Sales Conversation Tips: 4 Easy Steps to Become a Better Salesperson

What sales conversation feels better than a successful one? The sales conversation where you walk the customer through all the different steps of the sales process and it ends with a new customer in your portfolio. Of course, every sales conversation doesn’t go this perfectly. There are always going to be bumps in the road. But that’s why we’ve put together these sales conversation tips to help you make the most of every opportunity.

By following these sales conversation tips, you can increase your chances of success and make every sales conversation count. As a salesperson, this will also give you a fixed, systematic procedure to follow, which will increase the probability of achieving the results you are looking for.

Step 1 – Introduction

The first sales conversation tips is all about the introduction. The first 14 seconds are essential – this is the time it takes for a customer to decide if he wants to continue listening to what you have to say. Research shows that strangers spend 7 seconds judging you when they meet you face to face, and 14 seconds over the phone.

During the first few seconds, the person you are talking to will either end the conversation, be skeptical but willing to take a closer look, or be positive about what more you have to say.

To achieve the last alternativ, you want to create trust from the outset. An effective way to do this is by asking questions of the person you are talking to. This will help you learn more about customer and wether he or she needs the product or service you are selling.

Ask natural and open ended questions that can be immediately contribute to flow the conversation. Have you done your research about the person before the meeting? Do you have any common interest? If so, this is the time to sneak it into the conversation in a natural way.

Once you have managed to build trust with the customer, it is time to move on to the next step.

Sales Conversation Tips

Step 2 – Identify customers need

The next sales conversation tips is about the importance of identifying customers needs. Experience shows that this is the part of the sales conversation where salespeople make the most mistakes, in other words the part with the biggest potential for improvement. That is what makes this step perhaps the most important in the sale conversation.

Here we want to map the customers true needs and problems. As salespeople, we want to get to know the customer.

If you do B2B sales, you will want to gather information about the company, their market and competitive situation, how many people work there, what they sell and what challenges they may face in the future.

We would also want to understand the customers experience with purchasing this type of product or service. It is important to determine wether the customer is an inexperienced first-time customer, or an experienced buyer. This is important as you have to adapt the sales pitch based on the individual customers experience.

When you feel familiar with the customers situation and needs, you have the opportunity to build trust with the customers by showing empathy, interest and that you truly understand their needs.

There are several questioning techniques to achieve this. One of the techniques we have good experience with the one that is called yesterday, today and tomorrow. Wanna learn more about the technique? Read more about it here.

Step 3 – Pitch

In this part of the conversation, you will have to chose a way of approaching the sales presentation, based on the information you gathered in the previous step. This allows you to customize the pitch perfectly for your exact customer.

The purpose of the pitch is to convince the prospect that your solution meets the customers needs, so that they will buy from you. It is important that the pitch is adapted to the customers needs so that the sales arguments are relevant.

Specify what kind of value your solution will have for the customer. The solution itself is often boring, it is what the solution may do for the customer that must be emphasized.

If you sell production machines that are more efficient than what is currently in use, it is easy to talk about the time customer can save on using your new machine.

“By using our machine you can produce the same number you produce today in 6 hours instead of 8″

But – this is not necessarily what the customer wants to know more about. If the customers has said that he is interested in producing more units, this is what you should emphasize, instead of the time savings.

“By using our machine you can produce 25% more units per hour, this means you can produce 1000 more units per day”

This is what the customer wants to know more about. Show that you have understood the customers need and interest.

Step 4 – Closing

The last sales conversation tips is about closing. Closing is also an important part of the sales conversation, and there is often small margins that determine wether it will be a success or not. Throughout the sales conversation, the goal is to build an environment and atmosphere where the closing comes as a natural part of the conversation. 

What separates the best sales people from the average is normally how good they are at using different closing techniques. It is important to use the technique you think is best for your specific customer.

The more techniques you have practiced, the more situations you can close deals. It is about summarizing the conversation. The most important thing however, is that you as the seller take more responsibility for your own personal development, which over time will give you the results your are looking for. Follow these sales conversation tips to help you close more sales and build better relationships with your customers.

In Future Ready, we believe that everyone deserves a chance to succeed. With smart technology, we make learning an integrated part of the everyday workflow. We can help your company future-proof its In Future Ready, we believe that everyone deserves a chance to succeed in sales and customer service. With smart technology, we make learning an integrated part of the everyday workflow.

We can help your company future-proof its workforce by providing employees with the opportunity to learn new skills on their own time, without disrupting their day-to-day routine. Want to see how Future Ready can benefit your business? Contact us for a free demo! Our team is excited to show you how our innovative platform can help your employees stay ahead of the curve and improve your bottom line. Thanks for reading!

Want to learn more about sales? Read our blogpost on the most common objections, and how to handle them here!

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