There’s a huge misconception that sales techniques are only important for slick-haired, sleazy salespeople.
WRONG.
We all use sales in our daily lives — often without knowing it:
- Convincing a friend to try a new restaurant 🍲
- Negotiating a raise… or a big discount on a product 💰
- Closing a huge deal (and getting a big bonus) 💸
If you learn key sales skills, you can save thousands of dollars, make more money, and become more successful.
Today, I’m going to show you sales methods and techniques you can use in your daily life.
Anton Sepetov is one of the best salespeople I know.
Anton joined AppSumo as a junior salesperson 5+ years ago. He climbed the ladder quickly — and today, he’s the VP of Sales for our 8-figure company.
In this post, Anton shares his best sales tips. You’ll learn:
- Why communication is key to sales — and how to do it effectively
- Sales techniques that work: How to write killer cold sales emails (and more)
- How your team can leverage top selling techniques… and make your biz more money
Check out 5 sales tips in today’s post below. Or, press “play” listen to the full interview.
| BONUS: 14 tips from the world’s best salesperson |
5 Sales Techniques From the Best in the Business
1. Communicate effectively
“To whom it may concern.” LAME. 👎
“We are a high-leverage growth specializing in dynamic opportunities.” Zzzzzz… 😴
“Sir, I am interested in being a recruiter to help you enjoy top selling techniques for personal gain.” Goodbye. 👋
If I receive an email that’s written in “professional business speak” I delete it.
Or, sometimes I just straight up respond “tl;dr.”
One of the BIGGEST mistakes people make in sales is writing like a medieval scholar.
Even though Anton joined Sumo with little sales experience, he excelled at writing personably.
In other words, Anton wrote with the same kindness, fun, and warmth a friend would write.
To communicate effectively, write like you’re talking to a friend face-to-face.
For example, check out the intros on any of my podcast episodes and you’ll hear casual openings:
- “What’s up, party people”
- “What up, everyone”
- “What’s up, everybody”
Or, check out this example from Will on the Sumo team who starts a sales email with a reference to a common interest.
Will uses different sales techniques to stand out amongst all the crappy cut-and-paste email scripts.
When you’re trying to network, sell, or form a new connection, communicate in casual terms you would use with friends.
2. Love what you do
This isn’t going to be a cheesy “how to find your passion” butterflies and rainbows tip. 🌈
Instead, we’re going to talk about reality.
Anton didn’t dream of becoming a salesperson when he was a kid. He didn’t stay up all night studying sales techniques, and sales isn’t the love of his life.
Even when he started at AppSumo, Anton wasn’t sure sales was 100% for him.
Hearing about sales techniques examples brought sleazy car salespeople to mind. 🚗
But Anton started experimenting… and quickly saw the results. 💰💰💰
The more I was doing sales, the more I saw that what I was doing is bringing money into the company and growing the company. The more I really enjoyed sales.
As a salesperson, everything you do directly impacts company growth.
Passion comes from success and seeing results.
Success creates a cycle.
More success leads to more passion, which leads to more success…
This is how extremely successful businesses, like Bare Performance Nutrition, have grown.
3. Write killer sales emails
If you want results, you need to put in the time.
Think of each cold email you write an investment. If you’re putting in no time, you should expect nothing back.
Writing sales emails isn’t easy, but when you’re a pro like Anton, you pick up a few sales tips along the way.
Here are 3 of the biggest email sales techniques you can learn from Anton.
- Don’t pitch right away. Make the whole email about them. For example, check out the email opening from our Sumo sales team below. Notice how the first sentence of the email is ENTIRELY focused on the prospect (and it’s personalized).
- Have a clear call to action. Don’t make the reader think “what should I do next?” Give them clear instruction, and make it simple. For example, check out the email I sent to my list below. There’s only one link.
- Keep it short. You’ve got the reader’s attention for 2 sentences. Don’t waste their time. Keep your messages short, succinct and to the point. Here’s another example from Sumo.
| BONUS: Get the 5 cold email templates we used to grow Sumo to $5 million |
4. Don’t give up
One of things shocking about e-mail sales was 50% of responses come on my second email.
If you’re giving up after just one email, you could be missing out on 50% more potential leads, money, and sales. 📈
Plus, if you think your email can help the other person, you owe it to yourself to try and get it seen.
The great thing about email follow-ups is they can be super simple.
The goal of a follow-up is to get your original message to the top of the prospect’s inbox and grab their attention, so you don’t need to say much.
For example, buying the domain name Sumo.com took us 7 years.
Here’s the first email I sent.
If I stopped there, I would have never ended up with Sumo.com.
It took hundreds of emails, multiple brokers, and 7 years before we finally landed the deal.
Persistence is king.
I followed-up hundreds of times over the course of 7 years to finally land the deal.
Never give up after just one email.
5. Don’t settle for a subpar deal
Most people settle for mediocrity. For example:
- Sticking with the same job, same company, same role because it’s “good enough”
- Charging customers less because you’re scared to ask for more
- Paying full price for everything because you’re too nervous to negotiate
Most people don’t negotiate because they’re afraid the other party will walk away.
But what Anton’s learned about negotiating over the past 5+ years is pretty simple…
You have to be okay losing a bad deal.
Having the clout to walk away if something isn’t the right fit is how you can focus more on what is the right fit. It’s how we’ve grown Sumo to 8-figures.
Bonus: 3 sales books everyone should read
I know how much y’all love book recommendations, so I asked Anton to share 3 sales books he thinks everyone should read.
Here are Anton’s top 3 sales books:
- The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge
- The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes (here are my notes)
- To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink
And if you want to learn…
- How Anton was promoted from a junior salesperson to the VP of Sales in 5 years 🕴️
- Sales methods and techniques to improve your business (and life) 💰
- Crazy examples of sales in daily life — including the story of an engagement ring 💍
Check out the podcast episode below. You’ll learn the best sales techniques and so much more.
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6 responses to “Sales Tips for Your Business and Daily Life — with Anton Sepetov”
I like how a good sales process is more about the customer than what we have to offer.
I guess giving them free advice, or directing them to a competitor when their needs are outside of the expertise of our business might help build a relationship which could prove useful over the long term, even if it might prevent a sale in the short run.
good email marketing techniques and useful approach for sales.
thanks for sharing this valuable information.
Loved this, Noah. The follow-up email was my key takeaway. In implementing it, my response rate went from single digits to multiples of double digits. 🙂 You’re awesome. No Lie (2 Chainz/Drake).
Once again, cool share. The short and sweet (2 lines) for emailing is such a good reminder. Cheers
Cool dude! Just wanted I needed.
Faraz
“You have to be okay losing a bad deal.” Was hard to learn it the hard way. Great list of tips guys!