Here’s what B2B sales taught me about B2B sales
12 quick tips and tactics.
A short one this week:
A good sales call is to discover if your product/service suits their situation, problem and needs.
Therefore, the more they talk about themselves, the better (80% them/20% you)
You have a human in front of you, make sure they enjoy the conversation
Don’t sell to those who don’t need you
It’s up to you to guide the conversation, not them
You don’t need a script, but you do need structure
Stating your intentions for the call at the start always helps, asking for input too.
If the call goes as planned, know what your preferred way of moving forward is before a call, so you can propose it with confidence
For custom deals, it’s often better to share a proposal afterwards rather than making up something on the spot.
If you discover midway through the call that you can’t really help them, it’s okay to propose to end it earlier rather than running out the clock.
It is okay to ask directly, after showing your solution, how they believe you could help them. If it went well, they will explain what value they see in your product or service.
It’s often okay to record sales calls. Verify at the start, people are getting used to it. You or your team could look back at them, and improve. Also AI tools are great for finding quotes, excerpts and sometimes summaries.
What am I missing?
That’s a great list for sure! I would agree with all of them. I would add something on a follow-up or re-engagement. Whether you make the sell or not I would set up a 30/60/90 day plan to follow-up and re-engage.
If you made the sell you are ensure the problem is solved. If you did not make the sell you are seeing if their situation has changes.
It’s a great way to understand the value you bring as well as figure out the next problem you customers will need solved.
I when more in depth in a recent post, thought it would add to this topic.
https://open.substack.com/pub/engsales/p/tft-re-engage-with-timing-not-nagging?r=jhbvp&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for sharing!
Definitely no proposal on the first call - we put this in the "premature articulation" category 😳