Agile Selling summary

No matter how innovative a new product might be, it still needs to be sold. And that’s where salespeople come in.

But unfortunately, selling isn’t so simple, as the world of sales is constantly changing.

Sales teams constantly need to be on the lookout for more effective ways to sell their products. That might mean setting new strategies or embracing new technology (like software).

What’s more, salespeople have to be nimble and adaptable to succeed. Think of it this way: Techniques that effectively sell coffee machines to housewives probably won’t sell smartphones to large retailers.

And there’s another important element of sales that constantly changes – the people you sell to. You need to know that buyers tend to become savvier and smarter over time.

In fact, buyers have changed more than ever in recent years. Today no one needs a salesperson to rattle off a list of product features, for example; a buyer can simply find the details online.

But this doesn’t mean that salespeople are irrelevant. Rather, a 2011 study found that 53 percent of consumers care more about the sales experience than the price – or even the product itself!

So how can you as a salesperson deliver an experience that a buyer wants? By putting yourself in the shoes of a customer to explain why your product is a perfect fit.

Yet this kind of personalized sales experience is particularly difficult to deliver when everything around you is changing constantly. That’s why to succeed, you need to become an agile learner.

Agile learning is the ability to easily adapt to new circumstances by quickly absorbing the knowledge and skills that are relevant to each individual situation.

For example, when your biggest client gets a new CEO, perhaps your sales goals will change as a result. Roll with the change and take advantage of this opportunity to learn something new, gain experience and become a better seller!