The ultimate goal of any entrepreneurial establishment is to make money. In contemporary times, there are numerous emergent businesses looking to pitch out their services to prospective clients.
Thus, companies nowadays need to stay in tune with the current trends around the world in order to still have an edge over the competition. By employing effective sales techniques, a business can ably distinguish itself as an entity to reckon.
Objectively, businesses focus on making more money while minimizing the cost of making those sales. A perfectly great way to do this is by targeting already existing clients.
Continued investments on existing clients helps businesses save costs and can help impart important lessons that can then be carried forward to new prospective clients.
In our analysis, we’ll be dissecting a couple of varied techniques businesses can employ in the modern work environment to generate more sales from both new and old clients whilst making money. The pointers will serve as actionable advice on effective sales techniques to grow a business. Let’s dive right in!
Effective Sales Techniques
1 – Go against the Status Quo Grain
The conventional understanding of business is that sales generation is a linear process. On paper, this sounds perfectly reasonable, however, such situations only exist in utopia. In the real world, sometimes going by the book is not enough. More needs to be done.
Prospective clients often have a plethora of options available to them. The traditional school of thought dictates that often times; a prospective client has two options available to them, either you or your competitor. Again, there’s an often overlooked side of this narrative, sometimes, indecision reigns supreme.
Statistics show that between 20-60% of deals often fall by the wayside because clients could not get to agree on who to bring aboard. In order to convince clients on why they require particular services that you’re selling to them, effective sales techniques like challenging the status quo are necessary.
Instead of conforming to the tried, proven and tested methods, one needs to think outside the box by challenging the status quo. Suggestions about brilliant business ideas need to be presented as a matter of urgency for the establishment to position itself as an industry leader in the years to come. This helps paint a picture to prospective clients why they should really collaborate with you.
Key Takeaway: By coupling data with the pitch and making projections on why adopting your ideas need to be seriously considered, the client is bound to feel compelled to take action your thoughts on growth.
2 – Compare and Contrast
Making a pitch to prospective clients is not the easiest task for anyone to undertake. However, once done right, it can work wonders. A certain amount of finesse is necessary during the communication process in order to appeal to the emotional side of clients.
The message delivered to buyers is quite an important vital factor because it helps you distinguish yourself from every other firm that has approached them. While assuaging their emotional state of mind sounds dandy, a contrast is necessary needs to be created. One can effectively do this by using research and data findings that support every claim made to appease their emotional wellbeing.
Key Takeaway: Linking data with emotion works since it helps clients have a feel of how things would be like if they were to follow through with your suggestions. Talking about how their lives and businesses can improve helps hammer the point home. Ultimately, this can lead to prospective clients turning into avid customers.
3 – Clients are the Superhero’s
Changing your method of operation when it comes to how you handle clients is quintessential to development. In order to effectively target increased buyers, you need to change the narrative from being centered around your company and solutions on offer. Instead, the anthem should be about client appreciation.
Key Takeaway: Letting clients see you as a mentor helps them change their perception about the trades of business. Taking up a mentorship role is one of the effective sales techniques necessary for you to elevate to the next level.
Clients can then use you as a reference to update them on the latest developments in the industry and how you can help them reach out and thrive.
4 – 3D Props
Many sellers today depend on using PowerPoint presentations in order to appeal to prospective clients. While PowerPoint presentations help to highlight the strengths of a business, it has almost become standard practice in most pitches.
Up close and intimate conversations that incorporate the use of 3D props helps sell products much more than a typical PowerPoint presentation would. By focusing on the creation of a compelling story instead of the visual appeal of slides, clients get to experience firsthand what you’re really going to bring to the table.
Key Takeaway: By using 3D Props, you can break the monotony and pique the interest of clients. 3D props help you stand out and will make clients sit up in order to listen to what you have to say. The physicality of 3D props constantly serves as a reminder to clients about the pitch. That way, the pitch keeps happening long after you’ve left the room.
5 – Constantly Seek Referrals
Using satisfied clients as a means to seek new business is one of the most effective sales techniques you can employ. The awkwardness can be minimized by engaging existing clients to talk about your business with other customers and suppliers.
Doing so helps your pitch much more smoothly once you decide to strike up a conversation with prospective clients. This is because people tend to respond much more positively to business proposals once they have a background about what you have to offer.
Key Takeaway: Seeking referrals from existing clients helps promote your services to prospective clients who might approach you purely based on word of mouth. While traditional forms of advertising serve an important role in selling your services, nothing really comes close to the effectiveness of word of mouth. It’s an ancient form of communication that you can use to leverage as a key resource.
6 – Prepare Responses
While you should not operate with a ready script in hand when approaching prospective clients and dealing with existing ones, having a base from which you can operate on can come in handy. As with any other trade, objections exist in the business environment.
Learning how to counter arguments that tend to hinder your narrative without getting controversial is an important skill everyone needs to harness. Practicing what to say beforehand is one of the effective sales techniques that are invaluable.
Key Takeaway: Thinking on your feet is an admirable trait, not just in business, but also in real life. Dealing with objections to your pitch with relative ease tends to harbor positive thoughts from clients about your intelligence whilst promoting the ethics of your firm.
7 – Proactive Engagements
After making the first sale with a customer, it’s very easy to fall into the rabbit hole of laxity. Resting on your laurels can harm your business if corrective measures are not put in place. A change in mindset can help improve your sales and lead generation.
How do you achieve this? Simple.
You need to conceptualize the initial sale as a seed that needs nurturing until it blossoms and develops to become a tree that regularly gives fruit. Clients need to feel that you’re actively looking out for their own best interests. Doing so can be quite hard to pull off without seeming like you’re only focused on promoting your business.
The balance can be struck by treating existing clients as prospective ones. That way, you’ll find yourself getting new clients because the professionalism involved will sell itself. Segmenting customers and using knowledge gained to make upsells is one of the most effective sales techniques.
Key Takeaway: Engaging with clients regularly helps enhance your relationship with them. By using the newly found friendship as a learning experience, you can get to discover strategies you can put in place to enhance your business.
8 – End Meeting Sessions With Good Calls to Action
After meeting sessions with clients, avoid the phrases, “I’ll follow up on the next steps”. Instead, create the next steps right there and then. Doing so helps you resonate better with your clients.
Right after meetings are held, it is usually harder to find time to set up the next meeting. You can remedy this by utilizing the available sessions to map out what exactly you’d like to implement in the days to come. That way, you’ll have effectively countered such inconveniences.
Key Takeaway: Laying concrete plans during available meeting hours can help improve the conversion rate of your business.
