Old-school sales techniques don’t cut it anymore in today’s business. Customers are more educated than ever and have many options available to them. But most of all, they hate being sold to. Show Before anything else, modern sales revolve around the art of communication and finding mutual benefit. The followingtop selling sales techniques are built on those principles. Try them out to see which one fits your business. What is a sales technique?A sales technique or selling method is used by a salesperson or sales team to create revenue and help sell more effectively. The technique typically isn’t a one-size-fits all and is often refined through trial and error based on past experiences. The terms ‘sales process’ and ‘sales method’ are sometimes mistakenly used as synonyms.
You could put it like this: a sales process gets you from A to Z, a sales technique is the philosophy you apply to enhance your sales process. There are many sales techniques to close deals faster and sell more effectively, thought out by incredibly clever consultants and experienced sales gurus. You don’t necessarily need to choose: experiment with some of them or even apply multiple methodologies to different parts of your sales process. {{cta('42592a9b-785c-4d90-b495-831c8a84c48f')}} Which sales methods should I use?1. SPIN sellingSPIN selling is about asking the right questions. The wrong questions can decline your entire sales process or even bring it to an unfortunate standstill. With SPIN, you let the buyer do the talking.SPIN is an acronym for 4 different types of sales questions designed to spark a prospect’s interest and push him or her closer to a sale: Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. 1. SITUATION questions lay the very foundation of a sales cycle. The goal is to understand the prospect and their situation and check whether your offering can serve their needs. This information plays a vital part in the rest of your sales cycle. The more legwork you put in determining which questions you should ask, the more useful the information. So don’t ask “Who’s responsible at your office for new purchases?”. Instead, ask: “What’s your decision-making process for new purchases?” to identify a decision-maker. Another simple example:
2. PROBLEM questions help make your prospect aware of a problem that needs to be solved and identify problems that are often overlooked. These pain-points will be used to accelerate a deal.
3. IMPLICATION questions focus on the negative impact of issues and highlight the urgency.
4. Once a prospect realises how the situation might deteriorate, NEED-PAYOFF questions help them grasp the value of a real solution. The secret to success is to help the buyer to specify the benefits themselves. Get these questions right, and a prospect will tell you how your product helps them.
These 4 questions will help you discover what your buyer needs and what the best way is for you to help him. If you use SPIN as a sales tactic, asking the right questions will prospect to the right answers. 2. SNAP sellingBefore modern buyers make a purchase decision, they’re overloaded with information urging them to buy solution X or Y. This makes it hard to get buyers’ attention, since they are wary of salespeople and their tactics. SNAP selling focuses on the way customers make decisions: influence them positively, so in the end they feel they made the decision on their own. Customers make 3 decisions before they decide to work with you: 1st decision - allow access: Understand that customers are bombarded with interruptions and distractions, and might think of salespeople as a pure waste of time. In order to earn access to their time, convey relevant information in every touchpoint -- via phone, email, etc.Examples: Instead of using buzzwords in your communication, use more honest low-key wording:
Moreover, quit sending generic “just checking in” follow-up emails, instead send an email with useful resources to educate and influence such as a customer testimonial with tangible results. To respect a prospect’s limited time, only ask for 5-minute mini-meetings. The less time you ask for, the more likely they’ll want to chat. 2nd decision - initiate change: Once customers want to speak with you, salespeople need to demonstrate the value of your offering to the bone. What’s the ROI? How much time does it cost to implement your solution? Examples: Crazy-busy people are always interested in new insights to achieve their business objectives. Share resourceful and bite-size research to provoke your prospects’ thinking. Guide them through the complexity of a decision with a straightforward overview of the steps to take (i.e. a step-by-step guide on how to digitise office documents). Also, keep your ears open for words like “dissatisfaction, bottleneck, challenges, issues, frustration, trouble, concern” so you can dive further into the problems and solve them with your business solution. 3rd decision - select resources: At this stage, prospects decide which products to choose; they’re looking for ways to justify their choice and try to minimise the risk. According to this principle, one of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is being too nice, so focus on helping the prospect make the decision: be flexible and willing to collaborate, but clearly draw the line about what they can or cannot expect from your offering. Examples: Sketch out the competitive landscape, make an overview of the pros and cons of you and your competitors’ offering and prepare yourself to combat objections. If a customer wants something you can’t offer, walk away. But if you have something different to offer, highlight this added value. Create a decision map for yourself from a buyer’s perspective that maps out the different roads that lead to a closed deal. In addition, provide them with a roadmap with an overview of characteristics and benefits that helps buyers summarise what you have to offer. Throughout these decision phases, there are four basic components to bear in mind:
SNAP selling helps you to focus on the way a consumer thinks. Respond to their thoughts, priorities and objectives to win their trust and truly show them the value of your offer. 3. Challenger SaleThe Challenger Sale steers away from the idea that a good sales approach starts with building a relationship with a prospect. The reason: customers are too busy, too well informed, and have too many options to invest in a relationship. The model splits B2B salespeople into 5 personas: relationship builders, hard workers, lone wolves, reactive problem solvers, and challengers. After an in-depth assessment, challengers are by far the most successful. Salespeople can adopt this by using a three-part sales model: teach-tailor-take control.
4. Sandler Sale methodThe Sandler Sales method encourages salespeople to act as a reliable, trustworthy source: the buyer actually convinces the seller to sell. To get to this point, Sandler-trained salespeople facilitate an in-depth, heart-to-heart discussion moving beyond technical issues, and focusing on the impact of a challenge on a business. Next to discussing the technical side of an issue, the buyer emphasizes the high-priority needs, not just for the company, but for themselves. In order to get this point, a seller should focus on 3 levels of pain:
Identifying these 3 levels is the most important part of qualifying to move beyond a technical issue and magnify the importance as well increase the sense of urgency. In short, the Sandler Sales technique not only focuses on the technical aspects, but helps you outline the financial and personal impact a sale can have on your prospect. 5. Consultative or solution sellingWith this technique, a salesperson acts as an expert consultant and asks questions to determine what the prospect needs. The focus is on how the prospect feels when he or she’s talking to you. The goal: forming a long-term bond by putting the customer first. The consultative selling process focuses on 6 principles:
According to this technique sale should result in one of these three things, at all times:
Solution selling has the intention to create a long-term relationship between a business and a customer. The solution salesman lets buyers feel successful throughout the entire buying process. The only way to do that, is to listen to them.
These 5 techniques all stretch the importance of qualifying potential customers. Don’t sell to everyone you encounter, but talk to prospects to figure out if you can offer them what they really need.
Is your sales stuck in a rut? Selling effectively and closing a deal faster is about applying the right sales method that works for you. {{cta('548b853b-c69b-4d08-8d2d-297139665cab')}} |