Back to Basics- 4 Tips to Sharpen Your Sales Skills
The marketplace has become highly competitive and saturated, which puts salespeople at the forefront more than ever.
On that note, whether you are a beginner looking to make your big break or a seasoned salesperson, it takes practice, research and years of experience to create a winning conversation. Despite the emergence of multiple sales channels left and right like web portals, B2B processes, and e-tailing, the fundamental principle of selling remains unchanged.
In that regard, if you’re hoping to sharpen your skills and refresh your knowledge with the basics, we’ve laid down essential tips to help you improve your odds of making sales conversations that sell.
1. Do Your Research
It can be tricky to pique your prospect’s interest in the first go, which is why it’s essential to warm them up first before diving into your pitch. Do your research on your target audience and learn the basics – such as their workplace, the state of their company, their role in their work, their most prominent area of focus and what they typically post on social media.
This will help you start a more educated and productive conversation to let potential customers feel like they could relate to you more.
Whether you’re planning to talk to prospects through a phone call or in-person, try to focus on establishing genuine connections with your customers. When you ask things like how they’ve been and pace your conversation, prospects may be more interested rather than repelled by your sales pitch.
2. Make a Conversation, Not a Sales Pitch
Average or top-performing reps note that the secret to a successful sale is by engaging potential customers in a conversation rather than bombarding them with your sales pitch, no matter how interesting it may seem.
Instead, what you can do is dive into their pain points and address their challenges, the efforts took to find a solution, and find ways to suggest how you or your product can help. This adds context to your products or goods, allowing customers to see the bigger picture and learn how your services can be applied to their needs.
3. Improve Your Demo Skills
For any product, the demo is a critical step in any sales process. Not only does it demonstrate your knowledge of the product, but you are able to communicate the benefits and capabilities to a prospect. Showing off the product can allow candidates to see how they can integrate it in their lives, and know if it will be readily applicable.
4. Practice Active Listening
Salespeople are known to be great communicators, but learning how to listen to prospects actively is another story. When you improve your listening skills, you’ll have a more extensive understanding of a prospect’s pain points, especially when you follow-up with relevant questions that can help create a more vibrant conversation.
Learning about how both of you can solve their problems with your products can improve your odds of a successful sale.
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.