Leading sales conversations are not as straightforward as it seems. Fortunately, both seasoned and beginner sellers can increase their conversion rates by following a simple formula that is scalable for everyone within the industry.
The key is to understand the target market and focus on how your product can solve a problem, rather than selling a solution. Additionally, establishing a clear goal beforehand is crucial, followed by using guidance to encourage prospects to make fast decisions rather than delaying their intent to purchase. To that end, here are some tried and true techniques that can improve your sales conversations:
Tip #1: Ask Questions
Asking questions is an excellent way of uncovering a prospect’s pain points and determining how your product can offer solutions that resonate with their current problems. It is also a subtle way of controlling the conversation as the progression naturally flows to your goal, which is to highlight your product’s ability to solve their problem.
To start, list at least three common challenges your target market find common. If they bite the hook, reel them in by digging deeper and be sure to listen when they respond in kind. You can enhance their engagement by adding small remarks and nod in appropriate areas to help encourage your prospects to share more details about any of the issues they would like to solve. This helps establish a genuine conversation where all parties are invested.
Tip #2: Dictate the Terms of the Interaction
Many sales representatives within the industry follow the age-old wisdom to mirror their prospects. This means that the conversation is typically lead by the candidates, while you as a rep should follow suit using their tone and body language to create a relatable image. While mirroring is a useful tactic, you also need to make sure you are dictating the flow of the conversation.
Top salespeople that dictate the flow of the conversation found that their influence on prospects has increased by up to 13% on average. Placing the rhythm of the sales conversations in your hands also enables you to encourage candidates to make decisions on the spot and makes a positive impact on their win rates.
Tip #3: Integrate Therapist-Grade Listening Skills
A powerful and effective sales conversation includes more listening than talking. In a recent study on top performers, representatives that achieve high remarks and land winning pitches use a 46:54 talk-to-listen ration. This means that the secret to stimulating conversations includes talking less than 50%, while low performers are discovered to dominate a mind-numbing rate of 72%.
Combined with the skill of active listening and the ability to hold back from jumping in between your prospect’s pauses enables you to gather more productive and valuable information. This is essential in building rapport and establishing secure connections with your clients, which ultimately influences how they will respond to your sales points.
If you’re looking for help in implementing these and other techniques, get in touch with us today for a free consultation!
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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.