Author: Katie Coalson

Psychology and Sales- 3 Tips You Need to Master

Many people are triggered by an emotional desire when making purchases, which is why businesses use advertisements that create compelling copies or stimulating graphics to catch people’s attention and evoke strong feelings. 

In that sense, psychological triggers are used to create sales, and when used in the correct application, it can serve as a powerful guide to help you flip your customer’s perspective and be interested in what you’re currently marketing. 

It’s not easy to fully understand the complexities of a human mind – let alone your customers’ minds, but there are tried and tested tricks that can help you close more deals. Here are a few  psychological sales tactics you can use to increase conversion rates in your business.

Tip #1: Provide Fewer Options to Your Prospect

As the saying goes, “less is more”, and it couldn’t be truer in this case. On that note, giving your prospects a diverse number of options can make things harder for them to decide since they have a lot of factors to think about. 

That’s why if you’re a business who offers a wide range of products or services, an effective way to encourage stronger call-to-action is to organize your products and services into simplified categories, and then only sell one category at a time to relevant consumers. 

This means that you will first have to thoroughly study your target audience to narrow down what type of product they will most likely be interested in. After all, a sales pitch that directly addresses their needs ensures that you hook their attention while providing fewer options allow potential customers to conclude faster. 

Tip #2: State What Customers Will Miss Out On When They Say No

All sales marketing pitches should include the highlights of your company’s products or services, which includes its benefits and how it can directly help them with their specific needs. However, many prospects tend to be hesitant, but even those kind of buyers will find it hard to decline a great opportunity. 

On that note, you have to leverage loss aversion by expounding on what the prospects will be missing out if they say no to the deal, which can be an effective tactic when used at the right moment and situation. 

Tip #3: Showcase Social Proof

There is strength in numbers, and social media presence is a powerful strategy that builds credibility and encourages your prospects to trust your brand. This is because humans are inherently social by nature, and find it easier to trust reviews from other consumers more than marketers or sales representatives. The more honest reviews you have, the more people will find your product or service valuable. On that note, you can showcase social proof by including reviews on your website or naming notable brands or influencers who are using your products. 

If you’re looking for a way to incorporate this in your sales pitch in-person, including the best-seller in your option is a great way to guide prospects towards purchasing it as people tend to trust a product that has been tried, tested and loved by other customers.

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If you’re looking for help in implementing these and other techniques, get in touch with us today for a free consultation!

We understand it can be difficult to know where to start when building a framework for sales conversations, so we’ve developed a Sales Conversation “Cheat Sheet” you can download HERE.

Good to Great- Salespeople

Top performing sales reps are not typically dramatically better at any single skill than the average salesperson. What makes the difference in performance is that they are a few points better than their peers in the areas that matter most. 

Moving from an average to great salesperson is attainable if you focus your energy on the right things. Here are a few of the main points that separate good from great salespeople. 

Listening vs. Talking

According to Gong.io, top performing reps’ talk to listen ratio is about 46%. Average salespeople are in the high 60’s. 

This indicates the importance of creating a conversation, not just a pitch. Listening to your prospect during sales conversations is crucial, especially for the first one.

To get prospects to give you longer and more detailed answers, ask questions starting with:

  • Can you help me understand …
  • Can you walk me through …
  • Can you talk to me about …
  • Can you tell me about …

The more you get prospects to talk about their pain points, the easier it will be to identify unique solutions and communicate that to them. 

Respond to Objections

When considering how you typically respond to objections, what comes to mind?

The statistics from Gong.io show that great salespeople respond to objections with questions more often (54%) than average salespeople (31%).

Try responding to an objection by asking permission to address it and offer a solution. “Can I make a suggestion?” and “Can I bounce a few thoughts off you?” are a few examples of ways you can create a space where the prospect is open to hear what you have to say.

Discussing Next Steps

Great salespeople spend about 1.53x more time discussing next steps than average reps. This includes making recommendations, asking questions, and spending more time with the buyer mapping out a set of actions to move the deal forward.

A great way to transition into this step at the end of your call is say, “What most of our clients do at this point is schedule a follow up meeting where we can go into greater detail as to how [your company] could help your business.”

The prospect needs to have a clear picture of what the next steps will be after they hang up the phone with you. Ideally, you’ll have another meeting already scheduled. 

Communicate Value

According to Forrester, executives surveyed reported that only 15 percent of sales calls add enough value. This is a crucial area in which you can stand out among other reps. 

Value is perceived in a contrasting worldview. It’s in the distance between what your prospect’s world looks like today (WITHOUT your product/service) and what their world could look like tomorrow (WITH your product/service) that they perceive value.

Asking questions starting with “What if you could” or “Imagine if” helps set up a conversation where you can show your prospects what they can do different as a result of using your product or service. 

We understand it can be difficult to know where to start when trying to communicate value in every sales conversation. That’s why we’ve created an E-book on communicating value that you can download here.

Equation of Success

If you are great in one or more of these areas and maybe struggle with objection handling, you may not see the results you are wanting or expecting. It takes a combined approach- being good at the things that matter create more sales. 

Let’s look at the math:

1+1+1+1+1=5

0+1+2+0+1=4       

The sum of consistent good performance in each area is greater than inconsistent ok/good/great performance in each area.

What if you could consistently check all the right boxes and communicate value in every sales conversation?

You can, by partnering with MasterMessaging. 

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If you need help getting your team on the same page with sales messaging and techniques, reach out and let’s find a few minutes to chat on the phone. You can email me at dkurkjian@mastermessaging.com.

5 Ways to Hook Your Audience’s Attention- Infographic

By using these techniques, you will be able to not only hold your audience’s attention longer, but they will also be able to retain more information and remember what you presented. Now the question is, did you communicate value in your messaging? Now that you know how to keep your audience’s attention, take some time to fine tune your messaging.

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We understand that it can be difficult to know where to start when improving your sales messaging. That’s why we’ve created a Sales Conversation Roadmap “Cheat Sheet” that you can download here.

Call: 678-561-6260, Email: dkurkjian@mastermessaging.com or instant message David Kurkjian on LinkedIn to start the conversation.

Prospecting- How to Cut Through the Noise

Today it is harder than ever to cut through the noise and get your prospect’s attention. Then when you manage to gain their attention, you only have a few seconds to gain their interest enough to get a follow-up conversation.

The average American is exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 messages a day, and less than 100 of those will be remembered. On top of that, human attention spans have gotten even shorter, dropping from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. There are a few approaches you can take to cut through this noise and be more noticeable to your prospects.

1. Personalize Your Communication

Have you ever gotten an email that you knew was also sent to 500 other contacts? People catch on to mass emails, and a little personalization can go a long way. The same goes for cold calls.

It’s important that you do your research before reaching out to contacts. That way, you will not only be able to better understand their needs, but the prospect will see more value in talking with you.

When sending emails, it’s important to tailor your message to the recipient and show them why you are uniquely qualified to help them. Validate yourself and find a way to show that you are credible and they can trust you. A good way to do this is finding something you have in common or someone you both know. Then, focus on communicating value by pinpointing a pain they experience and how you can alleviate that for them.

2. Communicate Value

According to Gong.io, when talking with your prospects on a first call, you have 5 seconds to earn 5 minutes. Since you only have a limited amount of time to pitch to your prospect before losing their attention, you have to find a way to communicate value immediately.

The best way to do that is create a framework that you can follow for each call. We suggest a framework that follows these 5 steps:

  1. State their goals.
  2. Elaborate on their challenges.
  3. Tell them what it means.
  4. Paint a picture of a better tomorrow.
  5. Prove you have done it before.

For a more in-depth explanation of these steps, check out our blog, “Why Your Reps are Blowing THE Most Important Sales Conversations”.

Another key to getting your prospect’s attention is to never ask for anything at first, but instead provide valuable content. When reaching out through email or social media, the first thing you do shouldn’t be asking for a conversation. You need to offer a valuable piece of content like a free e-book or helpful blog article with no expectations from them. This builds their trust and helps establish you as an industry expert.

3. Be Where Your Audience Is

When doing social media prospecting, it’s important to be aware of what social platforms your ideal prospect is on. Here are some statistics from Pew Research Center on usage of each social channel by age.


Facebook

Twitter

Another thing to keep in mind is knowing the right times to contact leads. For both contacting and qualifying leads, you have a 114% to 164% greater chance of success by calling during the optimal hours of 8-9 AM and 4-5 PM, than during the worst times (11 AM – 2 PM).

4. Less is More

Nearly 70 percent of an organization’s product information can be found by a B2B buyer doing their own research. If you have too much information on your website, buyers can feel stressed and overwhelmed. If they are doing their research before a conversation, you want your buyers to have a clear picture of your offering before they talk to you.

When it comes to emails, the shorter the better. An easy way to keep it short and to the point would be to write as if you were talking to your prospects in person. Read the email out loud before sending to make sure it reads well and communicates your message clearly.

When talking with a prospect, you need to keep your wording simple and easy to understand. Prospects don’t want to take the time and extra effort to understand a complicated message, so you have to make it simple enough that a 6th grader could understand what you are saying.

Next Steps

Now that you know how to cut through the noise, it’s imperative that you take it one step further and provide a valuable interaction that leads to a follow-up conversation. The best way to do that is have a messaging framework prepared that communicates value to your prospect during every conversation.

Getting sales teams on the same page on how to deliver high value conversations is no easy task.

That’s where MasterMessaging comes in.

Our custom messaging solutions are strategically scripted, cadenced, and executed to increase conversion rates for maximum impact on your company’s revenue and profits. If needed we can also increase lead volume. Our system fits seamlessly with your existing sales process to ensure successful adoption & smooth rollout throughout your entire organization.

The content of our training workshops is taught by a 35-year sales veteran who specializes in elevating value by understanding the science of decision-making. Every rep will walk away with mastery of a conversation framework scientifically proven to communicate high value in every conversation they have with prospects and customers.

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We’d like to offer you a free e-book to help you communicate value in your sales conversations. Click HERE to download.

Call: 678-561-6260, Email: dkurkjian@mastermessaging.com or instant message David Kurkjian on LinkedIn to start the conversation.