According to sales stats (quoting Bill Corbin on LinkedIn), “80% of sales are made by 20% of salespeople. The winners sell to the prospects the losers give up on.” These 20% have mastered the sales strategy to close deals.
But what is their secret sauce?
Deal closing is a make-or-break moment for every salesperson. Many salespeople work very hard to follow up with the leads but still have problems closing the deal.
If you are selling something, anything, you need to know about these 15 effective sales strategies used by all successful salespeople.
If you want to become a successful salesperson, you must build confidence and trust with prospective clients and provide the right information at the right time and to the right person.
But how can you achieve this?
We have listed 15 effective sales strategies followed by all successful salespeople, helping you build trust and close deals faster.
Sales Strategy #1 - Earn your prospect’s trust
Earning your prospect’s trust is an essential step towards closing the deal. The best salespeople can build an excellent impression during their first sales meeting.
If you want to build a good impression and trust, you need to be very careful about how you interact with your prospective customers. This includes how you dress up, reaching the meeting on time, constantly follow-ups, etc. This shows that you are very serious about your business.
Once you have built trust in yourself and your business, there is an excellent chance that prospects will buy from you.
You can use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to receive automatic reminders for your activities and appointments.
Sales Strategy #2 - Connect with the key decision-maker
Many salespeople try to convince somebody who is not in charge of making the key decision. They spend a lot of time analyzing and convincing somebody involved in decision making, but he is not the key decision-maker. This mistake leads to a longer sales cycle.
Convincing somebody who is not a key decision-maker is a prevalent issue in the sales world—the only way to avoid this is to find out about the key decision-maker during the lead qualification.
While qualifying the lead, you should always find out about the key decision-makers and spend your time wisely, convincing each decision-maker. Your focus should always be on convincing the key decision-maker.
The key decision-makers depend on the size of the company. For small businesses, the key decision-makers are the CEO or COO. Hence you should spend more time convincing them about the value of your products and services.
For bigger companies, the key decision-makers are the departmental heads. Here you should spend more time convincing the department heads.
To avoid spending your time convincing the wrong person, you must qualify your leads by asking the right sales questions during the sales qualification.
Sales Strategy #3 - Sell yourself by establishing a genuine rapport
Salespeople often make mistakes by showing off or using too many jargons. It’s ok to be enthusiastic about your products and their success, but it’s essential to be genuine.
Be real; be yourself.
A client can easily find out if you are trustworthy or you are bluffing.
If you want your prospect to believe in you, you need to be real throughout your sales meeting.
If you want to build a genuine relationship, your customer must feel that you care about them. If you only talk about sales numbers and your product benefits, your prospects might turn you off.
Remember making your customers feel important is the key to your closing the deal.
Sales Strategy #4 - Know your products
Products and industry knowledge are imperative for salespeople. The more you know, the better you will be able to answer your prospect queries.
Remember, for your prospects, you are the consultant who is supposed to know everything and answer all the questions.
If you have a thorough knowledge of your product’s benefits and how they stand out from the competition, then only you will be able to build trust and convince your lead or prospect to buy.
You should have all benefits of your products at your fingertips. This will help you to deliver an excellent and confident sales pitch.
Sales Strategy #5 - Listen to your prospect and understand their pain points
Most salespeople tend to focus on their product offerings and tend to ignore the prospect’s needs. Understanding and solving your customer’s pain points is key to any deal’s success.
Active listening is an essential skill for any salesperson. You need to actively listen to your customer’s problems and propose solutions accordingly.
When you qualify a lead, ask sales questions that will help you find out more about their business goals and problems.
Instead of giving generic presentations, you can draft a sales presentation addressing all your prospect’s pain points, which will be more effective, and the prospect will be more inclined to buy.
Sales Strategy #6 - Give quick responses to your leads
The most common trait of any successful salesperson is that they provide the right information at the right time. They never keep their prospect waiting and instead provide all the information in advance.
If you want to be a successful salesperson, you must respond to your leads as soon as possible. (not days, weeks but within a couple of hours or minutes)
Remember, people hate waiting; instead, they want everything in advance.
If your prospective client is asking for a sales quote or any sales-related information, this means that they are very close to making their decisions. If you can respond by sharing the documents, there is an excellent chance that the deal is yours.
If you want to be a successful salesperson, you must anticipate your prospect requirements in advance and ask if they need that information.
You can use the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to share all the desired documents with your leads. You can also view the detailed history of your historical communications in CRM software.
Giving a quick response is not only applicable to sending documents or information. It is also applicable to calls, text messages, emails, etc.
You can create automated follow up emails with CRM software.
The quicker you respond, the more you appear genuine, serious, and the better you sell to your prospects.
Sales Strategy #7 - Know your industry and competitors
Many salespeople often make a mistake by focusing only on their products. They are unaware of the competition or what is going on in the industry.
To close a deal faster, you must be aware of what your competitors can offer and how your product is better than them.
You must be able to prove to your client that you are better than your competitors.
You must be aware of new trends in your industry. You must be prepared to answer current industry problems and how your product can overcome them.
Sales Strategy #8 - Know your unique value proposition
How do you differentiate your products from the rest of the competition?
Do you have a clear understanding of your value proposition?
To stand out from the competition, you must have a clear understanding of your product value proposition.
For some businesses, its price and for others, its product’s features.
To win the deal, focus more on your areas of strength during the sales presentation.
Sales Strategy #9 - Prepare yourself to overcome objections
Have you ever been to a sales meeting where a prospect didn’t have any objections?
Well, I haven’t. In almost every sales meeting, your prospect will come up with objections, and you should always be prepared to answer them.
Common objections questions are about the prices or product’s benefits.
You have to be prepared to answer all the objections.
Don’t behave surprised; instead, show them that you are already prepared with the answers.
The key to closing deals faster is by being prepared to answer any questions asked by the prospect.
Sales Strategy #10 - Create and send a detailed quote
Most salespeople tend to wait for prospects to ask for required documents such as a sales contract, sales quote instead of sharing them in advance. This is a huge mistake for any salesperson.
If you want to outgrow your competition, you need to learn to anticipate and share sales documents. This is applicable for all sales documents such as sales quotes, sales contracts, product brochures, product specifications, etc.
Your lead should always have all the information to make the purchase decision.
This will help you to shorten the sales cycle. Create a very detailed quote so that your prospect can approve the quote without having to reach you to ask sales questions.
Sales Strategy #11 - Create a sense of urgency
Are you struggling with a long sales cycle?
If yes, here is the trick to shorten your sales cycle.
Create a sense of urgency by offering discounts for a limited time only.
You can ask your lead if they buy before the end of this month, they will get a 10 percent discount or get a gift.
Creating a sense of urgency will help you to close deals faster. However, this trick doesn't always work. If your prospect can sense that this is a fake deal or are not prepared to buy, this trick will not work.
If your prospect is interested in your products but unable to decide. This will give them more incentive to buy your products.
Never rush your prospect. They will only buy your products if they see the value.
Sales Strategy #12 - Follow up regularly
Most salespeople complain that they seldom hear back from the prospect after sending quotes. They assume that if a prospect has not replied, this means that they are not interested.
In reality, your prospect is too busy with his work, or he may have received a better quote from your competitors.
It’s your responsibility to follow up with them and ask why they have not chosen you. Your prospect may open up about the concerns related to price or features.
You can use Customer Relationship Management(CRM) software to create follow up activities.
Keep following up with your lead until you have received a definitive answer.
Sales Strategy #13 - Negotiate for a win-win
A good salesperson always cares about their customers and makes sure that the deal is win-win for both parties.
If you focus only on your benefits and all you care about is closing the deal, your prospect will not buy from you.
Focus more on maintaining the relationship for a win-win outcome.
Show your prospect that this is the best deal they can get, and this is the best time to buy it.
This will help you build long-term relationships, and your prospect may provide referrals in the future or do recurring business with them.
Sales Strategy #14 - Watch your words and be careful what you say!
Many salespeople often tend to overpromise to close sales. Watch your words when you are talking to your prospect.
Don’t promise anything which you will regret later. Being excited about sales is essential, but being genuine and building trust is more important.
If there are sales questions that you cannot answer, then tell your prospect, you will find the answers and get back to them.
The biggest mistake a salesperson can make is to become emotional when selling the product. This will make your prospect think that you are too desperate to make the sales.
Be genuine and professional during all your sales meetings.
Sales Strategy #15 - Prepare an effective sales pitch
This is the most important sales strategy.
Your sales pitch can make or break the deal.
Once you have connected with your prospect, the next step is to deliver a compelling sales pitch.
Your sales pitch must capture the benefits for your prospect and why this is the best deal.
Do not spend too much time talking about your company and your products. Instead, focus on your unique value proposition and how your products can help your customer.
If you can drive your prospect’s attention with an effective sales pitch, there is an excellent chance that your prospect will buy from you.
Key takeaways
Here we have listed key takeaways from this article:
- If you want to be a successful salesperson, you need to convince your buyer that this is the best deal they are getting and this is the best time to buy it.
- You can only convince a buyer by building confidence and convince them that you have a solution to all of their problems.
- Create an excellent rapport by anticipating your prospect’s needs and providing a quicker response to all their queries and concerns.
- Create a sense of urgency by adding discounts and give your prospect extra reason to buy from you.
- Prepare an excellent sales pitch focussed on customer benefits and your product’s unique value proposition.
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