Most salespeople wonder what the secrets are to becoming great at their jobs.

The basic tips are common knowledge, like how to prepare for your sales meetings, how to create an effective pitch, or how to follow up and close the deal; but you can go from being good to great by making subtle changes in your sales process.

From all the blogs I've made on these different topics, I've selected and compiled the top six secrets that will turn you into a sales superstar.

1. Getting Yourself In The Right Headspace

To give a great demo, the mindset you should have is that you are not selling - you're communicating value to your prospect or customer about a product that you really believe in. You know that your product is going to help them and make their lives better.

Your demo will go a lot better and come across much more authentically if you approach it from that mindset.

Imagine yourself going on the best vacation in the world. Maybe it was a trip to Hawaii, and you want to tell your friend how awesome this trip was. Imagine how you would talk about that vacation. The tone you use when you're telling a story you really believe in is really authentic, and it makes you communicate in a different way.

It’s the same thing when you're selling your product or service. You know how valuable your product is and you've seen a hundred other customers benefit and get a lot of value from it. It’s your job to convey this confidence to your prospect.

2. Getting Prospects To See Business Value

A lot of reps are really good at talking about their product’s features, but sometimes they get stuck there. The next step is to get your prospects to understand this:

“Our product does ________ , (feature) which allows you to do ________ , (benefit) and that means ________ in terms of real business value.”

Getting them to see and believe this value chain, and connect those dots is what you're doing in a sale . If they believe they're going to get that business value and that is worth much more than what the product costs, then this is a no-brainer decision and you'll get action out of them.

For example, I'm the CEO of Badger Maps, which is an app for field salespeople. We optimize a field salesperson’s route and help them build an efficient schedule. To make my prospects see the business value they’d get with our service, I would say: “The Badger Map has the ability to optimize your route and help you build a schedule for your day.”

The benefit is that they end up saving time and driving a better route, so they end up driving fewer miles and seeing more customers.

What is the business value of that? I would ask the prospect: “What is your sales reps time really worth and how much more would your sales reps sell with two more meetings every single day?”

If that business value is worth a lot more than the product that you're selling, then half of your sales job is done.

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3. People Hate Losing Things

You always want to position things as a loss, as opposed to a potential gain.

Different studies show that people hate losing things, but they aren't as bothered by giving up potential gains.

You need to show the return in cash that they will lose if they don't buy your product. This way, you’ll boost your chances of closing the deal.

4. Don't Wait For Your Prospects To Raise Objections

Keep in mind that, once a prospect has taken a stand and made an objection, it's an uphill battle to make them change their stance. At this point, you're already in an argumentative frame in your interaction.

That’s why you should raise the objection first and deal with it. This way, you own the objection and it's easier to overcome. In addition, it shows that you understand your prospect and that you’re aligned with their thoughts.

The prospect will say in their mind: “He understands! I was gonna raise this objection anyway. I was concerned about the price and he just brought it up.”

5. “Which Is It?”

The next time your prospect tells you “let me think about it”, gauge their interest.

You can push back on the objection gently and say (in a measured way): “Mr. Prospect, when someone tells me that they have to think about it, they're telling me that from one of these two reasons: One, they're not interested in us. Two, they are interested, but not sure. Which is it?”

By asking “which is it?” you put your prospect in a position where they feel they need to answer this question because it's a reasonable one. If they say “I'm not interested, honestly.” Then you're done. You're not going to get a deal here.

But most people will reply by saying “Well, Steve, I'm interested but I'm just not sure”, which means that you missed something during your presentation or the sales process. At some point, you didn't demonstrate enough value. You either didn't address a key issue, or you didn't tackle an objection sufficiently.

6. Follow Up: The Best Kept Secret

Finally, I'm going to give you one of the best kept secrets. Something to say during your sales meeting that will help you get a response out of your prospect and keep them engaged throughout the sales cycle.

During the meeting, I like to say something like “Mr. Prospect, what is the best way for us to keep in touch on this? I'm guessing you get like 200-300 emails a day like I do. Is email the best way for us to be in contact or is there something else I can do? Is there a special thing I can put in the subject line to make sure my emails will stand out?”

By asking permission to follow up and asking the prospect what works best for them, you lower your odds of being an annoyance and, most importantly, you hear right from the horse's mouth what's the most effective way to reach them.

As you can see, it’s really easy to implement these 6 techniques in your sales process. Go one step further than the average salesperson and see how the game changes for you.