Seller or cashier: building sales that make people want to buy

A familiar situation: you come for a product or service, explain why you need it, address your own doubts, and the seller still answers in monosyllables. In the MakeSales group this is described with sales coach Arkady Kavaleryan's words: "These aren't sellers, they're cashiers." Let's look at what makes a seller.

A sale goes in stages

In the #ProПродажи training podcast series Arkady and I broke a sale down step by step. Different schools name the stages differently, the essence is the same:

• build rapport and earn the right to ask questions;
• uncover the need: what the person wants to solve and why now;
• present the solution as benefits for this customer, not a list of specs;
• handle objections;
• close the deal and agree on the next step.

Most sales break at stage two. The seller skips the questions and jumps into the product. The customer hears a monologue about someone else's product and leaves "to think".

"Too expensive" doesn't mean "no"

"Too expensive" means the value isn't visible yet. You answer it with arguments, not a discount: what the price includes, what the customer loses without a solution, how you differ from the cheap option. You can add service, installments or a guarantee.

“Business is about solving problems and knowing how to negotiate.

If a seller is tired of "too expensive" and doesn't even try, the problem isn't the price.

A price in the post is normal

A topic that keeps coming up in the group: posts without a price and "price?" comments under each one. Stating the price, handling one objection right in the text, showing what problem the product solves and what the solution costs is normal practice. A customer who can't find the price often goes to a competitor, even a more expensive but more open one.

The habit that makes a seller

The cure for "cashiers" is well known: role-play. 2-3 times a day, briefly, until the person playing the buyer genuinely wants to buy. It's boring, but this is how a script turns into a real conversation.

• Write down real customer objections for a week.
• Act them out in pairs every day.
• Switch roles: a seller benefits from being a buyer.
• Once a week, listen to call recordings as a team.

The sales presentation

A good presentation answers the customer's questions before they ask: what it is, who it's for, what I get, what it costs, why I can trust you. Exact client figures don't belong in a public deck, they are usually confidential. Results in percentages, reviews and clear cases are enough.

Where to practise

Sales skills grow best in live conversation. MakeSales Meet gatherings have an open mic: you can present your product and get instant feedback from entrepreneurs, marketers and salespeople.