When you choose to follow best practices, you might be using the most popular method, but not necessarily the approach that works best. Science, on the other hand, is objective and timeless. Even if these sales techniques look unfamiliar and counterintuitive, each one has been vetted by behavioral research studies and shown to be the best approach when selling to B2B decision-makers. So, without further ado, here are ten surprisingly effective and persuasive sales techniques, backed by science and research.
The B2B buying process has become increasingly complex over the last decade. In , an average of five to six people needed to sign off on each purchasing decision. Those stakeholders may not share the same title or demographic information, but they do have one thing in common: their situation.
The science that backs this up is called Fundamental Attribution Error. Your buyers are asking weighty questions that are specific to their current situation. Together, we call this series of situationally specific questions the Customer Deciding Journey. When you understand their underlying motivations and behaviors in each conversation, you can tailor how you sell to match the situation and win.
Help your prospects and customers understand whether their current approach is putting their business goals at risk.
Then, adapt your sales techniques to each moment of the Customer Deciding Journey. Many sales reps assume that the sales process is linear—a set of repeatable steps that every prospect goes through during the sales cycle. And, at some point, it concludes with the prospect choosing either you or your competitor. The problem is, your competitors are responding to those same inputs from their prospects and customers.
When prospects hear and read similar messages from you and your competitors, they see no contrast between their choices. To create the urgency to change and overcome Status Quo Bias, you need to introduce prospects to Unconsidered Needs —unmet or yet unknown problems or missed opportunities that are holding back their business. Research conducted by B2B DecisionLabs found that a provocative message that begins by introducing an Unconsidered Need enhances your persuasive impact by 10 percent.
Unconsidered Needs are potent tools to show your prospects the need for change. But what comes next? How do you build a buying vision that connects to your solution? When you 1 identify missing gaps or opportunities that affect their highest-level strategic goals, and 2 justify the business impact of the decision by telling a customer story with contrast, they feel more urgency to make a decision now. Learn more about this approach in our article, Selling to the C-Suite.
One way to do that is to talk about people affected by the challenging environment they were working in. Then talk about how their lives became better, easier, or less stressful after using your solution. Most B2B salespeople admit that overlap is 70 percent or higher. In competitive categories, many companies can feasibly do the job with similar capabilities and pricing. When you create a solution story that meets those three criteria, you offer a distinct point of view that sets your solution apart from the competition and communicates real value to your prospect.
Every story needs a hero—someone you relate to as they overcome obstacles on their journey toward happily ever after. You are in stuck. Disclaimer: Not in sales! Plan B is essential here when such misunderstandings happen between you and your precious client. The plan might need modification every now and then and as and when it improves, your selling will become even more stronger and persuasive.
Make sure your plan B script is read whenever you go out for your next sales meeting. When you negotiate efficiently, your product gets the price it deserves. Always keep in mind that your product is made up of all your Effort and Time. You need to be paid for that. And set the bar high!
Nobody would pay higher than the market rate unless you have a big name or brand! Maybe not even then! When you believe in your product, you will make your client believe in it too. When they are convinced enough, then comes the main part.
Your pay check time! How much would you be willing to negotiate is what they are thinking! Never quote a high price and then close the deal at a price lower than your value, no matter how desperate you are! Giving you the deal will be far off even. Well, you will negotiate to your value, always keeping in mind your efforts. Most of the clients need that now. You are solving their problem! Not the other way around. Negotiation is a major chapter in your sales book.
Make sure you spend enough time polishing it. This is one chapter that can only be learnt in the field. Of course, you can read best-selling books and create the best-selling plan that nobody can deny.
However, when you face your customer, it all needs to be in your head so that you can take quick actions. Quicker than them and beat them in the thinking pace. And bam! The sale is done. There is this proven theory that our brain has two parts S1 and S2. S1 sees the easy to recognize and realize objects specifically. How do you know the bus is red?
Because your S1 is working correctly! Now, quick! Tell me what x is? Can you? Neither can I! Because we need time.
So, this was your S2 trying to see the numbers and faint. S2 can do that calculation but needs more time. Your S2 is fine too. Now, when your customer is losing a little faith in your conversation. Bring in numbers. Sounds impressive, right? When you please that S2 conscious, your customer feels happy, relaxed, perhaps! Everyone believes in facts and figures.
Make a note right now. The next time you visit a client, keep your numbers in hand. If your colleague does not stay in office and handle your already in-hand clients, how will you go out and earn more leads?
Well, you do have a family. Either ways, you need to be good at this sport and support your team in the process. Another common attribute between sales and sports is rejection. Sports teaches us to make a mistake and fall. However, it also teaches us to not be affected by that fall, how small or big it was and rise to our virtue. You keep calling a potential consumer until they are irritated and eventually, end up with energy and money loss.
One last similarity, sports teaches us the spirt of competition. But then, healthy competition. You will constantly be competing with your competitor and trying to be better. And competing with the limited time, energy and resources you have.
Also, playing a certain kind of sports exudes fun. And sales too can be referred to as a fun job. Things that they look up to. Mind you, just question! Not removed from the roots. Just challenging is enough to make them interested in your product. But then, you did throw it into the water.
They challenged your belief that electronic gadgets cannot perform under water and you got this sudden urge to buy the phone and try testing it. You just have to do it once you are challenged. Imagine your customer having this urge for your product. Give a challenge! Even give the solution. Then, wait for your money. What will you do if one day you fall sick and you have.
Well then, you see the picture! You need a sales team. It can be in-house if you have a lot of money or even outsourced if you have limited funds. Finding the right people will be difficult but that is the only key here. Probably someone through reference, whose trust Worthing capabilities cannot be questioned. Hence, the former is suggested. Now, after you hire around four to five sales professionals, now is training time and soon, you would need to manage them one-on-one Eventually, you would notice that you can delegate work to them efficiently and your work is done in half the time and now you can focus on the more important and time-consuming tasks.
Well, keep this picture in mind and hire the best resource that you can get. Increase your team and eventually, Sales! Wait till the first failure or breakdown. What do you need to do to ensure your team does not break down at the first downfall? However, only if it does. First measure you take is keeping them hydrated. They will stay with you if treated like family. Second, never ignore any teammate when they need feedback or call out for help. They need your experience and advice.
Well, tell them that and call them later. Never forget to attend your team players. They are important! And you need them. Not so much! Third, Understand and realize their value. The efforts they are putting in to run your sales. All that sweat needs to be rewarded from time to time. Not necessarily in monetary terms. Maybe you can write an appreciation note for a small-scale achievement and some bonus for a huge success!
And applaud them in front of the whole team. Recognition will keep motivating them to strive harder and strike every time. These three steps are easy. You can perform them innately. What you need to understand deeply is that you are offering them money for their work. Am I hearing you say Time? Pro tip: When you finally get a difficult-to-reach lead on the phone, politely ask them at the end of the call as an aside when the best time to reach them is.
A study by Lead Response Management found that the best time to call is in the early morning or late afternoon , which makes sense because your prospects are probably busy in the middle of the day. As far as what day of the week, go for the middle, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Mondays aren't great for making calls, probably because people are trying to wrap their head around all they have going on.
Research found that Tuesdays are bad, too. Pro tip: Contact clients between 8a. It's good to block off those hours each day for client calls. Yes, you have a solution, but so does your competition. What do you bring to the table that's different, or what extra benefit can you provide? If you don't find your unique value proposition , you'll just be another company on a list in the prospect's mind.
Pro tip: Brainstorm with colleagues to determine the one unique thing you bring that nobody else does, and feature that in every future pitch. When it comes to closing a sale, you've got to be like a top-flight NFL running back, pivoting and cutting back as objections come flying at you.
If you have only one or two closes, you're going to get tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Pro tip: Use CRM software to keep track of closing techniques you use and which are most successful. Choose the 10 most effective ones and use those almost exclusively going forward. Even in scenarios where you have no competitors, in reality you do have competition: the status quo, or the way the client has always been doing things.
If you're selling a software solution and the prospect uses pencil and paper, you're competing against that tried-and-true process. So you need to do more than show the benefits of your software — you need to also show why the customer needs to ditch the old way of doing things. Pro tip: Your client undoubtedly has frustrations about the way they currently do things, so spell that out at the top of your pitch.
A good salesman must exude positivity all the time, no matter the circumstances. Pro tip: Practice casually smiling. Look in a mirror as you rehearse a pitch, and make a note of times when you appear dull and uninterested and replace it with a smile. Even the best salespeople close less than half their sales, and in some industries a close rate in the single digits may be perfectly fine. Some fish are going to wriggle off your hook, and you just have to shrug your shoulders and move on to the next one.
Pro tip: Do something simple like snapping a rubber band on your wrist to reset your mindset when you walk out of a failed sale.
This is a tried and true technique to move on mentally from a setback. Whatever they say to you, no matter how wrong it is, you need to find some way to agree with them and then pivot toward why your product would still be the right choice. You also have to channel that efficiency into something productive. Pro tip: Leave your ego at the door. Keep that perspective and respect whatever the client says. Remember: put yourself in their shoes. A client expects you to tell them what to do next, whether that means starting a trial of your product or making a purchasing decision.
A customer is always looking toward you for leadership, and the moment you abdicate that responsibility is the moment you lose a sale. Pro tip: Consult with members of your team and determine what flexibility you have in pricing and terms. Every business owner needs to boost their sales. In this detailed report, our experts show you 7 ways to increase cash by using a CRM tool. It includes a free buyers guide! Easily save this file to your computer or print it using the link below.
You will also receive an email with your download. The Motley Fool has a Disclosure Policy. Pipedrive is an easy-to-use CRM software for small businesses and marketing teams. At an affordable price, this tool will help you invigorate your lead generation so you can maximize your sales. As one of our favorite CRM software tools, Insightly comes with an outstanding collection of features to support both your sales and marketing teams. The titan of the sales industry, Salesforce is the most advanced CRM software tool known to man.
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