Your prospects only have limited time and attention spans for making purchasing decisions, which is why sales calls must be short and concise.
Avoid making calls using scripted and robotic-sounding phone calls; this is one of the most frequent missteps made by salespeople. There are 5 things you should do on every sales call.
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Know Your Product
Sales reps need a thorough knowledge of their product, its operation and how it will benefit their customer in order to succeed in sales. Failing this could result in embarrassing presentations that won’t allow you to close sales successfully.
Researching potential prospects prior to making calls is also vitally important; this allows you to gain an insight into their pain points, goals and aspirations so you can tailor your value proposition specifically to their needs.
Rethink your approach to calls by treating them like small assignments that form part of a larger process, rather than viewing each call made as an isolated metric that doesn’t contribute significantly towards sales KPIs.
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Ask Questions
No matter how well-versed in your product or service you may be, to truly maximize sales you must first fully comprehend customers’ needs. Asking important questions during sales calls will enable you to determine if your solution fits their requirements or not.
Avoid bombarding your buyer with closed questions at once, which could appear as conclusive and derail the conversation. Instead, ask multiple open ones consecutively in order to keep him or her engaged.
Be clear about what information you want and why it will advance the call. Also be mindful about matching the prospect’s tone as this will put them more at ease and ensure you do not interrogate them.
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Take Notes
Without notes, your prospect could come away feeling that they don’t matter to you as much and waste valuable time trying to remember what was discussed on the call later on.
Be sure to use a format for taking notes that makes them easier for everyone on your team to read, such as using a standard CRM field for call notes or keeping all notes in an easily accessible notebook with a uniform layout.
Notes should avoid including sensitive details about the client, their company or personal life – this way you don’t run the risk of them seeing them and losing trust in you. Furthermore, try to maximize eye contact during every conversation and call.
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Listen
When asking questions, listen for the responses carefully and try not to get distracted while preparing your responses; your prospect needs you!
Customers want to feel that you care about them and their needs, not just selling something to them. If you appear bored or disinterested while they speak, they will perceive that your interest in them is not genuine.
Try matching their tone and using empathic language; this will help them trust and emotionally commit to your product or service. Asking questions that prompt honest responses such as paraphrasing their statement and asking if you understood correctly are also effective sales calls techniques.
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Close
Closing a sales call can be an emotional part of the sales process and is key for reaching sales targets. Closing is an acquired skill that needs practice – make sure to seek ongoing sales training and experiment with different closing techniques!
As its name suggests, this sales technique known as the gauge close asks prospects if they’re interested in your product by giving a simple yes or no option. By employing this approach, sales reps can gauge interest and determine what may be necessary for a sale – including firm commitment or more time for legal processes to complete.
Like its counterpart, this sales closing technique takes advantage of customer enthusiasm for your product by restricting availability. It works best when they have already shown considerable enthusiasm towards it. In the end, mastering these techniques is akin to practicing and refining your closing speech, ensuring clear, concise, and confident delivery to create a compelling conclusion to the sales conversation.
