If you're in sales or marketing, you know that it's more than just closing the sale. You have to build rapport and trust with your client, and then guide them through every step of the process until they're happy with the results. This is especially true for startups, where every purchase decision is more important than ever because of limited resources—both financial and human—and fewer opportunities to make them again. In this article we'll go over what makes a great salesperson, how to find customers who will buy from you (and why some won't), how to close deals without losing credibility or momentum along the way, and how to use those lessons when working with prospects at all stages of their buying journey.

Create a detailed persona for your buyer.

If you want to learn more about your buyers, it may be tempting to simply ask them directly. But this can be a risky move: most buyers aren't prepared for the question and will give you an answer that isn't necessarily accurate or helpful. Instead, you should create a detailed persona (a fictional character) who represents your ideal buyer.

Start by learning everything there is to know about your buyer's needs, goals, challenges and pain points. Want some ideas? See how they make decisions and what their decision-making process looks like -- e.g., do they research online? How long do they typically spend researching before making a purchase? Do they prefer buying from an expert or person who shares their values? Then look at where else in their lives these individuals are experiencing problems similar to yours -- what could those problems be indicating about their attitudes towards purchasing solutions like yours? Once you've created this list of information about your target market, it's time for some brainstorming!

Create a high-value product or service

To create a high-value product or service you must:

• Make sure it is unique.

• Make sure it solves a problem.

• Make sure it is easy to use.

• Make sure it is affordable.

• Make sure it is easy to buy (see below).

Do your research to find out why customers buy from you and why they don't

• Find out what your customers want.

• Find out what they are looking for, and why.

• Find out what they think of your product or service, and why.

• Find out what they think of your competitors' products and services, and why.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to gather information about how customers feel when it comes to buying from you or not buying from you.

Step One: provide immediate value.

The first step to getting your customers to trust you, like you and buy from you is providing immediate value.

• Provide Value for Your Customers: Provide the most value possible in your business interactions. This could be a free consultation, discounted service or something else that will provide an excellent experience for the customer and make them want to come back.

• Don't Sell Them Anything Yet: Don’t try selling anything yet! It's too early! Give away first then sell later if needed. If they're not ready to buy now, they won't be ready later either so don't waste your time trying to make it happen today if they don't need what you're selling right now--they'll simply go elsewhere (or do nothing at all).

Step Two: build a relationship based on trust.

Building trust is the second step to building a relationship with your customers. If you want people to trust you, be honest and trustworthy. You must be consistent in your messaging, open and transparent about what’s going on, and use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to build trust by giving them a reason to follow your business.

Step Three: establish authority and credibility.

After you've established your customer's needs and demonstrated your ability to solve their problem, it's time to establish authority and credibility. If a potential client doesn’t think you know what you're talking about, they won’t buy from you.

There are many ways to establish authority and credibility—here are just a few:

• Demonstrate expertise by sharing your knowledge about the industry or offering up some statistics about the market.

• Be honest, transparent, sincere and trustworthy. As we mentioned before—people trust those who are honest with them! Letting them know that they can trust your words will make all of this much more believable (and therefore effective).

• Show off your experience/knowledge in this field by providing examples of how previous clients have benefited from using certain services/products similar to those on offer now (and also show off how much better than competitors these same products/services are compared favorably against competitors so that customers want one over another).

Step Four: create demand.

• Create a sense of urgency

• Use scarcity

• Use social proof

• Use testimonials

• Use authority figures like experts, celebrities, or trusted names in your industry and field. They can have a huge impact on your credibility. The more authority they have, the more credible you will be perceived to be by those who don’t know you personally but trust them implicitly. Take advantage of this!

Step Five: follow up.

Once you have completed your sales pitch, it's time to follow up.

It may seem obvious, but following up with customers can be the most important part of your sales strategy. As a startup, you don't have the luxury of waiting around for someone else to make your sale happen: if you want to succeed in this competitive space and grow your company, then you will need to take action yourself.

Following up on a potential customer can be as simple as sending them an email asking how they're liking their new product or service—or it could be as complex as sending an entire package filled with items that relate directly back to what they were just looking at (and hoping they'd buy!).

Sell to the customer's best interests, not yours

When selling to a customer, it's important to remember that your best interest is not the customer's best interest. You want to sell as much product as possible at a high price. The customer wants to get the most value for their money. These two goals may be at odds with each other if you're not paying close attention!

It's easy to fall into this trap when you work with customers on a daily basis and start thinking of them as "friends." Don't do this! It will only lead down a dark path of self-delusion where you convince yourself that all your customers really want is more stuff from you, even if they say otherwise.

In order for your startup sales team (or whatever) to succeed in getting results for clients and making money for themselves, they need good sales skills—and these are acquired through training and practice over time.

Know your competition and beat it

The first step in winning the battle for your customers' hearts and wallets is to know who you are up against, and why they are winning.

To get started with this process, ask yourself: who is our competition? Is it other startups? Is it a large company that has been around for decades? What do our potential customers want from us (and from them)? Why do they buy from our competitors but not from us? How can we be better than them—in both quality of product or service and price—and still remain competitive in our niche market? And finally, how can we differentiate ourselves so that people will understand immediately what makes us different, better, special…the best in our niche!

Don't just close the sale, leave them happy to have worked with you

If you want to sell more, don't just make the sale. Leave your customers happy to have worked with you. Here are some tips on how to do that:

• Be honest about what you're selling and why. You should be upfront about things like price, delivery timeframes and return policies as soon as possible in the conversation. If there's anything that might turn a customer off—like if they have to pay for shipping on returns—be sure to let them know right away so they can make an informed decision before making the purchase. It’s also important that when someone places an order with your company, they know exactly what they are getting into (for example: “We'll send out your new product tomorrow”).

• Don't rush through conversations with customers just because they only spend 20 minutes on hold or because their account was suspended because of activity outside of their control (such as credit card fraud). Actively listen and respond appropriately during these interactions; otherwise, it could come back around at a future date when things go wrong for them due to poor communication skills on your part!

Conclusion

You don't have to be an expert salesperson to sell your product or service. All you need is a detailed buyer persona, a high-value product or service, and some great follow-up emails. And when you've got those things in place? You'll close more sales than ever before.