How do you get your sales process going in this Corona era? Why would a prospect want to take the next step? What can you accomplish when everyone is home? How can I build trust as Sales? Do you have such questions? Read our 5 tips to get your sales process going, even in this Corona era.
Take the lead
As a salesperson, your most important role is to help your prospect with their Purchase Process. And in addition, you need to guide him in your sales process. For a prospect, it is nice to have someone to take charge. And the best lead is one called a Powerlead. With the Powerlead, every conversation begins with a positive, optimistic and inspiring tone.
Want to know more about the Powerlead? Then read the book: Learned Optimism: Learned Optimism: How to change your mind and your life by Martin E.P. Seligman.
After this positive start, you need to build confidence. Confidence is something you have to earn. You earn confidence by taking charge. They trust you to guide them through the process. That is the beginning of building trust.
Another way to build trust is to ask interested questions that fit the customer’s perspective. The prospect wants a broad and interactive conversation with his supplier. By discussing this broad view of the problem, the prospect can clarify which issues are most relevant. If you start with good questions, the prospect sees you as the leader of the process. And again, you gain confidence as a reward.
Extra Tip: COMPREHENSIVE CONFERENCE
To get to know your prospect,you will need about 30 minutes for the initial exploratory interview.
Asking Questions & Listening
The best questions are simple open-ended questions. Examples include. What can you tell me about X? What does Y mean to you? What does it mean for your business if Z is not ready next month?
Questions like these help you learn more about your prospect. And to understand what concerns them. So, you can help them solve their problems. To be a master of interrogation, you must do 3 things well:
- Open questions
- Forward
- Give support on the answers by nodding, humming or just saying yes
If you do, you are genuinely interested in the success of the prospects. And how to achieve it. You build trust. Read more in: Impact by Genieke Hertoghs and Harrie van den Berg.
Extra Tip: CHEAT
People are more likely to be distracted in video calls. You need to think in advance about the questions you want to ask. A big advantage of video calling is that you can cheat. Write down the questions and put them in front of you.
Extra Tip: SILENCE
When you are at that level of trust, you can ask for anything. Such as: “Under what circumstances can we sign this deal before the end of this month?” If you remain silent after that, the prospect will start talking. He will think aloud about the next steps.
Next steps
Business sales takes time. In B2B sales, we assume at least 7 contact moments, and with an expanded DMU, this number is even greater. So it is advisable to go through process steps.
Within your video call, create a period of about 5 to 10 minutes to discuss next steps. Possible follow-up steps you can think of are:
- What obstacles need to be removed?
- What other decision makers should be involved in the process?
- Personalized demo?
- What questions remain unanswered?
- What is the next step in the customer’s buying process?
- Who will be on the next video call? And why?
Whatever next steps you want to take together, it is important to document the next step. Don’t forget to set a time and date as well. Meet prospect expectations by ensuring clear process steps. And create space to outperform and surprise your prospect.
Taking clear steps will also prevent you from having to chase your prospect.
Extra Tip: DEMO
A custom demo can be used in the Show, Don’t Tell technique. Get huge buy-in when the customer concludes that your product is the ideal solution to their problem.
Follow up, always!
Every sales call and online sales call need detailed follow-up. This is best done in an email that summarizes everything discussed during the conversation. The big advantage of video calls is that you can record them. And so you don’t have to take notes during the meeting. This saves a lot of time.
Give the action items a clear place in the follow-up email. And also, who is responsible and what is the due date of the action items.
Good follow-up gives confidence that the buying process is well managed. And makes the prospect feel that his problems are in good hands with you.
Extra Tip: ALWAYS BE CONTRIBUTING
Surprise your prospect with a little more information or a little more speed. The prospect feels he is getting more than agreed upon. This instills confidence and helps your position as a trusted advisor.
Adequate follow-up
Your potential customer can also send a follow-up email or respond to your follow-up email. It often contains detailed questions about issues discussed. And are issues that are still unclear or unexplained to the prospect. Or new issues that have not yet emerged. It is crucial to respond appropriately to such questions.
Doing this adequately and not quickly is another thing. That means understanding that these are important questions and taking the time to answer them properly. You have to include the customer in the expectation. This means that you send a reply back immediately. And says you have received the questions and tells what are the next steps you will take to answer them carefully. You indicate when you expect an appropriate response.
If for some reason it is not possible to respond within this time, it is wise to inform the customer again. You must have a motivating reason for this.
The most important thing as a seller is that you continue to nurture trust. Let’s reinforce this.
