Sales — it’s the lifeblood of any B2B company. A great sales operation can be the difference between being stagnant and a healthy, growing company.
Effective sales is about being a conversationalist. It’s about knowing your audience and knowing the right questions to ask so that you can learn more and position your solution effectively.
But for founders who have not grown to the point that they can bring in a team of sales reps, or sales reps who are just getting started on the job, the sales process doesn’t always feel natural.
In these situations, and to make sure you hit your desired quotas, it is important that you go into sales conversations armed with a few powerful techniques to help you speak to your prospects in a way that resonates.
In this article, I’ll share some of the most powerful sales techniques that you can use to close deals.
When we work with companies on re-shaping their sales processes here at RiseFuel, these techniques are often custom-baked into the sales scripts and marketing messaging that we deliver to prospects.
1. Zero-In on Pain Points
Being able to effectively identify and speak to the biggest pain points that your prospect is having is perhaps the most powerful sales technique of all, no matter what it is that you are offering.
In B2B sales, we sell solutions. They are answers to a problem that our prospects are having. By focusing on pain points, we can position our products as a solution that alleviates their toughest pains.
For instance, a company that sells an A.I. solution that handles data entry for you would help to alleviate the strain of the salaries of data entry specialists, the costly mistakes of human error in data entry, and ultimately help to take a part of their business that causes a lot of stress and take it off of their plate.
As a salesman, you wouldn’t focus on the features of your solution. You might mention them at some point in the process, but they wouldn’t be the focus. Instead, focus on how those features alleviate pains that they are experiencing.
After all, that is what they really want — to get rid of those pains.
Source: Ceralytics
2. Use Scarcity to Tap Into the Fear of Missing Out
Scarcity is a powerful tactic for getting prospects to commit. That scarcity could be presented in a number of ways.
Maybe you are offering a limited time deal if they accept within a specific timeframe.
Maybe you are legitimately only offering your solution to one company in their industry. Or perhaps you only have so many of your product that can be sold, due to internal constraints.
Scarcity is powerful because it taps into what has been called “the fear of missing out.” The idea is that we signal to the prospect that if they don’t act now, the deal that is on the table may disappear.
It may be offered to a competitor. It may go away entirely. Either way — scarcity is a powerful and effective way to get the ball rolling sooner, rather than later and close more deals, more quickly.
Source: TuffWraps
3. Have Predefined Answers for Top Objections
In sales, you become used to the types of objections that your prospects raise fairly quickly.
In any B2B sales environment, there are many objections that you may hear commonly if you hop on the phone with prospects enough.
These can include:
- Your solution is too expensive
- We don’t have the budget
- I don’t want to be stuck in a contract
- I can find a cheaper solution elsewhere
- Our decision-maker isn’t convinced
- You don’t understand my business
The list can go on and on. The objections that you hear most often will depend on your product. For more expensive solutions, the expense and budget-focused objections are almost always going to be the most common.
Having predefined answers to these that can be molded to speak directly to your prospects and their specific situation is perhaps the most helpful thing that a sales rep can do for themselves.
Answering objections can keep a conversation on the rails. But to do that, you have to know how to answer them the right way, or you won’t make a dent with prospects.
4. Come Armed with Case Studies (From Their Industry)
There is nothing more powerful than social proof! Coming into every sales conversation with a number of case studies from similar businesses in their industry can be a great way for you to connect your solution with real-world benefits in their eyes.
“If it worked for them, it can work for us,” is what you want prospects to be telling themselves in their head.
Conducting some short interviews with companies that have benefited from your solution across the main industries that you serve can be a great way to convey social proof and build trust early in the sales process.
Use your case studies to tell a compelling story. There should be characters, conflict, and resolutions (driven by your product or service).
Stories hit home and help to bring home the big picture with prospects. Having content like this on hand is a part of the sales enablement process.
Source: CoSchedule
5. Keep Your CRM Organized
In sales, context is everything. Knowing all of the different ways that a prospect has interacted with your brand, what data they have shared, and what information you have gleaned from your research will put you in a position to better serve them.
It’s not just about selling the product, it’s about delivering a better experience in whole and generating better, more loyal customers.
A well organized CRM is:
- Free of duplicate customer and prospect records
- Contains meticulous note keeping
- Includes information about previous engagements with your brand
- Breaks down data silos to provide sales reps with the full picture
Healthy CRM data is an absolute requirement for demand generation operations. In giving your sales reps access to all of the data that they need, they can better position your product and speak to prospects on an individual level.
No more canned sales pitches. Instead, your reps will be able to deliver dynamic pitches that strike at the heart of what each prospect cares about most.
A Partner in Sales
Here at RiseFuel, we work closely with our clients to help them reshape their sales processes.
We provide a full makeover, from lead generation through the close to help you better position your solution for individual prospects, deliver a better experience, and grow your sales organically.
