How effective are your sales team at the fine art of conversation? Do they know what information they need to uncover in order to quickly, effectively qualify a prospect?
And how do they work with key influencers? Can they identify someone that is likely to refer others to your business? Do they have a process for nurturing and building that relationship so it reaches its full potential? Or do they ignore them and move on because the key influencer is not a qualified buyer with immediate needs?
What about unqualified buyers? Do they abruptly end the conversation with unqualified buyers because they know the next opportunity will lead to a sale – or do they have a clear process for making sure these people have a positive, enjoyable, valuable experience with your business?
Within most sales departments, you have those that truly believe they can sell anything to anyone . They tend not to listen, ask probing questions – they talk. And talk. And talk – because they can convince anyone to buy anything.
Then there are those people that understood the importance of seeking and gathering critical data in order to determine if the other person is a qualified buyer with an immediate need to buy.
They asked probing questions to uncover the person’s needs, budget, authority and time line to purchase. They are more alive in the moment – focused on achieving a goal and the goal is to create a new, happy customer that will come back often and refer others.
They understand that hitting this month’s quota is important but so is building the relationships that drive sales next month, next quarter and next year.
They know that there will be times when they will not have the best solution for that buyer’s needs – and they understand that by telling the buyer that someone else has a better solution, they aren’t losing business. No, they are building a great relationship that will last a long, long time.
So how does your business attract and retain more of the listeners than the talkers? How do you develop processes for nurturing relationships with key influencers? And how do you make sure that you consistently deliver a unique valuable experience for everyone – including unqualified buyers (that might, one day, become a qualified buyer)?
[...] The Art of Conversation ? [...]