Four Simple Tips to Improve Your Sales Performance
Are you looking to step up your sales performance? Seriously, who doesn’t want to win more deals? I am always looking for techniques to help increase my sales in a given month to blow past my quota. The cycle repeats every month.
Seasoned sales professionals are always looking for ways to achieve their ever growing monthly, quarterly and yearly quota. The business world continues to evolve, so we must adapt or chance being left behind.
In a world full of information, it can be hard sometimes to extract the most helpful tips to propel forward in better ways. Relax, as this article contains four simple yet impactful strategies you can incorporate to achieve better results moving forward.
Icebreakers and Rapport Building
First, you simply can’t rush to get to home plate. To score, you need to slow your roll just a bit. I know the time is ticking and you need sales now. We all do. To get better results, you need to take a moment and get to know your prospect. You’ve heard, “they don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care” before right? This profound truth is paramount to successful selling in our world today. Sensitivity and perceived disrespect are at the high end of the proverbial pendulum. You can lose before you get started if you come off as too aggressive.
People will respond to your desire to show them what you have to offer, if they know you are not just in it for yourself. You have to let them see you as a real person, before they will open up to you. Humility and staying humble will help in this approach. You can be confident and not be arrogant, so be mindful of your nonverbal communication too.
One suggestion to help you break the ice when you have your meeting is to do a bit of preparation work before you meet. I suggest you check out the social media profiles of your potential clients before you engage with them. You can brush up on what makes them tick and sometimes discover their goals. A little research can also help you avoid potential landmines too. This method is not spying as the information is public. You are simply adapting to the new information available to your fingertips. Use everything you can to help establish a new professional relationship. Be authentic, remember to smile and don’t talk too much.
Winning the Conversation Game by Talking Less
We tend to focus far too much on ourselves and our product or service when speaking with someone we want to buy from us. Instead we need to get them to talk to us about what they want and what they like. We can tell our friends all about our day and what we like after work is over. During work, especially during a sales call, to win, we should ask questions and listen.
Doors can shut or open wide depending on how we use our verbal communication. If you want to win more deals, ask questions. Learn to let your audience do the talking and watch their excitement build as they let you see inside. This method of questioning will help you further develop rapport too, if not establish a budding friendship.
So how do you apply this technique and not get caught talking too much? I suggest you only talk after they stop for more than ten seconds. An awkward silence sometimes leads to the gateway of success as your new friend opens up. You don’t want to shut them down before they reveal their heart. When they do stop, simply ask another question. Use open ended questions to get as much from them as you can. Sure you need to be mindful of the clock, but if you talk more in the conversation than they do, you have lost. Basically you can learn to win more by saying much less. Less is more.
Benefits to the Potential Client Make the Difference
After you break the ice and discover how to help them specifically, you now are ready to use closed ended questions and speak in sentences. You can now start leading your new friend to the solution to their problems. To gain the most traction, use your words in ways that clearly highlight the benefits your solution offers. Try your hardest to keep it short and sweet. Remember to keep terminology simple and your message will hit the mark.
Please don’t discuss features, or talk about specifications at all. Instead tell them how a feature will help them. Starving sales representatives focus on the product. The best sales performers have adapted. Your clients are interested in what you can do, not how you do it.
Show the Win-Win to Close the Sale
Breaking the ice, building rapport and sharing the benefits that will help your potential client are key to increasing your sales.
You won’t win, until you show them how to win. Are you currently struggling to add sales, but unsure of why your prospects are choosing your competition? Do you want to know why they are not choosing you? Many deals are won or lost based on emotion and logic. Losing deals can come down to simple comprehension of how the purchase helps.
The vendor with a better relationship and the one who explains their value proposition better, will win most sales bids. If you are losing more often than you win, you should look at the value you are offering. Consider how well you are explaining the impact implementing your proposal will make. You might have developed a great solution but need to improve your method of sharing it. Are you showing them how they will win? Can they see clearly how you both win when they sign with you?
Clients don’t want to be sold. Clients want to buy things that help them! Build excitement, add value, paint the picture of how you will help them get what they want. Too simple? No, it’s simply brilliant. Apply these techniques and close more deals.