people and start selling your product forcefully, they will not buy it.

Don’t sale only Product to Customer ❌; Try to Help your Customer ✅.


You can help your customers by either solving their existing problems or helping them to achieve their goals.


Reason #2: You Didn’t Dig Enough about the Customers’ Need

You cannot help a person forcefully. You need to identify what the person actually wants. This is also one of the reasons for low sales.


Let us understand it with the help of the following example.

For Example:

Teacher to his student- Why you came late in the class?

Student- Sir, we are helping an old woman to cross the road but she was not ready to cross the road. That’s why sir :-(

So, the moral is- ‘Don’t try to sell your product forcefully.’


Identify the customers’ needs and then find out how you can help him in satisfying his needs. This is called Consultative Selling.

Once you identify the customers’ needs and solve their problems in various aspects related to the product, then the customer will buy your product.


Reason #3: Identify Your Key Decision Maker (KDM) 

When you are selling your product to a customer, you should determine whether the person has the ability to take the decision or not. Sometimes, you are talking to the wrong person. This is also one of the reasons for decrease in sales revenue.



There are five types of person, who can purchase your product-

1. Initiator || 2. Influencer || 3. Decider || 4. Buyer || 5. Consumer


Now, you need to determine whom you are targeting to, who is your key decision-maker and according to your business which should be your target.


For Example:

1. If you are selling toys, then do not target the child. Target the decider (mother) or the buyer (father, mother or guardians) because they are the people who will purchase your product.

2. In B2B sales, the purchase manager is your buyer but he is neither the influencer nor the decider. The decider is the boss of the purchase manager.


So, try to find out your Key Decision Maker (KDM). This will help you to increase your sales in many folds.

Reason #4: Unclear about Budget Brackets

Unclear about customer budget bracket is one of the reasons for low sales.   

Based on the budget brackets, the customers are categorized as follows: 

A. Customers having Money ✅ and Want to Purchase the Product ✅

These are your Perfect Customers. You can easily sell your product to them.

B. Customers having Money ✅ but Do not Want to Purchase the Product ❌  

These are the customers’ needs that have not identified correctly. Try to know their needs.

C. Customers who do not have Money ❌ but Want to Purchase the Product ✅

These are the customers whom you should provide solutions so that they can buy the product. 

D. Customers who neither have Money ❌ nor they Want to Purchase the Product ❌  

Do not consider these customers to sell your product.

The above mentioned points are the reasons for decrease in sales revenue. A businessman or salesman needs to take care of these points to boost their sales.

VIA