You had burning sales questions. Sales expert Grant Cardone had the answers.
Executive producer and star of National Geographic Channel TV show "Turnaround King," Cardone participated in a live chat Thursday afternoon, offering his best tips for selling and growing your small business in a still-uncertain economy. Entrepreneur.com readers submitted questions over email, Twitter and directly during the event.
A few highlights from Cardone's live session:
On convincing customers to not shop on price alone:
Cardone recommends salespeople focus on the value proposition of their product and service. "Not everyone is interested in cheaper product," he says. "There can only be one 'lowest cost provider' in a market, and you don't want to be it. … Be a profitable company with a great product and reinforce [to customers] why your product is worth the price."
On closing the sale:
Selling a customer and closing the deal are two different arts, Cardone explains. When you move into the closing phase, you're no longer building up the value proposition. One major problem when closing, he says, is that salespeople wait until the very end to mention the price.
"Start by presenting price, in the first few minutes," he says. "Tell them the price and spend the rest of the time explaining why it's priced that way." Then follow up to make sure your explanation justifies that price.
On handling rejection:
Salespeople, like everyone else on the planet, needs to learn how to manage rejection, Cardone says. But for a busy salesperson, it should be easy.
"I fill my pipeline up so much, I literally don’t have time to deal with rejection because I have another client to go see," he says.
Bottom line, rejection is a thing of the past and salespeople should focus on the future. "Rearview mirrors are to see what's behind you, not where you're going," he says.
