The quality of the sales conversation, according to a series of authoritative studies, is the single most important determinant of success in high-value, complex sales environments. Sales people who manage to earn the trust and respect of the key stakeholders in the prospects buying decision process consistently outperform both their competitors and their peer group.
Top performing salespeople have a particular talent for earning the trust of their prospects. They do it by asking intelligent questions, by sharing valuable information and by telling compelling, credible stories that make the listener respect their expertise and want to learn more. This is not - as so many misguided “solution selling” implementations have shown - simply a matter of asking a series of checklist questions.
The conversation has to generate value for the prospect. There needs to be a flow of information given and received. And, if your prospect is to be motivated to continue the conversation on another occasion, they will have to feel that they have learned at least as much as the salesperson has from the exchange - and that continuing the conversation will result in yet more valuable learning.
Conversational skills can be taught, and conversational frameworks can be created. But we are no fans of rigid sales scripts. These have no place in a consultative sales environment. Instead, we recommend conversational call planners in the form of highly visual “mind maps” that allow the sales person to both guide the conversation and to adapt it according to the information shared by the prospect.
We work with clients to create meaningful messages and conversation planners that reflect the best practices of their top performing sales people, as well as collecting and republishing the anecdotes and stories that are so often a key part of the top performers conversational repertoire. And we help their whole sales team to develop the skills that add real value to the customer conversation.
Take the Next Step
We would be pleased to share what we’ve learned about helping high-growth-potential organisations to enhance the quality of sales conversation as part of a balanced programme of sales and marketing performance improvement. As a first step, you may find it useful to self-audit your current sales and marketing processes.
As soon as you are ready to learn more, please email us at conversation@inflexion-point.com, or call us on +44 (0) 118 975 0595. We look forward to discovering whether we might be able to help your organisation to improve its performance in this critical area.