When you are tackling strategic sales it places you alongside strong competition who are ready to grab your opportunity at the slightest chance. Sales organizations, sales teams and sales people must step up their game in strategic sales if they want to stay ahead above everyone else. Here are 6 selling principles that most companies get wrong or overlook.
1. Not asking the hard questions
A
connection with your audience is a critical aspect in sales if you aim to understand the people you are talking to. This is the only way that you can communicate to a person or a group on a personal level. With that said, don't miss out on opportunities by overlooking the hard questions. Doing so stirs up something familiar in them - a familiar struggle, emotion, or concern. The decision-makers should buy into what you are saying if you want them to act. You may ask: "What do you think about our price?" "Do you think our product has addressed your concern?" "Many of our clients are reporting problems in areas A and B. How are these affecting you?"
When you fail to ask the hard questions, you'll find yourself frustrated because you are unable to close deals without really knowing why.
2. Talking too much
Most of the time, salespeople believe that they need to do all the talking. They think that the barrage of words can help build up their brand, when listening and asking questions is in fact the best way to connect with their intended market. As they say,
telling is not selling.
Remember that
you are not in sales so that your needs can be met. It should be your customer's needs that you should have utmost importance. Showing impressive knowledge about a certain product can make you feel good, didn't it? However, a professional should not focus on what they feel, rather, to close a sale.
This is where the
70/30 rule come into play, and it is a means to remind salespeople that they are there to gather information, not give it. To encourage a prospect to disclose all you need to know to close a sale, they need to be talking 70% of the time. This is also the perfect opportunity for you to be asking the hard questions so that you will be made aware of what your customer's real needs are. The questions, on the other hand, should make up the 30% of the conversation.
Having the most information gives you leverage at winning a sale from the next person. Make sure to gather it, instead of giving it. Stay on the right side of the 70/30 rule by asking the questions.
3. Not selling with insight
Solution selling used to be the usual approach in sales which had salespeople earn effective sales enablement. However, as buyer behaviour changed at the dawn of the 21st century, they are not armed with sophisticated procurement teams, purchasing consultants, and data. In short, today's buyer defines his own solutions.
So, how do you fit in this narrative?
Instead of the traditional approach to selling, step up your sales efforts by
insight selling, meant to challenge the buyer. This technique shifts the buyer's perspective of his own need and pushes him out of his comfort zone with compelling and value-pumping content. This is to position you as a proactive source of value for the buyer and to give them insight that they did not have before.
A sales team can make a stronger impact on potential buyers if they get serious about creating real value. Remember, don't just hog conversation, but rather proactively collaborate with your prospect to help shape their vision of a more productive future while guiding them with insights through the sales process.
4. Overlooking Infuencers
The explosion of social media marketing in recent years and the astounding success of influence marketing strategies signals to company executives that they should begin understanding the importance of quality influencers. This helps salespeople tap into a wider audience, encourage engagement through content, and boost sales.
It is important to put primary importance on the decision-maker, but you should not simply set influencers aside. This step draws the question, "who else other than yourself will help influence a decision?"
In searching and selecting quality influencers, you need to consider three aspects: Reach, Resonance and Relevance. Tapping a thought leader is not enough, salespeople should conduct independent research about the reach of each influencer, the importance of your product to that influencer, and whether their audience is also your intended market.
5. Presentation gaffes
There is a laundry list of possible mistakes in presentations. It could be a bad story, improper humor, or a lengthy slide presentation. Sales presentation calls for mastery of the material right down to the smallest detail. More importantly,
prepare a presentation that is interactive. Engagement is a critical component in connecting with decision-makers.
6. Not showing urgency
Most sales organizations make the common mistake of not insisting on closing a deal for fear of coming off to be very pushy. If you believe in your company or product, you must learn how to drive sales and gracefully close a transaction now. Practice enough urgency if you don't want uncontrollable events land the opportunity in your competitors lap.
Train and drill on how to press on without being unprofessional. When you are able to pull it off, you don't appear to pressure, rather you should be compelling and convincing.
If you want to gain an edge over everybody else, take every possible measure to grab your opportunity. Having learned what you need to avoid, you're quest for improvement should not stop there. Get professional advice through
Strategic Sales Training. Learn the art of selling through stories and how you can be more efficient in your sales efforts with Jacky Lim, one of Singapore's reputable Storyselling Strategist, NLP trainer and Personal Brand Achitect. Join one of Jacky's Training and Coaching programs today. Learn more about it
here.
