1- What qualities should your salespeople develop to improve their results?
Sales is a profession in which there is no medal for the runner-up. This is why, in addition to the sales techniques themselves, it is essential toapply a sales method in order to limit the risks of failure and optimise results. Several recent studies have shown that the application of a sales method - whatever it may be - can increase the results of your sales actions by 20%!
Without a common thread, you spend your time reinventing your approach to each case, being tactical and reactive. It's exhausting and not very effective.
In addition to the method, it is necessary to have qualities specific to this highly relational and demanding mission. You need to be tenacious, organised, mentally strong, have a strong capacity for work, but also be focused on the other person: in fact, it is essential today in sales tobe able to listen rather than talk!
Finally, a good salesperson who wants to increase his or her performance must be able to makegood use of the tools and technologies at his or her disposal: first and foremost, CRM tools, but also the various means and media of communication (powerpoint presentations, remote exchange platforms such as Skype, etc.) and above all, the inevitable social networks!
2- How can salespeople make the most of these new tools?
New means of communication, and in particular professional social networks (e.g. LinkedIn), have profoundly changed the game of commercial investigation.
First of all, they facilitate research on the 3 essential subjects: the company, its news and its Executive Committee. But above all, they provide access to valuable information that was previously not very accessible: from now on, the network of your contacts is publicly displayed, which allows you to systematically check the connections between your respective networks!
It is essential for sales representatives to activate this lever of contact and recommendation, which can have a decisive impact!
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3- How to stand out and make a difference during a sales meeting?
As everyone knows, the first 20 seconds are crucial!
The aim of the sales meeting is first and foremost to find out about the person you are talking to, their personality and their "territory". It should also enable you to establish a relationship of trust and show your expertise
This is a challenge, given the extent to which buyers are over-solicited and not very available: the challenge is therefore to convince them very quickly of the interest of this exchange for them.
First of all, you must establish a climate of trust. To do this, analyse your interviewer's non-verbal language (gaze, posture, voice rhythm, etc.) to synchronise with him or her and gradually take the reins of the interview.
Next, the effectiveness of your pitch (about your company, then about your own role/experience) will be decisive! It must give legitimacy to the meeting for your contact and immediately remove his main apprehension: will this salesperson waste my time?
Beyond the key moment of the opening, what will really make the difference during the interview is your ability to focus on your client's objectives, not your own! Today there are a lot of tools that allow a customer to know what a supplier is doing without having to see the salesperson!
It is known that 70% of buyersnow do most of their research on the internet before contacting a potential supplier.
The role of the salesperson is therefore no longer to present the company's offers, but to provide advice and expertise with a view to constructing with the customer the solution that will solve their problem or meet their objectives.
This requires a considerable mental effort on the part of the salesperson: that offorgetting about the closing and the desire to "get an order". To do this, they must stop classifying the information transmitted by the customer into "favourable" and "unfavourable" signals.
Your sole objective must be to understand the client's territory and its reality and to build a quality relationship. This is a sine qua non condition for initiating a co-construction process with him.
4- What does this co-construction process consist of and how does it work for the salesperson?
The interview should evolve in an interactive mode towards the achievement of the client's objectives or problem solving (a bit like a coaching session!).
Gradually, your contact must become involved, and therefore make an effort (providing information, putting you in touch with a key contact within the company, etc.) which will commit him/her to working with you.
The best sales people are not looking for the right order, they are focusing on the next step that moves the customer forward in achieving their goals.
The level of effort the customer puts into this process is the best indicator of their level of commitment to you.
You should not leave your contact person without having first drawn up a shared action plan with him/her. This action plan will be the subject of a report from you, the completion of which will give rise to the organisation of a new exchange (for feedback), ideally in the presence of other key contacts on this account.
What happens next will depend on the quality of your follow-up and reminder process, which can sometimes take up to several months...
The advent of new technologies has allowed the evolution of the activity in many fields, and notably in communication and prospecting. In order to optimise the activity of the company, it is therefore essential to integrate these new means of prospecting into its strategy. Find out how with this webinar:
