33 Sales Tips & Techniques

There’s no single secret to selling well. But there are habits, mindsets and techniques that consistently separate the salespeople who hit their targets from those who don’t. This post pulls together 33 of them.
There’ll be something in here for everyone; whether you’re brand new to sales or you’ve been doing it for years. Some of it might challenge how you currently work. Some of it might remind you of something you already know but have quietly stopped doing.

In this post, we will cover:

• The mindset shifts that make the biggest difference to long term performance
• Practical sales tips for prospecting, presenting and following up
• How to build stronger relationships and create more value for your customers
• Sales techniques for handling objections, building urgency and closing more effectively
• How to stay sharp, motivated and ahead of the competition

What Makes A Good Sales Tip Actually Work? 

The internet isn’t short of sales advice. A quick search will throw up hundreds of lists, frameworks and formulas all promising to transform your results. The problem isn’t a lack of tips but knowing which ones are actually worth your time and, more importantly, doing something with them.

The tips in this post aren’t theoretical. They come from over two decades of working with sales teams across the UK and beyond, in businesses of every size and sector. Some will challenge you. Some will make you think differently about something you thought you already had nailed. A few might make you a bit uncomfortable, which is usually a sign they’re worth paying attention to.

The goal isn’t to overwhelm you with 33 things to change by Monday. Pick the ones that resonate, apply them consistently, and come back to the rest when you’re ready.

33 Sales Tips and Techniques 

Mindset and Attitude

The way you think about selling shapes everything else. Before technique, before process, before product knowledge, your mindset is the foundation everything else is built on. These tips are about getting that foundation right. 

1. Focus on what you can control, not on what you cannot

Worrying about market conditions, a difficult competitor or a prospect who’s gone quiet won’t move you forward. Your energy is better spent on the things you can actually influence; the calls you make, the preparation you do, the attitude you bring to every interaction. That focus compounds over time. 

2. Invest in the continual development of your skills

The salespeople who plateau are usually the ones who stopped learning. Markets change, buyers change, and the techniques that worked three years ago don’t always land the same way today. Investing in the right training is one of the most direct ways to close that gap, take a look at our article on Choosing the Right Sales Training Provider if you’re thinking about that. And treat your own development as seriously as you treat your targets. 

3. Be realistically optimistic

Positivity in sales isn’t about ignoring reality. It’s about choosing where you direct your attention. A realistic optimist sees what isn’t working and fixes it. Developing your emotional intelligence is one of the most underrated things a salesperson can work on and one of the biggest differentiators between those who close consistently and those who don’t. 

4. Keep building your self belief

Confidence isn’t something you either have or you don’t. It’s something you build deliberately through preparation, through practice, and through taking stock of what you’re actually doing well. Low self-belief is one of the quietest killers of sales performance. 

5. Learn from every experience

When a sale goes well, understand why so you can repeat it. When it doesn’t, work out what you’d do differently rather than just moving on to the next call. The salespeople who improve fastest are the ones who treat every interaction as something to learn from. 

Prospecting and Pipeline

A strong pipeline doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of deliberate habits, consistent activity and knowing exactly who you’re trying to reach and when. These tips are about building and maintaining a pipeline that gives you real opportunities to work with. 

6. Prospect at the right level within the business

Find out who the decision maker is before you make contact and not during the call. The MAN framework is a useful starting point for making sure you’re always talking to the right person. Going in at the wrong level costs you time and can close doors that are harder to reopen. Do the groundwork upfront so you’re speaking to someone who can actually say yes. 

7. Discover your prospect’s buying cycles

Not every prospect is ready to buy when you first reach them. Understanding when they’re likely to be in the market lets you time your approach properly, rather than hitting every lead the moment it comes in and wondering why the conversion rate isn’t moving. 

8. Practice your prospecting calls

Role play feels uncomfortable for most salespeople. Do it anyway. Practising with a colleague or manager in a low-stakes environment means you’re not figuring out your cold outreach openers on a live prospect. The more you rehearse, the more natural the real thing feels. 

9. Keep your CRM system up to date

A CRM system that isn’t being maintained isn’t being used as a sales tool but simply a list of names. Keeping it current gives you reasons to follow up, shows you where each prospect sits in the process and makes sure nothing gets missed when your pipeline gets busy.

10. Have a robust follow up system

Most sales don’t happen on the first contact. Having a structured, consistent approach to following up means you’re not leaving potential business to chance. Know when you’ll follow up, how you’ll do it and what you’ll say before you need to say it. 

Building Relationships and Trust

Sales isn’t a transaction. It’s a series of interactions that either build or erode trust over time. The salespeople who consistently win and retain business are the ones who treat every contact as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship not just advance the sale.

11. Build trust at every touchpoint

Every interaction you have with a prospect or client either adds to or takes away from the trust they have in you. Things like a prompt reply to an email, a follow-up when you said you would, a useful piece of information they weren’t expecting are all small things accumulate. They matter more than most salespeople realise.

12. Keep in touch with past clients

A client you haven’t spoken to in six months is a client someone else is probably talking to. Find reasons to reconnect that are genuinely useful to them rather than just checking in for the sake of it. An interesting article, a relevant industry update or a simple acknowledgement of something happening in their business can be enough to reopen a conversation.

13. Become a valuable resource to your clients

The best salespeople aren’t just selling. They’re sharing insights, flagging opportunities and helping their clients think through challenges they haven’t fully got to grips with yet. When you become genuinely useful beyond the sale itself, you stop being a supplier and start being someone they actually rely on.

14. Have a process for asking for referrals

Most salespeople wait for referrals to come to them. The ones who grow their pipeline fastest have a deliberate approach by asking at the right moment rather than leaving it to chance. A satisfied client who’s just had a great experience is far more likely to recommend you than one you approach six months down the line.

15. Think of every connection as a relationship building exercise

If your only goal in a sales conversation is to close the deal in front of you, you’re leaving a lot of longer-term business on the table. Clients who trust you come back. They refer others. They give you the benefit of the doubt when things don’t go perfectly. That’s worth far more than any single transaction.

Sales Conversations and Presentations

Getting in front of a prospect is only half the battle. What happens during the conversation is where most sales are won or lost. These tips are about showing up prepared, listening properly and making every interaction feel relevant to the person in front of you. 

16. Have a clear purpose for everything you do

Whether it’s a cold call, a follow-up email or a face-to-face meeting, know what you want to achieve before it starts. Not just “to check in” or “to touch base” but a specific outcome you’re working towards. Vague intentions produce vague results. 

17. Have an end result in mind for every contact

This sits alongside having a clear purpose but goes a step further. Before every interaction, ask yourself what a successful outcome actually looks like. What do you want the prospect to think, feel or do differently as a result of speaking with you? That clarity shapes everything about how you approach the conversation. 

18. Tailor every presentation to the specific needs of the prospect

If your sales pitch could have been delivered to anyone, it’ll land with no one. Prospects can tell within minutes whether you’ve done your homework or whether you’re running through a standard deck. Personalise your approach, reference what you know about their situation and make it feel like it was built for them specifically. 

19. Improve your listening skills

Listening is a skill most salespeople underestimate and underinvest in. And it starts long before the meeting. It starts when you’re preparing for a sales call. Pay attention to what’s being said, what isn’t being said and what the other person actually needs from the conversation, rather than just waiting for your turn to speak. 

20. Do not sound desperate

Desperation is one of the most damaging things a salesperson can project, and prospects pick up on it faster than you might think. It shows up in over-explaining, discounting too quickly and following up too aggressively. Stay confident in the value of what you’re offering and let that do the work. 

21. Rely on experts to help you

No salesperson succeeds entirely alone. Know who in your business can help (whether that’s a technical specialist, a senior colleague or your manager) and bring them in at the right moment. Using the right people at the right time is a sign of strength, not weakness. 

Value and Objections

Getting a prospect interested is one thing. Keeping that interest alive, handling the pushback and making sure price never becomes the whole conversation is where many sales are actually won or lost. These tips are about building a case for your solution that’s strong enough to withstand scrutiny. 

22. Remember that buyers buy results, not products

Nobody buys a product or service for what it is. They buy it for what it does for them. Shift your focus away from features and towards the specific outcomes your prospect is trying to achieve. The more clearly you can paint that picture, the easier the decision becomes. 

23. Build value in your solution before you talk about price

Price only becomes a problem when value hasn’t been established. If a prospect is pushing back on cost, it’s usually a sign they haven’t yet seen clearly enough what they’re getting in return. Slow down, go back to the value conversation and make sure the case for your solution is solid before price enters the room. 

24. Put the emphasis on value rather than price

Prospects will always look to lower your price if they don’t see specific value in what you’re offering. Your job is to make the value so clear and so relevant to their situation that price becomes a secondary consideration and not the starting point for every conversation. 

25. Know more about your competition than your customers do

Being caught off guard by a competitor’s offer in front of a prospect is an avoidable situation. Stay close to what the competition is doing, what they’re offering and how they’re positioning themselves. That knowledge means you can handle comparisons confidently rather than being thrown by them. 

26. Uncover potential objections early

Don’t wait for objections to surface at the end of a conversation after you’ve already invested significant time qualifying and presenting. Ask the questions that bring concerns to the surface early and deal with them before they become the reason a prospect doesn’t move forward. 

27. Practice dealing with objections in a safe environment

Objection handling is a skill and like any skill it needs practice. Work through the most common objections you face with a colleague or manager before they come up on a real call. The more prepared you are, the more confident and natural your response will feel when it counts. 

28. Build a sense of urgency into your discussions

Many prospects have genuine interest but no compelling reason to act now. Without urgency, decisions get delayed, momentum fades and the sale quietly disappears. Find honest, legitimate reasons why acting sooner is in their best interest. Creating urgency in sales isn’t about pressure, instead it’s about relevance. 

29. Recognise that buyers have access to more information than ever before

Your prospect has likely already looked into your product, your company and your competitors before they speak to you. That changes the nature of the conversation. The future of selling belongs to salespeople who bring insight and perspective that a Google search simply can’t replicate. 

 

 

Closing and Pipeline Growth

A lot of salespeople treat closing like it’s the main event, the moment where everything comes together. But by the time you get there, the work is already done. How well you close comes down to how well you’ve handled everything leading up to it. These tips are about converting that groundwork into actual business and keeping your pipeline healthy long after the deal is done. 

30. Prospect and build your pipeline from existing customers

Your current customers already trust you. They know how you work and they’ve seen what you deliver. So before you go chasing new logos, take a look at who’s already in your contact list. The people most likely to buy from you again are the ones you’ve already done right by. 

31. Accept rejection as a normal part of the sales cycle

You won’t win every deal. The sooner that stops being a source of frustration and just becomes a fact of the job, the better you’ll perform. A lost deal isn’t a verdict on you as a salesperson, it’s information. Work out what you’d do differently and carry that into the next one. 

32. Build your knowledge of technology and how it is changing buying behaviour

The way people research, evaluate and make decisions has shifted a lot in a short space of time. Keeping up with AI tools for sales and understanding how they’re changing the buying process isn’t really optional anymore. It’s just part of doing the job properly. 

33. Know when to ask for the business

Many salespeople do everything right (build rapport, demonstrate value, handle objections) and then hesitate at the moment that matters most. Closing doesn’t have to feel pushy. If you’ve done the groundwork properly, asking for the business is a natural next step, not a pressure tactic. Pay attention to buying signals, trust your process and don’t talk yourself out of the close when all the signs are pointing in the right direction.

 

 

The Difference Is In The Doing 

33 tips is a lot to take in at once. The temptation is to read through, nod along and then carry on doing exactly what you were already doing. Try to resist that.

Pick two or three from this list that genuinely challenge how you currently work. Apply them consistently over the next few weeks and see what shifts. Then come back and pick a few more.

A few things worth taking away from this post:

• Mindset is the foundation. Technique built on top of the wrong attitude will only get you so far
• Preparation and process are not optional extras. They are what separates consistent performers from inconsistent ones
• Buyers have more information and more choices than ever before. The salespeople who win are the ones who add something a Google search cannot
• Relationships built on genuine value outlast any single transaction
• The best salespeople never stop developing. Curiosity and consistency are as important as any closing technique

Our Sales Training Courses are built around real world selling that gets real results. If you want training tailored specifically to your business and how your team sells, our In-House Training is designed around your exact requirements. And if you’re not sure where your gaps are, our Sales Assessments will give you a clear and honest picture of where to focus. 

 

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training