Sales is one of the most important parts of any business. To be able to consistently increase sales in your business allows you to invest in further growth and protects you against the ever-mounting running costs that we are facing today.
That’s why more and more business owners are starting to take a bigger interest in their sales function. We have taken many business owners and salespeople through our formal sales training and we thought we would share with you the 3 key skills we found that really are making a difference to conversion rates right now.
1. Using a sales process
Having a well-structured sales process makes such a difference in any business. Many times, I ask the question, “so what is your sales process?”, only to find ambiguity in the answer.
Without fully understanding your sales process it is more difficult to control and manage the outcome of your sales activities.
What should you be doing next? What is the most successful way of moving forward with an opportunity?
I spend a lot of time with clients either creating or optimising their sales process so that they can be more effective and focused on what they are trying to achieve at each of the sales process stages.
Also, once you have mastered your sales process you will be in a much better position to align it with your prospects buying process. High performing salespeople are really good at adjusting their sales approach to the buyer’s process – and with this comes more sales conversions, more revenue and more kudos!
To find out more about what a sales process looks like read our blog Selling is a process!
2. Having the right conversations
We all love to chat and building relationships with leads & prospects is a super important part of building like & trust.
At the end of the day though, if you are in a sales call, it’s important to ensure you have the right conversations. Ones with the right balance of asking the right questions & then listening. Both crucial in sales to identify the best opportunities for you and your potential client.
How many times have you come away from a sales meeting saying… they were really nice but.. I didn’t get enough information I needed to move things forward?
When you know where you are in the process, it will become apparent what the main focus of the conversation should be. The two most important conversations in sales are qualification and discovery. Both will ensure that you are in the best position to increase sales in your business.
To make the most of your valuable time, the most significant conversation is qualifying all your leads. I find with clients that this not always managed well, especially when leads are not abundant. In qualification, it is key to ask the difficult questions that will filter out any leads that are not ready or are unlikely to buy from you.
To ensure you have understood the needs of your prospect, discovery conversations should be comprehensive and thorough. Don’t skim these conversations, make sure you have a clear view of their business and the gaps that you may be able to fill to make their business more successful.
To find out more about ways to close more deals click here
3. Understanding the value of your products
If you understand the value of the solution you are offering a prospect, they will be more likely to buy from you. It seems really obvious, I know.
However, I have reviewed enough proposals from clients & students to say that many do not mention value or have a strong ROI included. Price becomes irrelevant if you can illustrate a saving in cost, time or improvement in profit, productivity, quality – even provide peace of mind!
Start by finding out more about why people would want to buy your products. In our formal sales training course, we provide the tools to be able to do a full product offer analysis. With this fundamental information, you can start mapping out questions that will increase your chances of success in your sales efforts.
The best way to find value is to ask implication questions. What would it mean to your business if our solution was implemented? Or wasn’t?
And when you do find out… make sure you include this information in your proposal & presentations. 🙂
Increase sales in your business
I hope you found this useful & relevant. If you are looking to increase sales in your business, these three key sales skills will have a major impact on sales growth and the effectiveness & efficiencies in your sales activities.
If you would like to know more about any of these topics, please get in touch.
