A common, but detrimental mistake you could be making in your sales conversations.
Your conversation with a prospect is the main place the magic happens. The exciting partnership unfolds and blooms into the beautiful success story you and the customer were both looking for.
Maybe not so romantically, but the sales conversation is Important, with a capital I.
With my clients I hear one of two responses when it comes to sales conversations:
what do I even say or focus on
I’m a pro at this
Typically, we end up meeting in the middle of both spectrums.
There are some tricks that buyers have up their sleeves worth keeping top of mind.
Today, we’ll focus on the buyer who says everything you want to hear.
Buyer: I love your product - it’s great, it’s going to transform the way we do things here, I’m excited about this, you’ve been so great.
Sales Person: Awesome, can’t wait to sign you up, it really is going to transform the way you do things there, when are we getting started?
Both hang up
Buyer: I liked that one thing, but what was all that other stuff he was talking about?, I’m not sure it would help with everything I’m struggling with, I could never get budget for that, wonder if he heard me emailing while we were talking, another ghosted sales rep.
Sales Person: Yes!, buying my plane tickets for vacation with this commission check, moves deal to closing, tells manager to forecast at 90%, it’s in the bag.
In a less obvious way (or sometimes just as obvious) this happens so often to sales people.
The prospect on the other end of the phone doesn’t want to hurt your feelings or get push back so the moment you start talking, they turn on your oxytocin drip by feeding you positive comment after positive comment.
This is why questions and qualification criteria are so important. And your pitch, she can go grab a snack while you sell.
Questions to dig deeper
Buyer: I love your product - it’s great.
Sales Person: What about it feels like it will impact the XYZ change you mentioned?
Buyer: It’s going to transform the way we do things here.
Sales Person: What specific areas do you see transforming?
Buyer: I’m excited about this.
Sales Person: Which part are you most excited about? Who else would be excited about the impact to the company?
Buyer: You’ve been so great.
Sales Person: How can I continue to help you put the plan together to socialize this transformation and organize our next conversation with (additional people needed in the approval chain)?
Asking questions like these helps the sales person better understand, the perceived value from the buyer, how it connects to the company goals and people in the company with decision/money power and ensures that this is a viable opportunity worth their time.