Maybe you’re new to selling for the company you work for. You could have some experience in the industry, or it’s a brand-new world to you.

When that happens, it can feel like a huge mountain to climb – to learn everything you should know in order to talk to prospective customers and move them towards being a paid/paying customer.

Feeling Overwhelmed by Sales

In the times I have been new or starting to work with a new client and learning the details and language used can feel like a lot. Especially when I hear other experienced salespeople talk to customers, it’s like listening to someone speak a foreign language.

(If you are not new… keep reading anyway!)

Two Types of New Salespeople

In this scenario that every new salesperson faces, I see two different types of people:

1. The Worried Learner
   The one who feels like they need to learn more and are worried they won’t say the right things or know what to say during the conversations, with the most pre-panic feelings focused on ‘what if they ask me a question I cannot answer?’ ‘what if you have an objection and I mess it up?’
2. The Overconfident Improviser
   The other group is more ‘just put me in, I am great at talking to people and I will just wing it.’

Winging it and making stuff up is never a good strategy. But somewhere in between those two modes is where I feel it is ideal.

Let me explain.

Yes – it is always good to have correct answers, lots of product details available, and professional/effective objection responses. But that is only part of what it takes to close sales.

The main part that each prospective customer is looking for is to work with someone they trust will help them achieve what they are wanting help with.

Building Trust Through Care and Empathy

To achieve that, they have to know you care about them as a person (and their business, if applicable), their situation, their past attempts to reach their goal, and their goal itself.

To do that you have to ask questions and actually listen from a place of empathy.

If you have been in some form of sales in the past, but are new to this product – you have most everything you need to get people moving forward.

Yes, you will need product info, technical details, and expertise about your product(s). That part is easy to solve for. Some of it will come over time as you learn more and more.

And… this is my favorite line/advice to new salespeople – when in doubt, find an adult!

Meaning, if you are in a sales conversation and need help with answering questions, offering the best advice, etc. – find an experienced salesperson or manager to jump in and help with that part.

Prospects Want Help, Not Perfection

Remember – your prospect doesn’t need YOU to be the expert. They just want to get help in whatever form that takes. If it takes a village to help them – then gather the whole tribe to get it done.

Bringing in other people to help your prospect will actually go a long way with that prospect – because it shows that you:
a) Care about helping them no matter what it takes, and
b) You aren’t one of those know-it-all-slick-perfect salespeople they are worried about.

So jump into your sales conversations sooner than you think you might be ready, and then use your resources like kids who go bowling with the gutter bumpers sticking out.

For the Sales Pros: Less is More

Now… for the sales pros reading this… just because you know everything doesn’t mean you should use it. So many people in sales do the ‘show up and throw up,’ word salad sales mode – either because they want to show how much they know as a way to build trust, or because they don’t know better.

Be careful not to talk a lot, and watch the big, fancy technical words unless you are talking to a technical prospect who knows what the words mean. There is a lot of value to knowing less – or at least, saying less and avoiding overexplaining.