All sales processes are pretty much the same. You contact the lead, present, address objections and close. In larger organizations, there may be several presentations, each with their own set of objections. But within that workflow, top performing salespeople use a few simple techniques to be more effective.
This business.com blog offers 8 tips from top closers.
- Turn cold calls into warm calls: Use social media to get your benefits in front of the prospect before you call. It’s easier to get warmed-up prospects on the phone. And those who buy will make, on average, a 47 percent larger purchase than those who were first contacted with a cold call. For more information on why cold calling is still essential to the sales process, see our recent blog “How to Get Timely CRM Data from Your Reps.”
- Be direct: Do you have a few minutes? Is this a good time to talk? Why are you wasting the prospect’s time? And yours? Focus your contact and conversation on a problem your customer is facing and how your product will address it.
- Be a storyteller: 63% of people remember the facts of a story while only 5% remember the same facts when presented as straight-up facts. When you create a memorable story that’s relevant to your buyer, you can forge an emotional bond with the decision maker.
- Get visual: Those bullets in your PowerPoint are putting people to sleep. The human brain can process a visual image up to 60,000 times faster than text. Relevant stock illustrations, short videos and infographics make your presentation more memorable and effective.
- Avoid comparisons to competitors: As soon as you mention your competitors, the customer starts thinking about them. Keep them out of your initial sales call. Keep the prospect focused on your solution.
- Keep at it: Studies and experience show it takes on average 7 – 10 contacts before you get to the C-suite of a large corporate buyer. Low to average performing sales reps give up after 3 – 5 contacts. Know your business. Know your target. And statistically speaking, you’re more likely to be successful.
- Get your proposal in first: Don’t sit on opportunities. Studies show that if you’re the first to suggest a solution to a company’s problem, you’re 50% more likely to get that sale.
- Know how to close the deal: It’s one of the least-developed skills in sales—getting the buyer to commit. Reps rehearse presentations. Maybe you need to rehearse closing just as much. Build a repertoire of closes. It has to come naturally, in the conversation’s flow.
Every one of these tips takes time to plan and execute. Finding that time can be the biggest challenge in implementing this. That’s where Rollio comes in.
Rollio is a virtual Salesforce.com assistant. It turns minutes of navigating and typing into a few seconds voice commands or text. It gives reps more time to warm up a prospect, develop a story, find a visual…
And sell.
Find out what we believe to be the top 7 Habits for Sales Success, and how to hit it out of the park.
Click here for a free demo.