Top 10 Ways to Become Better at Sales

Hello!

If you struggle with sales, there are several practical steps you can take to improve your results. Not everyone enjoys selling. In fact, many people actively dislike it—often because they’ve had unpleasant experiences with pushy salespeople who refuse to take no for an answer. You know the type.

Consequently, the last thing you want is to come across the same way. The challenge is that launching and growing a business requires learning to do something most people find uncomfortable. At some point you will need to sell your product or service, even if only to generate enough revenue to hire someone who can take this task off your plate.

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The good news is you don’t have to be a “Wolf of Wall Street” character to sell effectively. You don’t need a psychology degree or Jedi mind-trick training (although a little psychology and self-belief certainly help). You don’t even have to enjoy selling. You simply need to ask the right questions, listen actively, and demonstrate how you can solve a customer’s problem. People don’t want to be sold to; they want their specific issues resolved. That’s how to excel at sales even when it isn’t your natural strength.

Here are ten tried-and-tested tips to help you become better at sales in 2026.

1. Know your audience and customers

The most important part of selling is understanding exactly who your target audience is. Trying to sell to an audience that is too broad wastes time, energy and money. You can’t be everything to everyone, so focus on the people most likely to benefit from what you offer.

The most effective way to achieve this is by creating customer personas—semi-fictional representations of your ideal clients based on answers to the following questions (shown here as a B2B example, though the same approach works for B2C):

1. What type of company is the right fit for your product?
2. How big are these businesses?
3. How much revenue do they generate?
4. Where are they located?
5. Can your product help solve their problem?
6. Why would they need your product or service?
7. Do they have the budget to buy your product or service?
8. Who are the decision-makers?
9. Where do they spend time online?
10. What social media channels do they use?
11. Which conferences and industry events do they attend?

2. Get to know your target customers

Building customer personas helps you understand how your target audience behaves when making purchases. People react differently depending on the size of the investment. Buying a bar of chocolate, for example, is far more impulsive than purchasing a new Rolex, and the same principle applies to B2B decisions.

Software priced under $100 per month may be an easy purchase, whereas new equipment worth $100,000 requires a much more involved process. The sales cycle for high-value items is significantly longer than for low-priced products because the perceived risk is greater. Clients need more nurturing, reassurance and convincing.

Studying customer behaviour also informs pricing. If prospects question the quality of your offering, your prices may be too low. If they question the price itself, it may be too high—in which case you can either adjust it or improve how you justify the investment.

3. Set goals

Identify which areas of your sales process need improvement and where you struggle most. Write them down and create actionable steps to address them. If your phone selling needs work, set a target of making a specific number of calls each day or week. Remember, in the early stages this is often a process of trial and error. Discover what works best for you and your potential clients.

Setting goals provides focus and helps you direct your time and energy effectively. Always keep goals realistic; otherwise they can become demotivating.

4. Work on your confidence

Among all skills, confidence is the most critical. You may have the best techniques in the world, yet without confidence the sale simply won’t happen.

Whether you meet clients in person or speak with them on the phone, people quickly sense a lack of confidence. This in turn undermines their trust in you and your business. Confidence comes from knowing your product inside out, asking the right questions and understanding when to stay silent.

5. Ask the right questions

Every purchase is driven by a reason. Business buyers usually face a problem that needs solving. The customer has an issue, and your product or service is the solution. Empathy is a powerful sales tool. Before launching into a pitch, discover what challenges the customer is experiencing. Listen carefully, practise active listening, and be ready to explain exactly how you can resolve those issues.

When bestselling author and marketing expert Guy Kawasaki was asked about the most valuable qualities in a salesperson, he placed empathy at the very top of the list.

6. Never assume anything

Nothing in sales is guaranteed. Never assume how much a customer is willing to pay or that a deal is already secured. Don’t even assume they have heard of you.

Enter every sales conversation with the goal of learning about the prospect. Present your product or service, uncover their motivations and clarify their purchasing criteria.

7. Love your customers

Love your customers and they will love you back. People are more connected than ever to the brands they favour. Thanks to social media, they are also more influential. If they dislike you, their 500 Facebook friends and countless hashtag followers on X (formerly Twitter) will hear about it.

Customers shape your reputation. While you can’t please everyone all the time, do everything possible—especially in the early days—to deliver an exceptional experience that clients will happily review and recommend.

Answer questions promptly, respond to feedback, handle complaints effectively and reward loyal customers. It’s basic customer service, yet it goes a long way toward building your brand and making future sales much easier.

8. Be seen, be heard

Once you’ve established a connection with a prospect or customer, stay visible. Be present wherever they are. Never give anyone the chance to forget you.

Send newsletters, keep your profiles updated and publish regular blog posts. The more consistently you remain on someone’s radar, the more receptive they will be when they are ready to buy.

9. Shout about success

Nothing builds credibility like a well-placed name drop or impressive statistic. If you have achieved notable successes, share them. Tell prospects about high-profile clients and explain how your product or service improved results for a similar company. You don’t need to boast—simply present the facts in a “this is what we do” manner.

Doing so demonstrates your expertise and provides proof that you know what you’re doing and that your offering delivers results.

10. Become an expert in the craft

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell notes that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill. Author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss believes world-class proficiency in any discipline can be reached in six months or less. The key point is that becoming an expert salesperson requires consistent practice.

Every day presents an opportunity to learn and improve. Study other salespeople, adopt new techniques and test fresh strategies. From presentation to negotiation, hundreds—if not thousands—of sales methods exist. Dedicate time to studying sales and practising in real scenarios, and the results will speak for themselves.

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