Sales involves convincing your customers they have something to gain from investing in your products or services. However, strong salespeople are not born—they are made. Therefore, selling skills development is crucial. Here are 3 tips for developing a strong sales team:
Practice active listening
Your sales team must be prepared to explain how your products or services would benefit customers and satisfy their needs. Your sales team cannot offer solutions if they don’t first understand your customers and their needs. This can be accomplished only through active listening.
In the context of sales, active listening means keeping your ears open for your customer’s pain points. What issues are they encountering that may be preventing them from achieving their goals, and how can your products or services resolve these issues?
Asks good questions
Not all prospective customers are easy to read. Some people may be reluctant to communicate, struggle to articulate what their needs are, or simply don’t know what they need. Therefore, it’s important that your sales team knows how to ask all the right questions. Here are a few examples that may provide the answers you’re seeking:
- “What are your short-term and long-term objectives or goals?”
- “What challenges have you encountered achieving these goals?”
- “Are you looking to cut costs or increase productivity?”
With effective questioning (and active listening), your sales team can uncover critical needs and provide solutions that might just seal the deal.
Prepare for objections
When it comes to purchase intent, it’s normal for prospective customers to have reservations—especially when they’re looking to cut costs and save money. So it’s important that your sales team is prepared to counter any objections your customers may have.
Often, objections stem from a misunderstanding about the product or a drawback related to one unfavorable aspect of the product. Your sales team should know your products so well that they can promptly and confidently address misunderstandings and redirect the conversation to highlight the benefits of the product.
Here is a good approach to addressing objections:
- Reiterate the concern. (i.e., “So what I’m hearing is your biggest concern is that….”)
- Validate the concern.
- Highlight the benefits and explain how you can overcome the concern.
At Romar Learning Solutions, we understand the importance of a strong sales team. For over 35 years, we’ve supported a variety of sales teams in
developing seamless sales models that suit their market, customers, culture, and strategy. Allow us to help you develop and implement your selling skills!
Contact us today.
