How to Execute a Successful Sales Call

Top performers effectively guide live customer interactions by facilitating dialogue with the central purpose of uncovering and satisfying a customer’s relevant business needs.

These world-class sales professionals are able to move the sale forward and establish mutually beneficial relationships.

Here are some of the best practices they follow.

Build Customer Engagement

Build Customer Engagement

Listen attentively

Acknowledge what the customer is saying

Show respect and empathy

Transition among topics

Confirm mutual understanding

Collaborate

Collaborate

…with your customer to define the focus of the sales call

This allows you to move smoothly from rapport-building to business

Facilitate open exchange of information to

Discover Needs

Strive to uncover the deeper need that ultimately motivates a desire to purchase.

Facilitate open exchange of information to discover needs

Resolve customer indifference

…by creating awareness of unrealized needs

Resolve customer indifference

Asking questions can create awareness of unrealized needs

• What are you currently doing about…?

• What do you have in place now for…?

• How well is that working for you?

Satisfy confirmed needs by describing how relevant features benefit the customer

Skill 6 Resolve Customer Concerns

Three Types of Customer Concerns

1. Skepticism

2. Misunderstanding

3. Drawback

Skill 6

Important! Know what kind of concern your customer is expressing so you can respond appropriately.

Resolve Customer Concerns

Three Types of Customer Concerns

1. Skepticism

2. Misunderstanding

3. Drawback

Close the Call

…by asking for a clear, mutually beneficial commitment when the customer is ready to move ahead in the sales cycle.

Close the Call

Commitments Aren’t Always Contracts

Not every sales call will end with a signature on the dotted line.

Other valuable commitments include:

• Agreements to meet with other decision makers

• Agreements to review proposals

• Agreements to watch demonstrations

Close the Call

And, one more thing…

Closing should not be the primary objective of a sales call. Learn from a seasoned sales expert why, and where your focus should really be.

Summary

• Mastering these skills can help any salesperson fully engage customers and sustain solid business relationships.

• An accomplished need-satisfaction seller proposes solutions that meet critical needs, facilitates fact-based buying decisions, and develops lasting partnerships based on a deep understanding of the customer’s business realities.

Excerpted from the Crux of Selling in a Vexing World: The Need for Perspective.

Want to develop the skills to conduct customer-focused sales conversations? Find out if Professional Selling Skills® is right for you.