Today, every business or marketplace is flooded with multiple options for consumers, making it truly a consumer marketplace. In this era where the consumer has numerous options to choose from, an efficient and experienced sales team can do wonders for your business. But while your team may be well-versed with the latest sales techniques or equipped with the best strategies to sell your product or services, sales are much more than that.
Despite the many sales tactics and trends being the talk of the town, the overall process of selling to your customer has always been the same. Sales are about building a human-to-human relationship, whether a B2B or B2C brand. All one needs to do is to build trust with the consumer, be honest about the offerings, and focus on providing value rather than trying to sell something to the customer.
How Can I Teach My Sales Team to Close?
The winning sales mindset is about being humane and offering real value to your customers. If you want to help your sales team understand this mindset and transform it into a sales dream team, here are things you should teach them right away!
Be In Your Client’s Shoes
Your sales team will never be able to sell to your customers unless they know exactly how your product or services add value to them. Getting hands-on knowledge about the market, the solution, and the business segment your brand is in is essential. In addition, knowing your customer is crucial to winning a sale. So while you leverage the most cutting-edge sales techniques to empower your sales team, make sure they know exactly who their customer is, what challenges they are facing, and how your product or services fit into the client’s life.
Practice Storytelling
Data, statistics, facts, and all the other amazing stuff will help you rock your sales presentation, but it will all fall flat on its face if it does not tell a story. So instead, connect the dots and help your customers understand the value you bring by sharing a story. Tell them what you do and how you do it by using a story to help your customers understand and relate to your brand.
To do this, you can also leverage your customer testimonials, or use cases and case studies, as these are words from your happy customers about how your brand has showcased value in their lives. Make sure your story is relatable, has the right context, and is backed up with facts and numbers. A powerful story has the strongest recall value and will help ease the entire sales process if used effectively.
Practice Timely & Relevant Communication
The biggest hurdle to a successful sale is timely and relevant communication, which ensures that you stay on top of the customer’s mind at all times. Unfortunately, many customers are immediately turned off if the salesperson becomes too intrusive, and once this happens, it isn’t easy to get back on track. So instead, teach your sales team to practice the art of timely and relevant communication.
There are many ways to reach out to your prospects and ensure that you are always on top of their minds, communicating the core aspects of your brand. The sales team can work with the marketing team to ensure this is done effectively and create blogs, whitepapers, and other vital enablers to keep the prospective alive while not trying to push the sale. Additionally, the sales team can use occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or important holidays to reach out to their customers and keep the conversation flowing.
Don’t Sell Products; Sell Solutions
The easiest way to lose a sale is by selling products, not solutions. For example, if it is raining heavily, your customer is looking for something that will ensure they do not get wet when stepping out and may not really care if it is an umbrella or a raincoat. If you try to focus only on the product and not the outcome, the customers are less likely to see how it benefits them.
Remember, your customers will never buy from you unless they see how your products and services add value to them and create the right fit.
Build Relationships
Many sales teams are conditioned to think of their sales purely from a numbers perspective, but remember that your customer is much more than the revenue they bring. Try to build a relationship with your customer beyond the traditional sales process. Always be available, show them they can trust you, and tell them you are always there for them whenever needed.
Building a solid relationship with your customer is not just about winning a sale. A prospect that loves your product can also be your brand ambassador or lead magnet, as they are more likely to recommend your brand or products if they see that they provide value.
Always Review Wins & Lost Deals
There is nothing like a 100% closing rate; your sales team should not be expected to meet this impractical goal. Things beyond our control can permanently impact your sales, making an opportunity that is within your grasp suddenly go out of reach.
The ideal thing to do here is not to find reasons or point fingers, but to analyze your wins and losses regularly and find ways to better prepare or improve your strategy in the long run. Remember that it is okay to make mistakes, but not okay to repeat the same mistake twice. As long as you are making new mistakes, you are progressing.
There are many sales techniques out there, but what matters most when it comes to sales is the ability of your sales team to tell your brand story in a way that builds trust, reputation, and long-term relationships. If you need a one-stop shop for all your management, operations, sales, and marketing needs, OnePoint Business Solutions can help you get just that.
Instead of the traditional cookie-cutter approach, we are your expert business growth partner and provide the assistance and consultation needed to help you compete, grow, and reach new heights of success. Reach out to our experts today to learn more about effectively training your sales team on effectively closing sales.