the ultimate guide to winning sales conversations · conversations using ai — here are the 5...
TRANSCRIPT
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
WINNING SALES CONVERSATIONS
74 sales conversation techniques from the world’s greatest B2B sales practitioners
Presented by the team at...
i LEARN MORE AT: Gong.io
CONDENSED TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRODUCTiON
1: improving Your Sales Conversations at All Deal Stages
2: How to Master Prospecting Sales Conversations
3: Mastering the Discovery Call
4: How to Have Winning Presentations and Demos
5: How to Close and Negotiate Like the Pros
6: How to Coach Your Sales Reps at the Conversation Level
7: Bonus Sales Execution Advice
About Gong’s Ai-Driven Sales Conversation Research
About Gong
ii LEARN MORE AT: Gong.io
EXPANDED TABLE OF CONTENTS
iNTRODUCTiON
Theme 1: improving Your Sales Conversations at All Deal Stages
Ai Tells Us 43/57 is the Golden “Talk/Listen” Ratio in Sales - Here’s How To Do itBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
How Sales is Like Curing An AddictionBy Scott Leese , SVP Sales at Qualia Labs, Inc .
Open Every Call in a Way That Engages the BrainBy Mark Kosoglow , VP of Sales at Outreach.io
Don’t Be CheesyBy Emmanuelle Skala , VP Sales and Customer Success at DigitalOcean
They’ll Forget What You Said, But They’ll Never Forget How You Made Them FeelBy Craig Rosenberg , Co-Founder and Chief Analyst at TOPO, Inc .
How To “Engage” Your ProspectBy Mike Books , President at Mr. Inside Sales
Always Schedule the Next MeetingBy Noah Goldman , Host of the Enterprise Sales Podcast
Focus the Conversation On Them, Or Keep Your Mouth ShutBy Nancy Bleeke , President and Chief Sales Officer at Sales Pro Insider
Treat Every Sales onversation as a Marketing ConversationBy Chris Beall , CEO at ConnectAndSell
Always Tailor the Conversation by industry and PersonaBy Travis Truett , CEO at Ambition
How Artificial Intelligence Makes Sales Conversation Skills CriticaLBy Jill Rowley , Social Selling Expert
Lead with Value and EmpathyBy Matt Heinz , President at Heinz Marketing
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Differentiate with How You SellBy Lee Salz , Founder and CEO at Sales Architects
Create Value Through ConversationsBy Norman Behar, CEO and Managing Director at Sales Readiness Group
Speak with a PurposeBy Max Altschuler , CEO at SalesHacker, Inc.
Turn On Your WebcamBy Amit Bendov , CEO at Gong
Have Better Sales Conversations with Preparation, Purpose, Focus, and Disciplined ExecutionBy Mike Kunkle , Senior Director of Sales Readiness Consulting at Brainshark
Be Professionally PersonalBy Elinor Stutz , Sales Trainer at Smooth Sale
Make Conversations, Not CombatBy Colleen Francis , Owner at Engage Selling Solutions
Make How You Sell is As important As What You SellBy Jacco Vanderkooij , Founder at Winning By Design and Sales Architect at Storm Ventures
Adapt Your Communication StyleBy Barbara Giamanco , President and Social Selling Advisor at Social Centered Selling LLC
Adapt the Conversation to Your Buyer’s Topical interestsBy Peter Caputa , former VP Sales at HubSpot and CEO of Databox
Don’t Make AssumptionsBy Cian McLoughlin, CEO at Trinity Perspectives
Listen for What’s “Not Spoken”By Chris Ortolano , Sales Productivity Partner at DiscoverOrg
Ask Why from the Buyer’s PerspectiveBy Mark Birch , Founder of Enterprise Sales Meetup
Try Single Word AnswersBy Amit Bendov , CEO at Gong
Always Be Connecting - The ABC Sales Method By Koka Sexton , LinkedIn’s Original Social Selling Expert
Theme 2: How to Master Prospecting Sales Conversations
Nail it, Then Scale itBy Ben Sardella, CRO at Datanyze
Appeal to the Prospect’s Ego During Cold CallsBy Derek Gran t, VP of Sales at SalesLoft
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Leverage HonestyBy Peter Gracey , CEO at Quota Factory
Start With: “i Realize i’m An interruption”By Chad Burmeister, Senior Director of Sales Development at RingCentral
Talk About the Only Thing Your Prospect Cares AboutBy Art Sobczak , Inside Sales Trainer at Business By Phone, Inc .
Entice with Education, Not Product DemosBy Mark Roberge , former CRO at HubSpot
Theme 3: Mastering the Discovery Call
Ask 3 Simple Questions to Start Real Human Conversations with BuyersBy Andy Paul , Founder of Zero Time Selling, Inc.
Use The Golden “Talk-to-Listen” Ratio in SalesBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Ask the Right Discovery Questions to Ensure a Happy New YearBy Steve Andersen , Author of Beyond the Sales Process & President of Performance Methods, Inc .
Dialogic vs. Diagnostic: Try the All-New Needs AssessmentBy Deb Calvert , President at People First Productivity Solutions
The Skyscraper Approach: Sell through Questions, Not AnswersBy Rex Galbraith , VP of Sales at Consensus
Ask the Best Lead Off Question for Virtually Every First MeetingBy Kevin Ascher , President at Acoustic Selling
Begin with “What’s Changed Since Last We’ve Talked?”By Lori Richardson , B2B Sales Growth Strategist at Score More Sales
Ask the “Magic Wand” QuestionBy Bob Perkins , Founder and Chairman of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP)
BANT is Dead - Try NOTE insteadBy Sean Burke , CEO at KiteDesk
Theme 4: How to Have Winning Presentations and Demos
Do the Last Thing FirstBy Peter Cohan , Principal at The Second Derivative
Know When to Use Risk vs. RewardBy Jeff Adcock , Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at Needle
Leave Off “if,” “Or,” and “Also”By Peter Cohan , Principal at The Second Derivative
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Use Conversations to Close Deals, Not Demos or PitchesBy Alice Heiman , Founder and Chief Sales Officer at Alice Heiman LLC
Tell Them What You’re Going To Tell ThemBy Peter Cohan , Principal at The Second Derivative
Be a Teacher, Not a SellerBy Sean Murray , VP of Global Sales at Xactly Corp .
Focus Messaging On How You Help Your Buyer Overcome ChallengesBy Kristina McMillan , Director of Research at TOPO, Inc .
Break it into ChunksBy Peter Cohan , Principal at The Second Derivative
Don’t Start with PainBy Tibor Shanto , Chief Sales Officer at Renbor Sales Solutions
Holistic Selling and Team BuildingBy Pete Westenhiser , VP Sales at Infer
Let the Customer DriveBy Peter Cohan , Principal at The Second Derivative
Treat it as a Complex Purchase, Not a Complex SaleBy Garin Hess , CEO at Consensus
Theme 5: How to Close and Negotiate Like the Pros
Make Closing Easy with This QuestionBy Trish Bertuzzi , President and Chief Strategist at The Bridge Group, Inc .
Discuss Pricing Between the 40-49 Minute WindowBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Soothe Buyer Anxiety with Risk Reversal LanguageBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Listen for the Word “Probably” When You Ask for TimelineBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Beware the Phrase “We need to figure out ..................................”By Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Do This When a Client Goes DarkBy John Barrows , Owner at JBarrows Sales Training
if Pricing Comes Up 3-4x, Consider it a Buying SignalBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Treat “i’ll Buy Soon” as “Never”By Steli Efti , CEO at Close.io
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Theme 6: How to Coach Your Sales Reps at the Conversation Level
Focus On Effectiveness, Not Just EfficiencyBy Richard Harris , Owner at The Harris Consulting Group
Lead with Preparation and EmpathyBy Bridget Gleason , Vice President of Sales at Logz.io
Make Your Conversations CountBy Dionne Mischler , CEO and Founder at Inside Sales By Design
Rinse and RepeatBy Chuck Jones , Manager of Sales Development at SalesLoft
Know Your Customers; it’s the Best “Research”By Ken Jisser , Co-Founder and VP of Sales and Customer Success at Replystream
Systematize Call FeedbackBy Kevin Dorsey , Vice President of Sales at SnackNation
Coach at the Conversation LevelBy Chris Orlob , Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong
Theme 7: Bonus Sales Execution Advice
How to Run a Successful QBRBy Marc Silberstrom , Vice President Worldwide Sales at Clari
Focus on the Metrics that MatterBy Ben Daters , Vice President of Sales at People.ai
Transform Your Outbound Demand Generation StrategyBy Lars Nilsson , VP of Global Inside Sales at Cloudera
Cheat Sheet: 8 Ways to Uncover Sales OpportunitiesBy Marc Maloy , EVP of Sales at instructure
Align Sales and MarketingBy Jon Miller , CEO at Engagio
About Gong’s Ai-Driven Sales Conversation Research
About Gong
1 LEARN MORE AT: Gong.io
“Welcome to The Big Book of Winning Sales Conversations, presented by the team at Gong as well as 62 of the world’s top B2B sales practitioners.
This is going to be a rich read. There’s a ton of excellent advice in here to help you (or your team if you’re a sales leader) absolutely master the art and science of the B2B sales conversation at each stage of the sales cycle.
You’ll notice that many of the pieces in here are short. That’s done intentionally to ensure you apply what you learn from this book.
it’s also worth noting that many of these awesome sales practitioners have a ton of other content to check out elsewhere. So, many of these pieces and contributions can point you in the right direction for a deeper level of learning and mastery.
There are two ways i recommend reading this:
1) Skim through the (clickable) table of contents and jump to the chapters that stand out to you based on your current situation, or…
2) read the whole thing from beginning to end and then refer to the table of contents throughout the rest of your sales career whenever you need a quick “snack.”
Each of these sales practitioners gave it their absolute best in putting this book together (a huge thank you goes out to all of them, seriously). i hope you enjoy it and get as much out of it as i did putting it together.
More important: i hope you do something with it.
Onward.
INTRODUCTION
Chris OrlobSenior Director of Product Marketing, Gong.io.
THEME 1:
IMPROVINGYOUR SALES
CONVERSATIONS ATALL DEAL STAGES
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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In November of 2016, I wrote an article on SalesHacker called “We analyzed 25,537 B2B sales conversations using AI — here are the 5 things we discovered.” The first insights we discovered among the analysis were trends related to the “talk-to-listen” ratio. As it turned out, the “highest yielding” B2B sales conversations hovered around a 43:57 talk-to-listen ratio. Tweet this.
in other words, the data told us that top-producing B2B sales professionals speak 43% of the time (on average), allowing the prospect to speak 57% of the time (on average).
But again, most sales reps are talking more than they believe they are (65–75% of the call). When I first started using Gong’s sales conversation analyzer, i was appalled to learn my average talk-to-listen ratio was 72:28(!)
Since i started tracking and measuring my own talk-to-listen ratio, it has improved. (i’m trending around 52:48 these days — can you say “Talkers Anonymous”?)
AI TELLS US 43/57 IS THE GOLDEN “TALK/LISTEN” RATIO
IN SALES - HERE’S HOW TO DO IT
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
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But how do you accomplish that without “interrogating” customers, peppering them with an endless stream of pointed questions until they grow irritable? When most sales professionals hear the data about the 43:57 talk-to-listen ratio, they usually revert to asking so many questions that it can feel interrogative and annoying.
So here are four unconventional methods to get your potential customer talking more (about the stuff you want them talking about) without peppering them endlessly with generic question after question.
“It Seems Like You __________________________”
in his book Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss calls this technique “emotional labeling” — and it is empathy on steroids.
After you’ve asked your prospect an effective, targeted question, verbally “call out” an emotion you observed the prospect express while they were answering. You can simply finish one of the following sentences:
“It seems like you _________________”
“It looks like you __________________”
“It sounds like you ________________”
For example, if asked a well thought-out “problem” question and the prospect responds, expressing a hint of frustration with the problem, you can try saying the following:
“It seems like you’re personally frustrated by this challenge you’re company is going through.”
if the emotion you “labeled” was accurate, your prospect will feel such a deep level of feeling understood they will be compelled to release a new floodgate of emotional information.
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The two tricks to making this work:
1. You have to be accurate with your emotional label (i.e. listen carefully)
2. ou must pause after the label and let your prospect fill the void (count to four in your head).
If you speak too soon, you’ve negated this technique’s positive effects.
The Socially Awkward Pause
When I first learned that my talk-to-listen ratio was averaging 72:28, Gong’s CEO Amit Bendov gave me a little tip:
“Chris, you are so eager to respond after the other person is done speaking that you begin speaking as soon as they’re done. Try letting an awkward three seconds go by between the time they’re done speaking, and the time you respond.”
I have to admit: this felt weird the first few times I tried it. But Amit’s advice didn’t disappoint. i’m still surprised at how often prospects “add on” to the end of their responses when i just shut up a few seconds more than what feels natural. And often, that extra information they share with me is pure gold.
Describe Their Problem Better Than They Can Themselves
When you can describe your prospect’s problem more accurately than they can, they will automatically trust you and assume you know the best way to solve it. Many times prospects will have a lingering problem that they “can’t put their finger on.” When you can put words to the problem they’ve been unable to, the light bulb in their head will light up. They’ll experience a true epiphany. Here’s an example of how i’ve applied this in a sales call at Gong:
“Most of the sales managers I speak with, deep down, are afraid of having too many bad months in a row. They do deal reviews with their reps to try to stay on top of things, but they don’t truly know what’s going on in deals since they are blind to what’s happening at the sales call-level. To what extent does this resonate with you?”
if you’ve been able to describe their problem accurately and in emotional terms, they will practically become entranced on the other side of the phone. Really. Most people
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do not make an effort to understand another person deeply. Be the one who does, and you’ll be the “one-eyed man in the land of the blind.”
The caveat to this is you have to do the work to understand your buyers on a very deep level. There is no shortcut.
Ask Questions That “Subcommunicate” You Know the Answer to Their Problem
This is similar to the technique above. When you ask a question that “nails their problem on the head,” they will emotionally lean forward and open up. Here are a few examples we use here at Gong:
• How often do your account executives forget to hit the “record” button on GoToMeeting?
• How difficult is it to “capture” amazing sales call recordings to use as training content later on?
• How familiar are you with what’s happening on the frontlines of your sales organization?
Notice these questions are highly calibrated toward the problem we solve. They aren’t your generic sales qualification questions that so often lead to a monotonous “interrogation.”
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HOW SALES IS LIKE CURING AN ADDICTION
Scott LeeseSales leader, Surfer, California Soul, Strategic Advisor at FiveStars, Mindtouch,
ResearchGate, ImpactFlow, Counsl.co; reluctant enthusiast, part-time crusader, half-hearted fanatic, SF Giants lifer, survivor. Scott currently serves as SVP
Sales at Qualia Labs, Inc. and runs Scott Leese Consulting, LLC. Connect with Scott on LinkedIn and Twitter.
“Sales is like curing an addiction.” Tweet this
There are countless articles providing insight and data that show that top salespeople spend nearly as much (if not more time.) listening than talking and avoid talking about price and product before learning enough about their prospect to sell intelligently.
To sell intelligently, you must help the prospect understand the following:
1) They have a problem. 2) This problem is important. 3) The problem needs to be solved ASAP, and 4) i provide the solution to the problem.
i teach all of my sales teams and clients to get the prospect to admit they have a problem before anything else. it is not good enough for me to tell the prospect they have a problem. It does not sink in as effectively. Instead, I ask questions and help the prospect realize they have the problem and they announce it to me. After that, i teach them to build value and make them understand they should care about this problem. We must establish why this problem is important to solve, and why they should care about fixing it. Once we have the
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first two hooks set, we need to establish that this is an urgent problem to solve. We want to help the prospect understand that this is not a paper cut but rather an open wound demanding immediate attention. Finally - only after we have established each of the prior steps - is it time to talk about what we do. i am then able to easily discuss how my solution is the best possible cure to solve their problem.
it very closely models how one would treat addiction. You need an addict to admit they have a problem, understand that fixing this problem is important and that they need to do something about it right now before it is too late. Then, and only then, is somebody going to be open to treatment. You cannot just walk up to someone with addiction issues and loudly proclaim “Hey, I found this killer rehab facility in Malibu called Passages, ready to go?” You will not get far discussing the solution with somebody who isn’t ready to admit they even have a problem in the first place.
You would never try to help an addict in a different sequence. It simply wouldn’t work. So why shouldn’t we follow that same methodology in sales?
Prospects must admit to their problem, see the value, and understand why it’s important to fix, feel the urgent need to fix ASAP, and then hear about your solution. Do not try to sell out of order or you will experience less success.
i have had a ton of success with this process, and the analogy seems to really connect with team members.
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OPEN EVERY CALL IN A WAY THAT
ENGAGES THE BRAINMark Kosoglow
As a teenager, watching 14 videos in the back storeroom on a 7” black and white TV to learn how to sell shoes at the mall was a great foundation. Running a small business
with 200+ employees taught me how to be organized. Creating a highly profitable sales territory from one dead for a decade was hard work. Managing 25 salespeople across 9 states cemented my sales philosophy. Building a sales team with, by far, the
best, smartest, hardest working people I’ve ever worked with....well, that’s an honor and privilege I get to enjoy everyday. Mark currently serves as VP of Sales for Outreach.io.
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
“The human brain has 6 major regions. The cerebellum, or lizard brain, is the smallest yet most powerful. Its goal is to help the rest of the brain (and your body) survive the situations you encounter throughout your day. It is the first processor of an experience, and the cerebellum is mostly making powerful, un-ignorable decisions along the lines of “This is good - keep going” or “ This is bad - get out of here.” As a seller, you have 3-5 seconds before the cerebellum begins to lean towards keep going or get out of here.” Tweet this
As you can see, the beginning of a meeting or conversation is supremely important if you want a prospect to be open to keeping things going, and combining it with another interesting fact about the brain makes that knowledge even more powerful: The brain is bent towards being lazy. it looks for patterns and fuels action and decisions in a way that matches previously known patterns that achieved a desired outcome in the past. Following a pattern causes the brain to go into autopilot; whereas, breaking a pattern alerts the brain it needs to be engaged.
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Back to sales conversations: How do most alespeople begin their calls? The same way! Most of us sound exactly the same when we begin a meeting. With what we just learned, your response might have been “OH NO!” However, it should have been “AWWW YEEAHHH!!” Why? Most salespeople are giving you an awesome opportunity to break a well-established pattern which will open up the brain of the person you are talking to, engaging the cerebellum, giving you a chance to force the “keep going” response. That sounds like a great (and important) outcome to the first 5 seconds of a sales call.
How do you achieve this?
1) When someone comes on the call, don’t say “ Hey, is this Ron?” Break the pattern by coming up with an interesting thing to say or way of greeting the participants. i say “ Whaaaddduuupp y’all?!” People always smile, and i’ve broken a pattern, engaging the brain.
2) Say something to build rapport (now that the brain is paying attention to your conversation). i typically say something like, “ Are you guys killing it?” Everyone likes to brag on how they are awesome, so the cerebellum tells the rest of the brain to keep going with the conversation.
Find an unexpected way to start your sales conversation so you can increase your chances of starting your meeting off on the right foot!
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DON’T BE CHEESY
We are all trying to get attention and break through the noise of emails, content, inMails, cold calls, etc. Unfortunately, over the last few years, we (as sales professionals) have resorted to cutesy and cheesy tactics -- think unicorn gifs, bait & switch email subjects, unnecessary pleasantries ( “how’s the weather?”) and my favorite - the far stretched attempt to draw a parallel ( “i see you went to NYU - i also love New York City”).
it’s true: your email might get opened, and you might even possibly get a chuckle occasionally -- but the reaction you’ll likely get most of the time will be an eye-roll followed by a swift click of the delete or end call button. It’s time to stop acting like a cheesy salesperson and act like a business person. Tweet this. Here are some tips to help you make the shift
1. Your written communication should read like a conversation you’d have with a co-worker and not an advertisement or marketing copy. Re-read your emails a few times out-loud before sending or send them to a friend. if your friend doesn’t get it or you sound like a walking advertisement, re-write it and use plain English!
Emmanuelle SkalaEmmanuelle is responsible for customer acquisition and growth at DigitalOcean.
Prior to DigitalOcean, she led sales at Influitive where she scaled the business tenfold in 2 years. She also served as the VP of Global Channel Sales at Sophos, where she
won the CRN Channel Chief award for two years in a row. She is also a recipient of CRN’s Top 100 Women in the Channel. She was the first hired salesperson at
two B2B software startups, Endeca and Vertica, and she saw both through rapid growth and successful acquisitions by Oracle and HP respectively. She advises
several startups and serves as an executive-in-residence for Argosight. She holds a B.S. in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA
in Marketing & Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business.Connect with Emmanuelle on LinkedIn.
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2. Observe how the executives in your company communicate and try to emulate that. Typically, they use simple language and are actually less formal than you might expect.
3. Get to the point and keep it short. You don’t need to talk about the weather or sports. You can, but don’t force it. it’s not necessary, especially early in a relationship. Busy professionals appreciate just jumping right in. That doesn’t mean you don’t try to build rapport —just do it naturally through the course of your interactions. The best way to build rapport is to add business value first. Eventually, that may lead to something more personal.
4. Mimic the communication style of your audience and be flexible with different personalities. You will need to adjust your conversation style to best communicate with different people. Try CrystalKnows for some help here.
5. Finally, earn the right. We get so caught up in CTAs (calls to action) that we jump to asking for things (15-minutes to learn about your objectives, coffee, etc.) before we’ve even earned the right to ask for those things. i personally never respond to a request for time unless the person already deserves it. So think quid-pro-quo. if you want something, give something.
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The quote in the title of this post has been attributed to a number of people (not me).
i am rarely the person to talk about enthusiasm, passion, and energy.
However, as the witness of thousands of sales calls over the years, i can tell you that those reps that make the buyer feel like they are the most important person in the world and that they passionately believe they can help them - are the ones that succeed.
Craig RosenbergCraig Rosenberg is the Co-Founder and Chief Analyst at TOPO, a research and advisory firm that
helps the world’s best sales and marketing organizations achieve scalable revenue growth. Our analysts and consultants provide clients with research and advisory support, strategic consulting,
playbooks, and training. We support over 200 clients that generate over $50B in annual revenues. Connect with Craig on LinkedIn.
THEY’LL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID, BUT
THEY’LL NEVER FORGETHOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL
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Effective sales conversations are all about one thing: Engagement. Unfortunately, this is what many salespeople are not very good at. i specialize in inside sales, so I have the benefit of listening to actual recordings of salespeople – and their prospects – in live selling situations. And what i usually hear are sales reps pitching at their prospects, rather than engaging, listening, and matching their solutions to each specific prospect’s buying motives. Top producers, however, know how to have true sales conversations.
To start with, top producers know how to engage prospects and customers. They start by being better at asking questions and listening, rather than talking and pitching. They are prepared for all the selling situations they get into, including handling resistance, stalls, and objections, which enables them to engage in conversation around these issues rather than panicking and pitching. These producers give their prospects the space, the time, and the opportunity to tell them their wants, their fears, and, ultimately, what it will take to sell them. in other words, they know how to engage them in meaningful sales conversations.
Mike BrooksAs president of Mr. Inside Sales, I work, one on one, with business owners, sales managers and even top performing sales professionals who are committed to
excelling at selling over the phone. I develop a “best practice” approach to selling your product or service, and then I script out every part of your sales cycle to ensure that
each rep has the most effective, current and proven ways of navigating your sale. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn.
HOW TO “ENGAGE” YOUR PROSPECT
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i cannot claim credit for this. it comes from a mentor, Townsend Wardlaw . But no one does it. No one even thinks about it, and everyone should know it -- so it’s worth repeating: Sales is a series of incremental advances. So getting the next appointment is critical. Yet this is done wrong 99% of the time.
Most reps say they will “follow up” and then waste time and devalue themselves in the eyes of the customer by chasing them. instead, by insisting at the end of every interaction that a next meeting be set, you are saving the 5-6 calls/emails needed to secure the meeting after the fact and you are telegraphing something very important most reps never do: that your time is as important, if not more so, than that of the prospect. You are a professional, a business person, and your time is not to be wasted. You treat yourself seriously and your work seriously - and you cannot and will not waste time or devalue yourself chasing a prospect.
When you look at it in that way, it makes zero sense to do it any other way.
ALWAYS SCHEDULE THE NEXT MEETING
Noah GoldmanNoah helps SaaS companies with sales process, lead generation, and team formation. He has held roles in several capacities in both B2B and B2C tech companies from marketing
to finance and corporate development. He is also the host of the Enterprise Sales Podcast, a daily show featuring the smartest people in sales, a skill he honed from a prior life in
TV production. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt and a bachelor’s from Syracuse. Connect with Noah on LinkedIn.
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FOCUS THE CONVERSATION ON THEM, OR KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT
Nancy BleekeNancy Bleeke is Founder and President of Sales Pro Insider whose mission is to help businesses grow sales while creating raving fans, & encouraging employee
engagement. She is the author of the outstanding book, Conversations that Sell, which outlines the whats, whys, and hows to make every conversation count..
Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn.
Productive sales conversations are the most important asset any sales rep owns.Tweet this
Conversations have not been replaced by software, technology, or “scripts.” The volumes of information and choices for buying products and services has complicated buyer’s decision making. Professional sales pros who engage the buyer in a two-way conversation to guide and cut out the data and detail bogging down their confidence in making a decision, win.
To win with your sales conversations, skip the product pitch and focus all you say and do on them, the buyer. A focus on “What’s in it for Them” from the start to the end of the conversation allows the buyer to work through their buying process, which will always trump your selling process. Tweet this.
The key is to adjust your selling process and conversation to help them through their buying process.
How? Ask prepared insightful questions followed by powerful paraphrasing and follow-up questions to clarify and confirm what they already know, use, and care about. Listen (Gong’s research shows the talk/listen ratio of 47/53 is ideal!) and understand their “story” to earn the right to share additional information and connect your product or service to their identified problem, opportunity, want, or need.
if you can’t connect the information or your solution to What’s in it for Them, close your mouth to first learn more or lose the sale.
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TREAT EVERY SALES ONVERSATION AS A MARKETING CONVERSATION
Chris BeallChris is CEO of ConnectAndSell, making B2B calling fun and profitable by
delivering 8-10X more sales conversations with exactly zero effort. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.
Sales conversations have 4 possible outcomes: Yes, No, Not Me, Not Now. Tweet this. it turns out that 2 of these are really marketing conversations that need to be handled with a different mindset.
“Yes” is easy. Don’t blow it and take care of the details and you will make progress. Maybe a meeting, maybe a deal, but progress.
“No” is almost as easy, as long as you can tell the difference between “ No - never” for a valid reason and “ No - go away - i don’t want to talk to you.” The former is really “ No.” The latter is really “ Not now.”
“Not Me” is easy, too. Get the referral and make the call.
“Not Now” is the hard one for a simple reason - the sales conversation - with the goal of making progress (meeting, deal, whatever) - just turned into a marketing interaction (nurturing a possible future conversation). The effective thing to do is to continue the conversation at a well-chosen future date, with every bit of context in place - a sales activity (talking) with a marketing goal (nurturing). The common thing is to punt the lead back to marketing for content nurturing and then let your competitor take the opportunity that you warmed up by simply calling them at the right time.
Now here’s the hard news: about 65% of all sales conversations end in “Not Now,” (Tweet) and failing to treat them correctly (following up with another conversation, not mere content) effectively throws away most of them. So the insight is “Learn to tell when a Sales conversation just became a marketing conversation, and nurture with more conversations until you get to Yes.“
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ALWAYS TAILOR THE CONVERSATION BY
INDUSTRY AND PERSONA
Travis TruettTravis Truett is the CEO at Ambition, a real-time sales performance management
platform endorsed by Harvard Business Review, AA-ISP, and G2Crowd. Connect with Travis on LinkedIn.
Ambition has multiple use cases that differ based on industry, decision-maker, and company size.
When we’re showing how Ambition adds value to, say, a logistics firm, we’re utilizing ROI examples, client references, and testimonials from that specific industry.
if the prospect is a SaaS company or an eCommerce company, same thing.
Same goes based on their job title (VP of Customer Support versus VP of Sales).
What that does is allow us to mold the vision for the product’s success as specifically to their particular scenario as possible - leading to a short sales cycle, higher close rate, and ultimately, a negative churn rate (no exaggeration) in our existing client base in the past calendar year.
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HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MAKES SALES CONVERSATION
SKILLS CRITICAL
Jill RowleyJill Rowley is a sales professional trapped in a marketer’s body. She spent six years
in management consulting, 52 quarters on quota at Salesforce and Eloqua, and a year leading Social Selling at Oracle after the Eloqua acquisition in 2013. She’s currently spending most of her time speaking internationally and advising global companies like GE, Sprint, Workday, NetApp, CA Technologies, and AT&T
on the Why, What, and How-to-Do Social Selling and Digital Sales Transformation at scale. Additionally, she has a portfolio of 13 #SaaS technology companies
she invests in, advises, and/or is on the board of directors. Jill’s married, a mom of four, has an adorable doggie named Toby and lives in Silicon Valley.
Connect with Jill on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing increasingly capable of handling many sales transactions. in reality, most transactions don’t even require Ai, but my point is that technology is advancing quickly and a growing number of transactions will require no human involvement. if you don’t believe me, Forrester says that “85% of tasks performed by sales professionals are ‘automatable’”.
AI is destined to be the perfect tool to fuel an organization’s sales efforts and power sales teams with genuinely intelligent tools to more effectively organize their work and sell more. it will not displace the salesperson, but instead amplify and accelerate the salesperson’s ability to understand and employ data -- not just to improve productivity and boost performance, but to improve the customer experience. For the foreseeable future, there will remain a need for human beings to guide high-value interactions.
A few stats from Salesforce’s “State of the Connected Customer” report to consider:
Seventy-nine percent of business buyers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to have a sales rep that serves as a trusted advisor.
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By 2020, 75% of business buyers expect companies to anticipate their needs and make relevant suggestions.
I’m not talking about finding better ways to automate the old ways of selling; I’m talking about completely rethinking the entire process of enabling purchase decisions.
None of these are physical laws embedded in the very fabric of our universe:
Sales must be one person persuading another to do something
Sales quotas are what drive sales success
Relationships are secondary to transactions
Technology is less valuable to the sales process than it is to other functional areas
Sales initiatives have to be triggered by a human action.
in short, we can rethink everything.
The old way of selling was grounded in this thought: we want to sell something.
One new way of selling can be: we will show you exactly why, when, and how it benefits you to make a purchase.
Doing the latter requires a true digital transformation. it shifts the sales profession from a semi-mystical art form to a quantifiable process grounded in data, artificial intelligence, and predictive modeling.
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LEAD WITH VALUE AND EMPATHY
Matt HeinzA prolific author and nationally recognized award-winning blogger, Matt Heinz
is President and Founder of Heinz Marketing with 15 years of marketing, business development and sales experience from a variety of organizations and
industries. He is a dynamic speaker, memorable not only for his keen insight and humor, but his actionable and motivating takeaways. Matt’s career focuses on consistently delivering measurable results with greater sales, revenue growth,
product success and customer loyalty. Matt is a repeat winner of Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management and Top 50 Sales & Marketing
Influencers. Matt is living through the renovation of a 105-year old historic farmhouse in Kirkland, Washington with his wife, Beth and three young children.
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Wait as long as possible to talk about yourself and/or your product and service. Tweet this.
Focus on bringing value to the conversation as quickly as possible.
Think: what value can you provide prospects that they would be happy to pay for?
What can you do to drive empathy, understanding, trust & credibility with prospects from the first interaction?
How do you earn ongoing attention?
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DIFFERENTIATE WITH HOW YOU SELL
Lee SalzLee B. Salz is a leading sales management strategist and best-selling author of four business
books. He has helped hundreds of companies, in various industries and sizes, create marketplace disruption – leading to explosive, profitable growth. Lee challenges executives to
blast through the artificial barriers that are impeding their success.Lee is an entrepreneur, results-driven consultant, and dynamic keynote speaker. You can read his full bio here.
Connect with Lee on LinkedIn.
Most salespeople can’t change what they sell. They can’t add features or functions. They can’t make it bigger/smaller, wider/narrower, or redder/bluer. What they have to sell is what they have to sell. in a competitive sales environment, the differences between what they have to sell and what the competition has to sell can be minor. Price is the ultimate decision factor in the absence of differentiation.
What many salespeople fail to recognize is that how they sell, not just what they sell, can create meaningful differentiation with buyers. Here are some ways salespeople can differentiate themselves from the pack.
1. Master the industry, the products you sell, and the buyers themselves… so you can provide helpful guidance to buyers.
2. Don’t take orders, but rather make informed recommendations based on your expertise.
3. Be genuine. if the buyer has a goal, that is now your goal too. Own it!
Learn more at www.SalesDifferentiation.com
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CREATE VALUE THROUGH CONVERSATIONS
Norman BeharNorman Behar is a proven sales leader with over 25 years of CEO and senior sales management experience. He is recognized as a thought leader in the sales training
industry, and his white papers and blog posts are frequently featured in leading trade publications.Norman received his B.A. from the Foster School of Business
at the University of Washington, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Connect with Norman on LinkedIn.
There has been a dramatic shift in power between buyers and sellers as web-enabled buyers are no longer reliant on sellers for information. in many cases, buyers are in the middle of their purchase process well before they speak to a salesperson.
Unfortunately, many sales professionals are still focused on their “sales pitches” as opposed to understanding their customers’ needs and customizing their message to align with the customers’ priorities.
Sales professionals should focus on developing skills that improve the quality of their sales conversations and the value they bring to their customers. These skills include thorough pre-call research and planning, asking thought provoking questions, active listening to uncover opportunities, and presenting solutions that directly align with the customers’ needs.
Sales professionals who master these skills will engage in sales conversations that create real value for their customers and, as a result, close more business.
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SPEAK WITH A PURPOSE
Max AltschulerMax Altschuler is the CEO of Sales Hacker Inc, a rapidly growing media company
focused on the future of B2B Sales. Max wrote the book Hacking Sales: The Playbook for Building a High Velocity Sales Machine, which was recently published by Wiley.
Aside from Sales Hacker, Max angel invests and advises startups around the globe Connect with Max on LinkedIn.
Speak with a purpose in all of your sales conversations. Tweet this.
in every sales conversation you have, be sure to speak with lots of energy and use different tones, pauses, and emphases to make your point.
Sometimes it’s not what you say, but how you say it. You can say all the right things, but if you say it without purpose, conviction, and emphasis, it will likely fall flat.
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TURN ON YOUR WEBCAM
Amit BendovAmit is founder and CEO at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales conversation AI platform.
Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening in the sales conversations
across your team. Learn more at Gong.io. Connect with Amit on LinkedIn.
Most phone warriors are taught to “smile and dial.”
The idea is that people can “hear you smile” the phone.
And it actually works. People can sense your energy and upbeat mood based on your tone.
But what’s better than smiling on the phone? Smiling on a video conference.
i’ve personally been reluctant to use Webcams for sales calls as it sometimes catches you in awkward situations (like kids running in the background :)
But i’m a convert now, after having tried it just a few times. We now use video conference at Gong.io for all of our sales calls (and also support/investors/job interviews).
The benefits are substantial.
1) it’s much easier to create rapport.
2) it’s more engaging, as you maintain eye contact.
3) Your prospect is not reading through emails during the call.
4) You get a much better response rate post-call, as you become “buddies.”
5) it’s more fun!
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if you’ve ever read a transcript of an average conversation, you know that it’s often a jumble of words that bounces all over the place. i wish i could say that this is different for sales conversations, but very often, it’s not. Those who excel in leading effective sales conversations are those who approach the conversation with preparation, purpose, focus, and disciplined execution – with good notes or a recording .
From endless hours of observing top sales producers over the past 15 years (while conducting systematic Top-Producer Analyses), here’s what I see the best do:
• Establish a call or conversation objective –including the expected outcomes of the conversation. Ensure these outcomes have value to the buyer you’re speaking with, not just you.
• Establish a backup objective in case something prevents you from achieving the primary objective.
HAVE BETTER SALES CONVERSATIONS WITH
PREPARATION, PURPOSE, FOCUS, AND DISCIPLINED EXECUTION
Mike KunkleMike Kunkle is senior director of sales readiness consulting at Brainshark, Inc.,
which provides sales enablement solutions for faster training, better coaching, and more successful sales conversations. A well-known consultant, strategist, speaker and writer in the field of sales, Mike has spent more than two decades helping companies
analyze sales performance levers, and improve sales productivity and results. Connect with Mike through www.mikekunkle.com, @Mike_Kunkle and LinkedIn.
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• Create a plan to get to those outcomes. What questions will you ask and what do you intend to learn? Assuming you learn what you anticipate, what insights or valuable information might you be able to share in return?
• At the beginning of the dialogue, state your intent and plan clearly, share the value you believe your plan will offer, and ask for your buyer’s input. Get agreement to the plan or alter it slightly, based on your buyer’s hope for the meeting and outcomes.
• Finally, stay single-threaded during the conversation, developing each idea to its fullest before moving on. Don’t bounce around, but structure the conversation logically so it builds and culminates in a deep, mutual understanding.
For execution, remember that people tend to get distracted and veer off-track. If you’re asking about Topic A, and in her answer, your buyer also mentions something about Topic B, make a note of that info and ask to come back to it, but return to following your path to understanding Topic A.
Whatever your sales methodology, follow it. Some methodologies recommend getting the What and Why and then Priorities. Others recommend a Situational Analysis; others encourage documenting Point A (the current state) and Point B (the desired future state) with consequences of inaction and positive action outcomes, etc. Stay true to your methodology and follow it to take the train of thought and conversation to its conclusion.
Finish one thought with good notes (or a recording), and then move to the next. Don’t simply ask surface level questions. Peel the onion to truly understand your buyer’s situation and point of view more deeply than others ever will. While you’re doing this, ensure you listen, attend, and take good notes about the ancillary topics that arise so you can come back to them. This sales conversation advice, well-followed, will yield a wealth of information and differentiate you from at least 80% of your competitors.
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The moment I cross the threshold of an office for an initial meeting, I leave my sales goals outside. instead, i enter with a smile and a desire to learn why i am in the room. The prospect’s goals come first, but the secret is to enhance the conversation with personal perspectives too.
Being professionally personal has let me learn about both the personal and professional goals of the prospective client. inquiries include how the person chose their line of work and their future goals. Most people do not take the time to do this or don’t have the nerve. Conducting sales calls this way distinguishes my personal brand and makes my delivery more intriguing. The conversation becomes lively and heart-to-heart while remaining on the professional level.
One other distinguishing factor is to treat everyone as the CEO of their job. They are just that because most often the seemingly lower level employees report back to the actual CEO. i strive for an excellent report card each and every time. After the sale, i send a basket of delicacies for the team to enjoy. Being professionally personal and making the sale a team event far more often leads to the Smooth Sale!
BE PROFESSIONALLY PERSONAL
Elinor StutzElinor Stutz broke through barriers long before doing so was popular. Against all odds she defied the theme, “women can’t sell” to become the top producer
at every company she ever worked all the while ignoring attempts to get her to quit. The best case prediction for Stutz and her broken neck was to be
paralyzed. Two visions, being of strong mind and negotiation with the Great Beyond had her declared as “a walking miracle”. Stutz’ motto became, “Believe,
Become, Empower.” Moving full steam ahead six months later, she created Smooth Sale. Once again, people laughed thinking a woman could not know
enough about sales to train. Returning to her commitment of “Believe, Become, Empower” her work has manifested into many types of training programs,
speaking events and teaching audiences how to achieve similar results. Connect with Elinor through LinkedIn.
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Far too often sales reps get into combat with their customers over questions and objections. You can’t get into combat if you want to win the sale. You have to stay in-conversation. So how do we do that?
it all starts with our mindset. Stop thinking of objections as objections. Think of them as questions.
Remind yourself that as long as the customer is asking questions and you’re engaged in the conversation you’re having, there’s a chance you can win this business. if the customer shuts off, sit back and say nothing, that’s deadly in sales.
When you think about these objections as simply interested questions, then you stay in the conversation. You’re likely to ask another question which gets them talking, sharing more information which can move you towards the ultimate outcome. So don’t get into combat with your customer. Keep the conversation going. Ask them a couple of questions. Give them a couple of answers. And you know what, if you try to get through these objections two or three times and you can’t get anywhere, then change the conversation and move on. You’ll live to fight another day.
And if you’re fighting with your customer in combat over a particular question that they have, you’ll lose your right to sell to them in the future.
MAKE CONVERSATIONS, NOT COMBAT
Colleen FrancisColleen is the President and Founder of Engage Selling Solutions: a boutique
consulting company focused on Sales Acceleration. She’s author of the popular “Nonstop Sales Boom” and “Honesty Sells” books, is distinguished as a Certified Sales Professional (C.S.P.), and an award-winning blogger. Sales and Marketing
Magazine has called Colleen and Engage Selling: “one of the top 5 most effective sales consulting organizations in the market today!” Colleen works with business
and sales leaders to design, implement and hone their sales teams to seize market opportunities and Accelerate Growth. Whether designing strategy to target a new
market or working with a team to improve their productivity, Colleen’s results have attracted global clients such as Chevron, Merck, Abbott, Merrill Lynch, Royal
Bank, Dow, Adecco, Trend Micro, and over 1,000 other leading organizations. Connect with Colleen through LinkedIn.
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MAKE HOW YOU SELL IS AS IMPORTANT AS
WHAT YOU SELLJacco Vanderkooij
Founder of Winning By Design. Design, Build and Scale Sales Organizations.
Author of Blueprints for a SaaS Sales organization. Youngest of eight.
Connect with Jacco on LinkedIn.
Today’s sales leaders realize the difference between a company being wildly successful or being an utter failure happens on a sales call conducted by a member of their sales team.
Companies literally have to approach a modern sales organization as its only Unique Selling Point (USP). However, this USP does not require two years of development like a product feature, but rather the perfect execution of known best practices. Establish the right process, train the team to execute, then help them implement it until they master it.
When you make how you sell as important as what you sell, your sales team will become the ultimate differentiator. Tweet this.
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ADAPT YOUR COMMUNICATION
STYLEBarbara Giamanco
Barb Giamanco heads up Social Centered Selling. She’s the co-author of The New Handshake: Sales Meets Social Media and authored the Harvard Business
Review article Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy. With a successful C-level background in Sales, Technology and Leadership Development, Barb’s experience
speaks for itself. She capped her corporate career at Microsoft, where she led sales teams and coached executives. Through the years she has sold $1B in sales.
Connect with Barbara on LinkedIn.
Successful selling requires excellent communication skills. Listening is a very big part of the equation. For years, i’ve used my understanding of the DiSC® behavioral model to foster better interpersonal communication. The key lies in your willingness to adapt your communication style to meet the needs of someone else. in sales, that someone else is your prospective buyer.
When you learn to identify the verbal, nonverbal and physical clues that provide insight into the behavioral style and communication preferences of your buyer, your ability to adapt your approach to their style leads to a higher increase in closed deals.
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ADAPT THE CONVERSATION TO YOUR BUYER’S
TOPICAL INTERESTS
Peter Caputa IVPete is a serial entrepreneur, most recently joining Databox as CEO.
He spent his last 9 years at HubSpot where he started and scaled HubSpot’s channel sales to a 100M+ ARR business.
Connect with Pete on LinkedIn.
The average buyer is much more empowered than they were previously. With marketers publishing so much information online, some are ready to buy before their first conversation with a salesperson. Salespeople must get better at adapting to their buyer’s knowledge.
in a survey completed by HubSpot, 58% percent of prospects said they want to talk price on the very first call, while only 23% of reps are willing and able to do that.
Similarly, 54% of prospects want to learn how a product works on the first call, while only 23% of reps are prepared to break it down.
While i’ll be the last one to tell salespeople they shouldn’t qualify an opportunity before pitching, salespeople need to get better at having the conversation prospects want to have, while also qualifying and closing.
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DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS
Cian McLoughlinWith a sales career spanning almost 20 years, including senior management roles in a
number of the world’s largest software companies, Cian is the founder and CEO of Trinity Perspectives. A sales training and consultancy firm, Trinity is committed to helping
businesses unlock the latent potential of their customer’s insights and evolve to meet the changing needs of their customers. Cian has trained and advised sales professionals
from Brisbane to Bangkok, Christchurch to Cape Town and everywhere in between. Connect with Cian on LinkedIn.
Yes, there are undoubtedly similarities between customers and sales situations in the past that you can extrapolate information from, but it’s critical you avoid hitting autopilot at all costs. Assuming anything in a selling situation can be a dangerous mistake and yet it’s one that very few of us can avoid:
1) He’s a CFO. He must be a details guy . . . i’ll focus on the numbers.
2) She implemented my competitor’s solution before; i’m sure she is biased against me.
3) We’re presenting to the user community today; we better dumb things down. We don’t want to confuse or scare them.
These, and a million other assumptions will trip you up along the path to closing the sale. Above all else, selling is a game of strategy, not chance. Think chess, not roulette. Maintaining a high level of intellectual alertness and personal curiosity is essential if you want to build a successful sales career.
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LISTEN FOR WHAT’S “NOT SPOKEN”
Chris OrtolanoAs Sales Productivity Partner at DiscoverOrg, Chris is focused on improving
customer outcomes with high quality contact data and sales intelligence. “Sales Is Tough - Deal with It.”
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.
The beauty of call coaching is listening to how well you engage with prospects and customers. What’s often overlooked is what’s “not spoken.”
Conversation participation provides clues to how well you’re building consensus. if four decision makers are on a call and one is quiet, ask yourself why. What was missing from that conversation? If that quiet decision maker has influence, like a sales ops director, that’s a critical insight.
By listening to calls for what’s not said in addition to buying signals, you get a full picture of the next steps to take. This takes practice. Once you get in the habit, you may want to send a quick email to the quiet decision maker and ask them “Did I miss anything today?” or “What did I forget to mention...?” This is an authentic question and suggests that you care about the concerns of all the decision makers, not just the most talkative at the table.
Listen for what’s not spoken in all of your sales conversations. Tweet this.
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ASK WHY FROM THE BUYER’S PERSPECTIVE
Mark BirchMark is an enterprise software tech entrepreneur, sales executive, and early stage startup
investor based in NYC. He is currently founder and organizer for the Enterprise Sales Meetup, a community that brings together B2B sales professional and leaders for
events to share ideas, network with peers, and learn of innovations in the field of sales. There are communities in NYC, Boston, DC and soon launching in Philadelphia.
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
You may believe the objective of a sales conversation is to convince the buyer, or to get the next meeting, or to get your manager off your back for not generating enough account activity. None of those things, however, accomplish the goal of closing more deals.
Any conversation with a buyer must be oriented towards what helps your buyer bring in your solution. if they are talking to you, they are already aware of and interested in you. They have the desire but struggle with generating action. Remember, it is not competitors that kill deals. it’s the status quo.
Stay on track by writing down at the top of a sheet of paper your one key objective for the call. This objective is a practical step that could help your buyer in a measurable way in getting organizational support. if you incorporate this into regular call planning, then you will never forget this step.
Post call, reinforce this one key objective in a follow-up email so that there is clarity and alignment on the next step. Make sure there is an owner, a timeframe, and a deliverable, meaning something tangible that must be accomplished so that everyone can see measurable progress.
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TRY SINGLE WORD ANSWERS
Amit BendovAmit is founder and CEO at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales conversation AI platform.
Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening in the sales conversations
across your team. Learn more at Gong.io. Connect with Amit on LinkedIn.
“Can I have it in blue?”
it’s too often that simple prospect questions trigger a long, ornate stream of conscientious answers.
“So glad you’ve asked! Not only can you have it blue, but we can also engrave your name on it in 256 different fonts. Plus, in our upcoming version...”
This is eating precious time from your call and confuses the prospect.
How about a simple “ yes” or “ no” from time to time?
It’s often all they need to hear and much more efficient use of your limited call time.
if you don’t feel it’s enough, you can add a simple question:
“No. Is this important?”
But there’s an even more important benefit. Instead of you “educating” the prospect, it gives them the opportunity to learn on their own.
Here’s a transcript from a real call we recently had with a prospect
Prospect: “Wait, who identifies these call topics?”
AE: “Gong.” (long silence)
Prospect: “So... Ok... Uhm. [Thinking] So ‘Sales Coaching,’ ‘Salesforce Integration,’ ‘Easy Setup,’ —Gong is listening to the conversation and determining that we spoke about coaching?”
AE: “Exactly.” :)
As you can imagine, the answer to the first question could have been a long lecture on AI and machine learning. instead, it was one simple word. Now the customer’s wheels are in motion.
Perfect.
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ALWAYS BE CONNECTING - THE ABC SALES METHOD
Koka SextonKoka Sexton is a renowned expert in social selling. Some would say Koka Sexton is the
reason social selling exists. A recognized expert in social selling that has produced revenue for B2B companies, Koka continues to make generating new business the focus of social
media. Finding creative ways to plan, develop and execute content marketing campaigns that break through the noise and provide value to buyers in excess of what they expect.
Connect with Koka on his website or on LinkedIn.
Leveraging technology in sales can be a double edge sword. When used correctly it can accelerate lead generation and pipeline growth better than any other single tool available. The tip i would give is that salespeople need to learn how to use the technology in the best way possible.
Weaving together technologies and social networks that connect you to decision makers can accelerate pipeline growth. You do this by targeting the best people and having a highly relevant message to them. This isn’t spray and pray. This isn’t completely a 1:1 communication either. That wouldn’t scale well.
Start with finding every decision maker at the companies you want to work with, and the people that went to your university. Craft a template that references that alumni connection with a CTA of connecting with them on Linkedin. BOOM. You just got connected to a bunch of buyers, and you didn’t have to pitch them anything. Now you can get to work.
THEME 2:
HOW TO MASTERPROSPECTING SALES
CONVERSATIONS
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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In sales, we are always looking for ways to become more efficient. In addition, we really love shiny new tools, and this can lead to some innovative ways to get the results we are looking for. What we need to be careful of, however, is relying on technology and tools before we have mastered the subject.
For example, at Datanyze we fell in love with the outbound engagement platforms. Having the ability for the sales development reps (SDR) to automatically run cold email campaigns and put our target contacts into a sequence enabled our team to scale quickly. Before we knew it, we went from 1 SDR to 12. But then something unexpected happened: the results per rep began to degrade.
When we started to research why this was happening, we quickly realized that our reliance on technology had clouded our vision. New SDRs hadn’t been trained in the same way the earlier team members had, and as a result, they knew less about our product, market, customers, and competitors than the veterans on the team had at the same stage of their ramp.
Our head of outbound made a tough decision: he forced the SDRs to earn the right to use the technology. This forced them to write their own emails, increase their level of research, and overall, improve their understanding of our business and the value we deliver to our clients. Once we made the switch, the quality of our engagements increased dramatically within a very short period of time. And upon reintroducing the tools back to the team to make them more efficient, we were able to scale our efforts at much higher levels than ever before.
NAIL IT, THEN SCALE IT
Ben SardellaBen spent many years pioneering the SaaS sales model as the original sales rep hire at NetSuite and following their IPO went on to contribute to 2 other successful exits
before building the sales team from the ground up at KISSmetrics. Following that, he co-founded Datanyze which revolutionized the way their customers use technographics to
build pipeline and close more deals. Ben currently serves as Chief Revenue Officer. Connect with Ben through LinkedIn.
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When interacting with a prospect for the first time, it’s critical to build rapport. One of the easiest ways to do this is to appeal to their ego during your interactions with them. Tweet this.
For Example, the status question of: “I understand you’re the person in charge of evaluating [technology] for your company” is a great way in the first 10 seconds of a call to make the person feel important. if they identify that they aren’t the right person, you can easily ask for a referral.
Additionally, when you’re asking status questions, saying nice things about complementary technologies you identify can help build rapport and become a variant on the ego appeal because you’re bragging on a technology that the prospect may have also championed.
APPEAL TO THE PROSPECT’S EGO DURING COLD CALLS
Derek GrantDerek leads SalesLoft’s sales organization as VP of Sales, which has delivered “hockey stick” growth by helping over 1,500 companies source more qualified meetings and pipeline. Prior to joining SalesLoft, Derek served as the architect
of Pardot’s sales process, leading the organization from pre-revenue startup to $100M exit to ExactTarget (subsequently acquired by Salesforce). Derek
is a native son of Florida, holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida State University, and is supervised by 3 high powered ladies:
my wife Kelli (AKA - “the Boss”) and our baby girls Riley & Reese!Connect with Derek through LinkedIn.
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One of the things we harp on in our training at QuotaFactory is to be completely transparent with anyone at a target account that you get live on the phone. i don’t mean tell them your deepest darkest thoughts and feelings. i simply mean tell them what you are up to. Reference any and all of the contacts you are targeting. Make light of some failures that you may have had trying to get one of their colleagues on the phone. Share some of your experience in trying to qualify their company for your sales team.
Humanizing yourself in the eyes of the prospect is never a bad thing. You’ll open up the opportunity to share a laugh or at least get some sympathy which you can parlay into a referral, getting a key question answered, or ideally getting them qualified and passed to sales. We call is KILS...Keep It Light Stupid!
LEVERAGE HONESTY
Peter GraceyAs CEO of QuotaFactory, Pete is responsible for the company’s vision, culture, as well as the overall success that it’s clients achieve. Pete has been running QuotaFactory for the
past 14 years with over 460 unique and successful Sales Development projects completed for his clients. He is also a Professor of Sales and Marketing at UMass Amherst.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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Most sales professionals are not “professional” in their opener. They say things like “I’m just calling to follow-up on the white paper you downloaded.” Click. Or... “My name is Chad Smith, your local account executive. Are you available for a cup of coffee this week so I can tell you more about us?”
STOP iT!
Try this one - it came from Jordan DuFort, from my book SalesHack .
“I realize I’m an interruption, do you have 27 seconds so I can tell you why I called?”
Enjoy the fact that 95% of the prospects will chuckle and let you give your 30 second pitch (learn more about that from Skip Miller who wrote the book ProActive Selling).
START WITH: “I REALIZE I’M AN INTERRUPTION”
Chad BurmeisterThe thing I’m most passionate about - INSIDE SALES & SALES DEVELOPMENT! I was fortunate enough to be invited to be part of the American Association of
Inside Sales Professionals and have volunteered over the past seven years to help advance the profession of Inside Sales to the next level of professionalism
and performance. I was the Founding Chapter President of the Silicon Valley Chapter which was voted two years in a row as “Chapter of the Year,” I was
Director of Frontline Fridays for 4 years, and Chapter President of the AA-ISP, Colorado Chapter. (Check out Chad’s book: SalesHack on Amazon).
Connect with Chad through saleshack.com or LinkedIn.
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Which one of these would you be interested in?
1. “Hi, I have this thing I want you to listen to. It’s all about me.”
2. “Hi. I have this thing I want you to listen to. It’s all about you.”
Pretty simple right? Yet every day, salespeople ignore that and wing it with voice mails, emails, and telephone call openings that say, “Listen to me talk about me.”
Want to have any chance at creating a shred of interest (and by the way, you need a shred to earn the next five seconds, which gets you the next 10, getting you the next 20, which earns the next five minutes, and so on)? Then make it non-negotiable that every form of your sales communication includes personalized, tailored value for the prospect.
We have unbelievable amounts of sales and prospect intelligence available to us. Find it and use it in a proven sales process, and you will cut through the noise. Because then, you are talking about the prospect’s favorite topic.
TALK ABOUT THE ONLY THING YOUR PROSPECT CARES ABOUT
Art SobczakArt has helped hundreds of thousands of sales pros say the rights things to get through,
get in, and sell more, using conversational, non-salesy strategies and methods.Connect with Art through LinkedIn.
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“Hi, Mark. This is John from Acme Inc. We help sales leaders like you gain visibility into your sales pipeline and improve the predictability of your revenue production. I would love to show you a demonstration of our product. Would you be available Tuesday at noon?”
My voicemail is cluttered with messages like these on a daily basis. What i dislike most about the message is the offer is completely misaligned with my stage in the buying journey. Tweet this. i am likely at the awareness stage, simply trying to understand how to frame the problem that i have. So why would i want to see a product demo?
i am more interested in understanding the best practices to pursue my goal or address my challenge. I am interested in the research, proven tactics, and peer stories related to this problem. An educational ebook, thought leadership webinar, or even a free consultation would be far more appealing to me than a product demo.
An educational offer not only yields a higher conversion rate to a conversation, but the approach also positions the salesperson more favorably to help the buyer. Before salespeople pitch a product, they need to understand if they can even help the buyer and, if so, how? Only then is the offer for a product demo appropriate.
Entice prospects with education, not product demos. Tweet this.
ENTICE WITH EDUCATION, NOT PRODUCT DEMOS
Mark RobergeMark is the former CRO of HubSpot.
He is also a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, a sales scientist, family man, and best-selling author of The Sales Acceleration Formula.
Connect with Mark through LinkedIn.
THEME 3:
MASTERING THEDISCOVERY CALL
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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Here’s a great tip for better sales conversations.
First, don’t ask your buyer about their “pain points.” Or “what keeps them up at night.” These are tired, overused and outdated questions that buyers are tired of hearing.
More importantly, they rarely influence a buyer to really open up to you and provide true insights into their motivations for initiating a process to make a change (by buying your product or service.)
A better approach is to ask three simple questions that start an unscripted, honest conversation with your buyer.
ASK 3 SIMPLE QUESTIONS TO START REAL HUMAN
CONVERSATIONS WITH BUYERSAndy Paul
Andy Paul is the founder of Zero-Time Selling, Inc. and a best-selling author, top-rated podcaster and blogger, speaker and sales coach. Since 2000, he has helped thousands of sales professionals acquire and master the effective sales habits that transform their productivity and careers. Andy’s top-rated 6-day per week podcast, Accelerate! with Andy Paul, is the go-to resource for a rapidly growing audience of sales leaders. It offers the latest insights from the leading experts in sales, sales
enablement, leadership, coaching, and personal development to help sellers accelerate the growth of their sales and their businesses. Andy is also the author of Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers To Make Fast, Favorable Decisions. Amp Up Your Sales is on Amazon’s list of the 20 Top Rated
Sales Books of All Time. He is also the author of Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales (which won Top Sales World’s award as one
of the Top 3 Sales & Marketing books of 2011.) More than 100,000 executives and sales professionals follow Andy’s daily sales updates on LinkedIn. His newsletter,
The Weekly Sales Fix is read by thousands of sales professionals every week.Connect with Paul through his website or LinkedIn.
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First, start by asking the buyer a question that surfaces specific shortcomings in their existing (choose one: system/process/implementation.) “Are you completely satisfied with the (choose one: value/ROI/performance/productivity) from your existing (choose one: system/process/implementation)?”
Even if the buyer answers “yes” you still need to dig a bit more. i’ve rarely ever seen a customer that is 100% satisfied.
Therefore, regardless of whether the buyer answers “yes” or “no” the door has been opened to the obvious 2nd second question: “If you had the opportunity to make any changes at all to increase the (choose one: value/ROI/performance/productivity) of your existing (choose one: system/process/implementation) what would they be?”
The real sales conversation begins when you ask your 3rd question. First, listen very carefully to the buyer’s response to the 2nd question. They’ve given you a general answer to your general question. Now is the time to invite them to really open up; to let down their defenses and get into specifics about their motivations and drivers for change. Ask this 3rd question: “That’s very interesting. What else can you tell me about why these changes would be important for you?”
Ask these three simple questions to initiate a real unscripted, human conversation with your buyers that help accelerate the building of rapport and trust.
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As sales professionals, we all know that it’s best to listen and let the prospect do most of the talking.
Still, most sales reps are speaking much more than they think they are.
In using AI to analyze 25,537 B2B sales conversations, we discovered that the average B2B sales rep consumes 65–75% of talk time, leaving little room for the prospect to “get a word in.” Tweet this.
I’m embarrassed to admit: When I first started at Gong, my average talk-to-listen ratio was 72:28 (!)
Fortunately, working at Gong serves as rehab for that affliction. I’m trending closer to 52:48 these days. #TalkersAnonymous.
Now for the good stuff: We also discovered the ideal talk-to-listen ratio for the highest yielding sales calls is 43:57 (let’s keep in mind the differences between correlation and causation, shall we?)
This is what the average sales dialogue looks like
USE THE GOLDEN “TALK-TO-LISTEN” RATIO IN SALES
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
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in other words, the data told us that top-producing B2B sales professionals speak 43% of the time (on average), allowing the prospect to speak 57% of the time (on average).
The good news is you don’t need to hit that exact ratio to see results. if you’re speaking too much, there’s low-hanging fruit in letting the prospect talk just a little more:
Increasing the prospect’s talk-time from 22% to 33% of the total call time significantly increases opportunity win-rates. Tweet this.
Top closers spend the most time listening and the least time talking.
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There’s no time like the present to initiate effective discovery conversations with your most important customers and prospects. After all, the New Year just started and what better time could there be to validate the things that you know, and illuminate those areas where you need more insight and actionable awareness to drive success in 2017 (and beyond)?
Here are my “Top 4” discovery questions for driving effective customer engagement and collaboration to help you get off to a fast start in the New Year. But please remember: the order of these discovery questions matters, and if you’re doing more than 33% of the talking, then you’re talking too much. After all, you can’t do effective discovery (and listening) with your customer if you’re “waiting to talk.”
Let’s start with a question about the external pressures, drivers and market factors that are influencing your customer’s business:
“As we enter the New Year, I would like to ensure that my company and I are focused on the things that matter most to you and your organization. Could you please explain the types of external pressures and drivers most likely to impact your business in 2017?”
ASK THE RIGHT DISCOVERY QUESTIONS TO ENSURE
A HAPPY NEW YEARSteve Andersen
Steve Andersen is President and Founder of Performance Methods, Inc. following a successful 20-year technology career within the high-growth business applications
software industry. He is involved in client projects, solution development and establishing strategic direction for PMI. He is the primary architect of Performance
Methods’ Keys to Effective Strategic Account Planning Methodology, Integrated Opportunity Management Methodology , Customer Engagement Methodology,
Collaborative Planning Methodology , SAM Portfolio and Engage/Win/Grow customer engagement methodology. Steve’s new book, Beyond the Sales Process: 12 Proven
Strategies for a Customer-Driven World was co-authored by Dave Stein and published by AMACOM, the publishing division of the American Management Association.
Connect with Steve through LinkedIn.
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The next question is about the impact of these external forces on your customer, and what they intend to do in terms of plans and objectives to address them:
“How will these external forces impact you and your area of the business, and what types of plans and objectives will you put in place to ensure that you and your team are successful in addressing these external pressures and drivers?”
The third question is about the challenges or potential obstacles that could potentially prevent your customer from meeting their objectives, and hence, being successful:
“Do you anticipate your execution of these plans and objectives to be easy or challenging, and if the latter, what types of problems or obstacles might you and your team encounter in your pursuit of success in the New Year?”
The last question is one that all too many salespeople forget to ask, and in some ways, it could be the most important, as it causes your customer to visualize what success looks like, and potentially share something personally important to them with you:
“It certainly sounds like 2017 is going to be a very interesting year. Assuming that all goes well, you meet and exceed your plans and objectives, and overcome any related problems and obstacles what will success look like for you and your team, and what will this mean to you?”
if you want to know more about how top-performing salespeople and account managers are effectively engaging, winning and growing with their customers, please check out our new book Beyond the Sales Process: 12 Proven Strategies for a Customer-Driven World.
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Stop boring your buyers with canned needs assessment questions. The old school sales process step for analyzing needs is long overdue for an overhaul.
Diagnostic needs assessment is alienating buyers instead of building trust, creating value and advancing the sale. Your diagnostic questions are seen as self-serving by buyers who liken sales questions to an unpleasant visit to the doctor. With a rapid-fire set of questions, many sellers jump to prescription before the buyer has had a chance to share all the relevant information.
By contrast, a dialogic approach to needs assessment engages buyers. Purposeful, “make-you-think” questions stimulate a rich, two-way conversation. Buyers feel they are equal participants in co-creating a solution. Buyers feel heard and dignified. They see value in the conversation alone and in the (now differentiated) seller who facilitated it.
DISCOVER Questions® is based on field research with buyers and will help you shift to a dialogic approach that does build buyer trust and advance the sale.
DIALOGIC VS. DIAGNOSTIC:TRY THE ALL-NEW NEEDS
ASSESSMENTDeb Calvert
Deb Calvert, “DISCOVER Questions® Get You Connected” author, Top 50 Sales Influencer, UC-Berkeley instructor. Deb leads the Stop Selling & Start Leading® movement and offers
sales training, coaching, and leadership development programs. Deb is certified as an executive and sales coach and is a Certified Master of The Leadership Challenge®.
Connect with Deb through LinkedIn.
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Your answers don’t close deals; your questions do. Tweet this.
Skyscrapers are just like your potential sales opportunity. The higher you want your skyscraper or sales opportunity, the deeper your foundation must be. The depth of the foundation is built on questions.
Your sales discovery questions need to be deep. Going wide tends to tell you a lot but drives small change. When you discover a pain, dig deeper by asking 1) The impact and 2) the quantifiable result of fixing it.
For example, if you discovered a pain you can solve of ‘slow sales cycles’ don’t stop there. First, ask “What is the impact of slow sales cycles?” Then, if they respond with “ 50% of sales reps miss quota”, you then ask “What would be the revenue impact of X% more sales reps not missing quota?”
That simple 2 step process for digging deeper will prepare a foundation to build skyscraper size sales deals.
THE SKYSCRAPER APPROACH:SELL THROUGH QUESTIONS,
NOT ANSWERSRex Galbraith
Rex is currently VP of Sales at Consensus. For over a decade he’s been fortunate enough to have experienced selling at a high level as a rep and a leader. He
believes selling gets a bad rap and he’s committed to show how valuable and respectable a profession it is. Connect with Rex on LinkedIn here.
Connect with Rex through LinkedIn.
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You’ve sent all your emails, done all your outbound calls, followed up diligently, and finally you get the appointment set. The day finally comes, and you (or your AE) are really excited for the call. You’ve done your research, prepared your pitch, and you’re ready.
Not so fast. My #1 recommendation to starting the meeting is by asking “ Why did you agree to take this meeting?” This is counterintuitive and perhaps may even seem unnecessary. But i guarantee you’ll get the most out of a meeting when you understand where you’re starting from. Tweet this.
So by asking this upfront, you’re leading with a closing question! You’ll know right away what it was about your outbound communications, your company, your website, etc. that piqued their interest, what they’ll want to learn, and where you should focus your efforts. At worst, you’ll hear something like “my boss told me to talk to you,” “I completely forgot what we’re meeting about, who are you again?”
Either way, knowing where you currently stand is the most effective way to start a meeting.
ASK THE BEST LEAD OFF QUESTION FOR VIRTUALLY
EVERY FIRST MEETINGKevin Ascher
I believe in the ability of all salespeople to reach their full potential. I also believe this is easier said than done because even with the best of intentions, obstacles get in
the way. It’s frustrating for individuals and can be outright demoralizing for entire teams. Sales leadership’s time is already stretched in so many directions that even
when motivated to change, there are just too many technology and professional service options (trainers, consultants, coaches, etc.). Besides, selecting the right
solution for the wrong problem is easy to do if the underlying causes aren’t properly understood. That’s where Acoustic Selling comes in. We’ve already done the hard
work of assembling the latest tools, technologies, and techniques to quickly uncover the core issues preventing teams from getting where they want to go. This ranges
from process, methodology, skill gaps, to psychological resistance to change.Connect with Kevin through LinkedIn.
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We have all grown up to be great at talking, but not so much at listening. Work to practice among your peers and colleagues to really listen for what is being said —not just replying to the first thing you hear.
When you have a conversation with a buyer, they will not usually get to the heart of the issue —often it is like peeling back an onion to “hear” their real issue, or their real timeline, or their real reason. Those who just spew out answers and information don’t hear what is really going on.
A great tip for getting buyers to tell you more is to have several great questions ready. One example: if you’ve spoken before, but not for a while, ask, “What’s changed since we last talked?” Tweet this.
This can make someone feel more comfortable to let you know they now have other options or that the project is behind schedule. Be a “detective” working to understand more before replying.
BEGIN WITH “WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE
LAST WE’VE TALKED?”Lori Richardson
Lori Richardson helps companies fix sales issues once and for all. Her firm, Score More Sales works primarily with mid-market companies. Having onboarded more than 1,000 sales reps
in the last five years she believes that every word matters in sales. Choose them wisely.Connect with Lori through LinkedIn.
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Most sales professionals and leaders know the importance of asking questions to uncover true needs and goals. They will tell you how important it is to listen more than they speak, and to ask lots of open ended questions. However, having listened to thousands of sales calls and presentations, i can tell you that only a small percentage of these sales people actually practice what they preach. The fact remains that sales reps struggle with asking enough of and the right type of questions to truly discover the pain points and needs of a prospect.
Here is a very simple tip that i’ve seen work well in most situations where a rep is discovering needs of a prospect. it’s called the “Magic Wand” question, and it goes something like this: Once the rep has uncovered some basic information and even some challenges or pain points of the prospect, they can transition to the “Magic wand” question which might sound like:
“... John, it sounds like you’re struggling then with the ability to coach your reps in the first few weeks of on-boarding when they start to make calls... did I get that right?”
ASK THE “MAGIC WAND”
QUESTIONBob Perkins
Bob is the founder and chairman of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. A nationally-recognized inside sales innovator, Bob Perkins has
extensive executive experience building and leading highly successful inside sales organizations. During his career, he has created unique inside sales systems and
structures, including team selling models, compensation plans, rewards and recognition programs, performance management tools, and sales campaigns
which have been adopted by many of the nation’s largest companies. His 20 years inside sales experience includes positions as Vice President or Director with
Unisys, Silicon Graphics, United Health Group and Merrill Corporation.Connect with Bob through LinkedIn.
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Next... “...well if you had a Magic Wand and could fix that issue, what would that look like to you?” Tweet this.
Note that the “Magic Wand” question follows an affirmation question to make sure that the rep had uncovered a true pain point. Notice also that the question is open-ended, meaning the prospect will undoubtedly describe in detail a type of solution they are hoping to find. In many cases, what the prospect describes as a situation or even solution will often be something that your product or service can address.
Remember, once you have some rapport and are in a good conversation flow with prospects, they will love to talk about their issues and possible ways they would like to address them. The “Magic Wand” question simply gives them the prompt to describe this back to you.
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in the past, the process of qualifying prospects for your product or service has been very seller-centric. BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, and Timing) has been used since the 1960’s and has become antiquated given the informed nature of the modern buyer.
Therefore, I have created a new qualification procedure that focuses on the buyers need to qualify the seller in relation to the problems they are trying to solve. it’s simple and here is how it works:
1. You start with N or Need – where in which you let the buyer describe to you their needs to you in detail.
2. Next is O or Opportunity – in this stage, you help your buyer determine if their need creates enough opportunity for their company; that it is worth making changes to the status quo to address
3. Third is T or Team – then, together with the buyer, you determine the team that is responsible for capturing the opportunity that they have uncovered
4. Finally E or Effect – is a process that you use to lay out the specific, measure effect that your work together will produce.
This process is 100% buyer-focused vs. BANT which is seller-focused.
To learn more you can download my eBook on NOTE here. Tweet this.
BANT IS DEAD - TRY NOTE INSTEAD
Sean BurkeSean Burke serves as Chief Executive Officer of KiteDesk. Sean is a seasoned leader
who has been ranked as the #1 sales author on Quora. At KiteDesk he is focused on changing sales development for the better for high growth organizations. An
entrepreneur at heart, Sean is currently on his ninth startup with six exits.Connect with Sean through LinkedIn.
THEME 4:
HOW TO HAVEWINNING
PRESENTATIONS AND DEMOS
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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Demos don’t need to be long, painful and boring. “Do the last thing first” and turn your traditional demo upside down.
Start by presenting the highest impact, most compelling screen relevant to the audience at hand, then “peel back the layers” in accord with your audience’s depth level of interest. Tweet this.
This will make your demos more engaging, more interactive, and surprisingly compelling.
DO THE LAST THING FIRST
Peter CohanHave you ever seen a bad software demo? Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative,
helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives by making their demos crisp, compelling and surprisingly effective. He has enjoyed roles in technical and
product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management. In 2003, he authored Great Demo! – the 2nd edition of the book was
published in 2005. In his most recent role prior to The Second Derivative, Peter founded a business unit in an organization and grew the business from an empty spreadsheet
into a $30 million operation. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and C-level team member in marketing, sales, and business development.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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As salespeople, we focus on reward and are often great at ignoring risk. it is key to understand that is the exception with your buyers. You need to map your buyers on the Risk vs. Reward spectrum and make sure you are positioning your pitch and proposal to fit.
There is a reason we have all heard the old saying “you never get fired for buying IBM.”
You need to assess where your buyer fits on the spectrum and align to their position. If they are in need of new revenue, then they are most likely much more reward focused than risk. if they are looking to improve customer experience, then the fear of doing damage to what exists is probably high, and they are more motivated by lower risk and less on the return.
The majority of buyers are more concerned about risk than the return, so your proposals need to reflect that position. Low cost trial periods where you can prove your solution will first do no harm and second deliver ROI address those more concerned about risk.
Then build to scale once the risk is removed is a great approach.
This is taking the lean startup approach of “Build, Measure, Learn.” Where your buyer can get committed sooner and when comfortable with the risk, lean into it and invest more to get a greater return.
For the reward focus buyers, let it rip. Build proposals that show aggressive returns. These buyers are not looking for slow and cautious proposals. They want results, and want it fast. This is often driven by urgency for certain results.
Adapt your proposals to meet these two buyer dispositions, and you will increase your odds of winning.
KNOW WHEN TO USE RISK VS. REWARD
Jeff AdcockAs Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Strategic Alliances, Jeff leads Needle’s directional growth initiatives, alliances, and channel partners. Jeff brings more than 20 years of
experience to this role, most notably serving as the VP of Alliances at InsideSales.com from 2007 to 2015. In this capacity, Jeff successfully started and built the Salesforce alliance
that fueled the growth of one of the hottest private companies in the tech sector. With his leadership, the Salesforce Alliance grew to more than 70% of InsideSales.com revenue.
Connect with Jeff through LinkedIn.
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Avoid using “If”, “Or”, and “Also” —these words branch your demo and make it much longer than it needs to be. Tweet this.
instead, let the audience ask, “Can it do X?” and “How do you do Y?”
Turn the demo into a conversation, rather than a firehose!
LEAVE OFF “IF,” “OR,” AND “ALSO”
Peter CohanHave you ever seen a bad software demo? Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative,
helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives by making their demos crisp, compelling and surprisingly effective. He has enjoyed roles in technical and
product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management. In 2003, he authored Great Demo! – the 2nd edition of the book was
published in 2005. In his most recent role prior to The Second Derivative, Peter founded a business unit in an organization and grew the business from an empty spreadsheet
into a $30 million operation. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and C-level team member in marketing, sales, and business development.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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i’m not a fan of pitching. Conversations close deals, not presentations. Tweet this.
if your salespeople are spending a lot of time pitching, presenting, or doing demos but their deals aren’t closing, something is wrong. They may need to present or do a demo at some point in the sales process, but they need to learn first so they can find the fit and offer insight and ideas. That means they have to ask questions, listen, and respond appropriately. It’s the fine art of conversation.
As a sales leader, it pays when you spend time teaching reps to have conversations with their prospects. in order to have a productive conversation, your salesperson needs to prepare. They need to read and learn about the prospects company and products; that’s obvious. What might not be so obvious is that they need to learn about the prospect’s customers, goals, and industry. These are the things that really help them put things in perspective and add interesting insight to the conversation.
When they enter a relationship as an equal and an expert rather than just another salesperson, they have the privilege of having a conversation that will allow them to know quickly if there is business to be done or not. if there is business to be done, they will move forward with the customer and the whole process will be easier.
USE CONVERSATIONS TO CLOSE DEALS, NOT DEMOS OR PITCHES
Alice HeimanAlice incorporates the newest research and best practices to provide sales leadership programs
that produce results. Others tell you how but few show you exactly what to do and make it so easy. Alice’s process for coaching sales leadership changes the way they work with
their teams from lead generation to closing and getting a consistent flow of referrals.Connect with Alice through LinkedIn.
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introduce each segment of your demo at the beginning (tell them what you are going to tell them); present the segment (tell them); summarize at the end (tell them what you just told them).
TELL THEM WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO TELL THEM
Peter CohanHave you ever seen a bad software demo? Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative,
helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives by making their demos crisp, compelling and surprisingly effective. He has enjoyed roles in technical and
product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management. In 2003, he authored Great Demo! – the 2nd edition of the book was
published in 2005. In his most recent role prior to The Second Derivative, Peter founded a business unit in an organization and grew the business from an empty spreadsheet
into a $30 million operation. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and C-level team member in marketing, sales, and business development.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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A highly underrated insight in sales is getting customers to buy, as opposed to selling them. Tweet this.
i’m convinced you win or lose customers across earlier stages in the sales cycle. Tweet this.
Become a teacher: “add value or go to jail.”
if every email, message, call, or any other type of outreach isn’t teaching in some way, don’t contact them. Tweet this.
Teach your customer more about their business or industry, which reframes the problem you solve.
Questions are fine, yet your audience will engage and respond if you can genuinely help.
BE A TEACHER, NOT A SELLER
Sean MurraySean (@murrays41) is VP of Global Sales at Xactly Corp. His core responsibilities include enabling Xactly’s growth plans, while also developing their lead generation
and marketing efforts. Prior to Xactly, Sean spent 11 years at CEB.Connect with Sean through LinkedIn.
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Of all the sales organizations we study, the top-performing teams have a fanatical obsession with the buyer. Tweet this.
These teams put the buyer at the core of every sales activity and conversation. They create buyer personas that serve to educated the sales reps on developing a deep understanding of the buyer, and have specific enablement plans for helping the reps translate buyer insights into everything they do.
Every message is framed against “is this what the buyer cares about?”
For example, instead of telling the buyer about the problems you solve, take a step back and understand where those problem fit into the overall scope of the buyer’s challenges. You may only solve one piece, but being able to speak to and relate ideas for how to tackle the greater challenges make you a critical resource for that buyer.
And ultimately, that is what gets you the deal.
FOCUS MESSAGING ON HOW YOU HELP YOUR BUYER
OVERCOME CHALLENGESKristina McMillan
Kristina is the Director of Research at TOPO, Inc.. She manages the research organization behind all of TOPO’s analyst practices. She works with TOPO’s analysts
to develop best practice frameworks and actionable research that help clients cultivate world-class demand generation, sales development, and sales organizations.
Connect with Kristina through LinkedIn.
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if you have a mixed audience consisting (for example) of high-ranking executives, middle managers, and staffers, do not start with a day-in-the-life from the staffers’ perspective.
Why?
Execs will (quietly) walk out, and middle managers will visualize your software as complicated.
Follow Great Demo! methodology and present to the execs first, then the managers. and then the staffers (after the higher ranking folks are satisfied).
You can use the concept of “teasers” to let each group know what good things are in store for them as the overall meeting progresses.
BREAK IT INTO CHUNKS
Peter CohanHave you ever seen a bad software demo? Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative,
helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives by making their demos crisp, compelling and surprisingly effective. He has enjoyed roles in technical and
product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management. In 2003, he authored Great Demo! – the 2nd edition of the book was
published in 2005. In his most recent role prior to The Second Derivative, Peter founded a business unit in an organization and grew the business from an empty spreadsheet
into a $30 million operation. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and C-level team member in marketing, sales, and business development.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
68 LEARN MORE AT: Gong.io
The biggest opportunity for salespeople to improve conversations with prospects, especially early in the cycle when the caller is an unknown entity, is to change their narrative: what they say when they open and continue the call.
Too many companies and salespeople are too focused on things like “pain points” or “solutions”, and start the call with that mindset. Just look at the marketing material or scripts of many of these companies. They all assume that prospects have a problem or challenge and that they have the optimal “solution.” This sets them up for failure and rejection.
Only a very small percentage of market participants have a perceived problem they must deal with at any given time. Starting a call with the assumption that they have the problem you are looking for will alienate more than 70% of the market. They can’t relate to the narrative and thus start objecting and rejecting, leading to a fast slide towards another call without results.
Change the narrative to the business objectives you have helped similar people achieve and the specific positive impact you have delivered to those businesses. Show them that you have taken others to where they want to go and you’ll have more, better and successful conversations than “pain”, “needs” or “solutions” conversations will yield.
DON’T START WITH PAIN
Tibor ShantoTibor Shanto has been a sales leader for over 25 years, helping companies improve their revenue goals. He is a sought-after trainer, speaker and co-author of the award winning
book Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn Prospects Into Customers. He is a columnist for the Globe & Mail Report on Small Business. His received the Gold Medal Top Sales
& Marketing Blog award and was named OpenView’s Top 25 Sales Influencers in 2014, as well as Top Sales’ Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers for 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Connect with Tibor through LinkedIn.
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As a sales leader/sales guy, my preference is always to build a team of diverse AEs with a wide range of backgrounds. if you build a true “team,” each player will bring something unique to the group. individual skills can always vary from AE to AE, but the common theme should always be about selling value, understanding, and listening to your customer, and having a competitive drive to be their best and win.
it sounds very cliche, but if you can show that your product can give someone time back in their day, increase the company’s revenue, reduce spend, or increase ACV, the company you’re selling to should buy your product. What separates successful AEs from the pack? Timing, calls to action, and not giving up the proverbial farm on the first call. Establish a true relationship with the people you are selling to, and you will become a trusted partner. Your AEs should be selling a company’s vision, not just a product.
if what you are proposing is good for the customer, if it’s good for your company, and if it’s good for your AE, it’s a good deal. Follow these 3 simple principles and you have built a trusted and successful team.
About Infer: Founded in 2010, Infer delivers a predictive-first platform that helps companies win more customers. It leverages proven data science to rapidly model the untapped data sitting in enterprises, along with thousands of signals from the web. Infer has the largest customer base in its category and more 5-star ratings than any other predictive vendor on G2 Crowd. Customers include several large enterprises and numerous high growth companies like AdRoll, Cloudera, New Relic, Tableau, Xactly, and Zendesk. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Infer is funded by leading investors, including Redpoint Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Social+Capital Partnership, Sutter Hill Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners.
HOLISTIC SELLING AND TEAM BUILDING
Pete WestenhiserPete brings seventeen years of business-to-business software sales experience to Infer.
Before joining Infer, he held several leadership positions at industry leading big data companies including MixPanel, New Relic, and Pentaho. Pete specializes in managing and
closing national and global complex sales cycles and is passionate about building out powerful sales teams. As vice president of sales, Pete will leverage his extensive enterprise
software sales experience to drive Infer’s inside sales organization. He earned a bachelor’s of arts degree in Communications from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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Try letting a member of the customer audience drive, under your guidance. This will help to prove ease-of-use and make the segment much more engaging! Tweet this.
LET THE CUSTOMER DRIVE
Peter CohanHave you ever seen a bad software demo? Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative,
helps software organizations achieve their sales and marketing objectives by making their demos crisp, compelling and surprisingly effective. He has enjoyed roles in technical and
product marketing, marketing management, sales and sales management, and senior management. In 2003, he authored Great Demo! – the 2nd edition of the book was
published in 2005. In his most recent role prior to The Second Derivative, Peter founded a business unit in an organization and grew the business from an empty spreadsheet
into a $30 million operation. Peter has experience as an individual contributor, manager and C-level team member in marketing, sales, and business development.
Connect with Peter through LinkedIn.
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Think about it: B2B sales isn’t really about what sales is doing, it’s about what the buyers are doing. interactions with your prospect champions, those who are promoting you inside an account, are where the magic happens. it’s also where most deals tank. And right now, it’s a lot more of the latter. How do we turn this trend around?
it’s not about you. it’s about them. Thinking we can accelerate sales by changing just what we are doing is the height of self-centered sales thinking. We have to get in the minds of the buyers. instead of sales acceleration technology, we need buying acceleration technology. Tweet this.
A couple of years ago, i backpacked Kings Peak with my son’s Venture Scout team. Our group was led by my friend Ben, an experienced outdoorsman and avid fly fisherman. One day, he was explaining to me what he loves about fly fishing, “ You have to get into the mind of the fish,” he told me. “Where do they want to be? What do they want to eat right now? What excites them? What bores them?” On that trip, I saw him repeatedly catch dozens of fish in half the time it
TREAT IT AS A COMPLEX PURCHASE, NOT A COMPLEX SALE
Garin HessGarin Hess is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years building B2B sales and marketing
teams. He has founded two software companies, two industry conferences, and a non-profit organization. He is currently the founder and CEO of Consensus, a Software as a Service (SaaS) company that intelligently automates B2B product demonstrations to
accelerate sales. His last startup was an e-learning SaaS company acquired by Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD) in 2011. When Garin isn’t working on Consensus, you might find him reading history, mountain biking, leading a community choir, cooking breakfast
for his three amazing kids, or trying hard to keep up with his son on the tennis court.Connect with Garin through LinkedIn.
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took others fishing in the same spot. Why? Because he was in the ‘mind of the buyer’ so to speak.
The same thinking can be applied to the B2B world, but think in terms of groups of buyers. if you think about it as a sale, you tend to focus on what the seller has to do. if you think about it as a purchase, you focus on what the buyer has to do. There is a big difference in how you approach the whole process.
Here’s what has to be done sooner:
• Discover the buying group.
• Engage each stakeholder.
• Demonstrate personalized value to each stakeholder.
• Coach the internal champion through the buying process.
Focus on this up front, and you’ll drive consensus faster and shorten your sales cycle.
THEME 5:
HOW TO CLOSE ANDNEGOTIATE LIKE
THE PROS
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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Hopefully, throughout the sales process, you have been asking closing questions.
But now comes the moment of truth. Here is a question that will set the stage for next steps like none other. Ready?
“Bob, on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being highly likely, how likely is it that we will be doing business this month?” Tweet this.
Their response tells the tale and opens the door to other questions that will allow the seller to plan next steps. For example:
“Bob, you just said 2. What needs to happen to make that number a 4?”
All good and super easy to ask!
MAKE CLOSING EASY WITH THIS QUESTION
Trish BertuzziTrish is CEO of The Bridge Group Inc. and author of The Sales Development Playbook. The Bridge Group works with technology companies to build, evolve
or validate their inside sales strategies. Their service offerings are relevant for all phases of the sales cycle from lead generation through win/loss analysis. If you are an inside sales practitioner that is interested in joining an interactive community of
experts, pleaseparticipate in the Inside Sales Experts blog by clicking here.Connect with Trish through LinkedIn.
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in using Gong’s conversation AI platform to analyze 25,537 B2B sales conversations, we discovered that top producing B2B sales reps “talk price” around the 40–49 minute window in their sales calls. Tweet this.
Average and low performers tend to distribute their pricing discussions more evenly throughout the call:
Moral of the story? Establish value, then talk price.
Top reps discuss price late in their sales calls
DISCUSS PRICING BETWEEN THE 40-49 MINUTE WINDOW
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
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When we analyzed 25,537 sales conversations with Gong’s conversation AI platform, we first found your lowest hanging fruit for increasing your win-rates is getting the prospect to talk more.
Well, here’s your second lowest hanging fruit: soothe your prospect’s pre-purchase anxiety by mitigating their risk.
in other words, you should proactively, frequently, and aggressively talk about terms of the deal that are designed to protect the customer from risk:
• Easy cancellations.
• No long-term contract.
• Easy, low-effort setup.
• 90-day opt-outs.
• Money-back guarantees.
• SLAs (service-level agreements.)
i’ve noticed most sales professionals actively hide deal terms like this.
They don’t want to deal with an opt-out, a cancellation, or headaches of that sort.
Here’s my advice: The increase in your cancellations and opt-outs will pale compared to the much larger spike in your win-rates.
SOOTHE BUYER ANXIETY WITH RISK REVERSAL LANGUAGE
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
When sales pros remove friction by adding sentences like “you can cancel at any time”,
they increase win probability by 32%
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Any B2B sales rep worth his or her salt will ask the prospect the “timing question” at some point…
“When do you plan on moving forward with this project?”
“When do you estimate getting this agreement finalized?”
“What does your timeline look like for purchase?”
Surprisingly, a somewhat “cautious” response by the prospect is a good sign. When we conducted our first artificial intelligence-based analysis of 25k+ sales conversations, we discovered when the prospect uses the word “probably,” it’s a positive indicator.
When your prospect responds to your timeline question with “probably,” they are likely responding cautiously because of how seriously they are considering the purchase.
it’s best to treat this as a buying signal while keeping in mind correlation doesn’t always equal causation.
LISTEN FOR THE WORD “PROBABLY” WHEN YOU ASK FOR TIMELINE
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
When a prospect uses the word “probably” to estimate project timing, the accuracy of forecasting project timing soars to 73%.
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Now that we’ve talked about the positive signal regarding the timeline question let’s talk about the negative signal.
When potential customers respond to a sales rep’s timeline question with some variation of “We need to figure out [fill in the blank],” there is a negative correlation in terms of win-rates and forecast accuracy.
“We need to figure out who gives the final go-ahead for this”
“We have to figure out how we will use the product internally”
“We’ve got to figure out how we are going to justify ROI”
No need to give up on your deal if you hear this phrase, but as a sales professional, you deserve to know the data: your chances start to dwindle when you hear this.
BEWARE THE PHRASE“WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT
__________________”Chris Orlob
Chris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference
calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
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Have you ever had a client go dark on you? Who hasn’t? i bet everyone reading this post can think of at least a few prospects or clients you’re working with right now that have gone dark, and you have no idea why. You’ve done a whole bunch of work for the client —sent info, demo, trial, proposal, discounts, etc.— they told you they were going to make a decision by a certain date, and then they disappeared. i’m betting you’ve called multiple times, left voicemails, sent e-mails, and you’re starting to get pissed. Before you say something you might regret, keep reading. i have a solution for you.
i used to send a “last attempt” e-mail that was rather nasty and never got a positive response. i then started sending a “professional courtesy” e-mail where i would literally write “Professional Courtesy” in the subject line and then go on to script out an email that called them on being unprofessional and asking them to at least have the courtesy to send me a response one way or another. This approach got me a 100% response rate, but about 70% of the time, it was negative. i used to tell people about this type of email, but unfortunately, some reps started sending it to people who hadn’t responded after only one or two e-mails. They would quickly get in trouble with their boss when the prospect would send their manager an email saying, “Who the hell do your reps think they are?” Needless to say, i don’t tell people about that approach any more. I’m now using a new approach that I feel confident telling people about it since not only has it gotten me a 100% response rate (20/20) but all of the responses have been positive.
DO THIS WHEN A CLIENT GOES DARK
John BarrowsAs Owner of JBarrows LLC, I provide customized sales training and consulting services for
clients like Salesforce.com, Box, Linkedin and many others with a focus on driving results with proven techniques and reinforcement tools that impact adoption and behavior
change. I continue to proudly represent the MJHoffman & Associated (aka Basho) training techniques while layering on additional training, tools and resources as my client’s needs
evolve. This includes a new online portal with the prospecting training I deliver in video format to help with reinforcement and on-on-boarding. Check out the details here.
Connect with John through LinkedIn.
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How To Get A Response From Quiet Prospects
Here is the way it works:
If the prospect or client commits to a meeting or to making a decision by a specific date and that date comes and goes with no response, send them your typical “Sorry we missed each other yesterday, let me know when you want to reschedule,” e-mail the following day.
if they don’t respond to it, reply all to that e-mail a day or two later and be more direct by saying something like, “When are you free to reschedule our call? I am free at x, y, and z times.”
if they don’t respond to that one, again reply all to the same string a few days later and say something like, “Are you still interested in continuing our discussions? Let me know either way, so I don’t continue with unnecessary follow-up.”
Finally, on the 4th or 5th attempt over the course of 2 to 3 weeks reply all to the same string (you need to make sure they see you’ve tried to reach out multiple times), erase the original subject line, and write “Did i lose you?” in the subject line and don’t write anything in the body of the e-mail. The next thing they see when they open the email should be your signature line and then the 4 to 5 emails you have tried to send previously.
“Did I lose you?”
“Did I lose you?” That’s it. it sounds too simple to work, but you’d be amazed how effective it is. I’ve told this to a bunch of reps in my trainings and every time I do someone sends one of these e-mails to a prospect they have been trying to get in touch with forever, and they respond almost immediately.
I don’t know why it’s so effective, but I think it’s due to the simplicity and the realness factor. I find the harder I try to say the perfect thing the lower my response rates are. The more i speak in plain English and try to relate in a real way the higher my response rates are. People buy from people; they don’t buy from the perfect pitch, script, or canned demo. The more real and transparent you are with them the more real and transparent they will be with you. Good luck and happy selling.
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Among the other insights i’ve talked about from when we first analyzed 25,537 sales calls with AI, we discovered discussing pricing 3–4x in a call seems to be a good sign. But be sure to remember: correlation does not always equal causation :) Tweet this.
if price comes up 3–4x times in a call, it’s best to treat that as a buying signal. Onward. Tweet this.
When pricing is discussed less than 3x and more than 4x, win-rates decline.
IF PRICING COMES UP 3-4X, CONSIDER IT A BUYING SIGNAL
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
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inexperienced sales reps hear “I’ll buy soon” and immediately start celebrating. The conversation might’ve appeared successful, but “unexpected” issues will keep popping up, delaying the deal indefinitely.
Move the deal forward by asking the prospect: “Is there anything that could threaten our partnership or prevent this contract being signed?” This will help you identify obstacles, confirm the prospect’s commitment to buying, and close the deal faster.
If the prospect tells you there’s an obstacle, fix it immediately. If you can’t, end the call by restating your interest in making the deal happen and what the next steps should be.
TREAT “I’LL BUY SOON” AS “NEVER”
Steli EftiSteli Efti is the co-founder and CEO of Close.io and an
advisor to several startups and entrepreneurs.Connect with Stefi through LinkedIn.
THEME 6:
HOW TO COACH YOURSALES REPS AT THE
CONVERSATION LEVEL
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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Efficiency has been the “sales du jour” topic of the month for the last 18 months. While efficiency matters and the sales stack is becoming more robust, what was thought of as need-to-have has become a must-have (data, dialers, email, etc.)
Now that we have made ourselves more efficient, people are finally realizing that is only 30% of the battle. The other 70% of the battle happens in the conversations. Tweet this.
This means that both training and coaching are no longer something to consider, but something required.
Gone are the days where 2 days of features and benefits, a half day of CRM training, and then a few hours of “ghosting the top rep,” (which turned into bullshit because they rarely ever got on live calls) are acceptable. in fact, if this is your sales training, just leave now. Go find a company who respects the role enough to give you guidance and support, help shorten your ramp time, and see you as a benefit to the company, not a cost to control or manage.
FOCUS ON EFFECTIVENESS, NOT JUST EFFICIENCY
Richard HarrisRichard is the owner of the Harris Consulting Group and is a seasoned SaaS sales leader and inside sales trainer with 20+ years experience helping early stage and expansion stage
startups build their sales infrastructure and train their sales teams to “get there faster.”Connect with Richard through LinkedIn.
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Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.
I’d rather a sales rep have fewer high quality conversations with qualified targets than lots of poor quality conversations with unqualified targets.
That may seem obvious, but in reality, there are a lot of unqualified calls and conversations happening.
It’s incredibly difficult to sell any product or service to the wrong target, which is why preparation and research are so critical.
Once you have identified as best as humanly possible that this is a potentially well-suited prospect, the next step is empathy. You are taking someone else’s time. They will never get those minutes back. Be respectful. Be knowledgeable. Add value. Think about what they can get out of the conversation as opposed to what you can get out of the conversation.
If you start with that goal in mind, the conversation will naturally flow with more ease. Moods are contagious. if you enter the conversation with an attitude of adding value (by being prepared and empathetic), the results will speak for themselves.
LEAD WITH PREPARATION AND EMPATHY
Bridget GleasonBridget Gleason is VP of Sales at Logz.io and manages the company’s worldwide
sales organization. She was most recently VP of Corporate Sales as well as Executive Advisor at Sumo Logic. Prior to Sumo Logic, she was VP of Worldwide
Sales at Yesware and Senior VP of Worldwide Sales at Engine Yard.Connect with Richard through LinkedIn.
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Overall, sales reps “get” the sales 101 stuff. The rubber hits the road, and sales gets difficult when reps are faced with execution. And let’s be honest, we’ve all gotten “stuck” in our heads on a deal with a prospect or customer. And to that point, the number one way for sales leaders to have a positive impact on their team members is to make conversations count. i didn’t say 1:1 because conversations that count should be free to happen outside regularly scheduled meetings.
As we meet with our peers and reps and have true coaching conversations that spark “a-ha” moments, those moments cascade to the very prospects and customers our reps are desperately trying to have the right conversation with.
This is what i call “conversations that count”. Conversations that spark an “a-ha moment,” connect dots for folks, unlock a secret, or just plain get somebody unstuck.
Moving forward, step out and up, and have conversations that count with your reps, your peers, your colleagues, your friends....you get the idea.
MAKE YOUR CONVERSATIONS COUNT
Dionne MischlerDionne is a 20 year sales veteran having built and scaled Inside Sales team from the ground
up. She started her own firm, Inside Sales by Design, to work with companies and Sales Leaders to share the ultimate best practices of high performing Inside Sales teams.
Connect with Dionne through LinkedIn.
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“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”
The same goes for sales conversations. if you’re taking the same approach time after time, not having success, but doing nothing to improve, then you’re insane to expect better results. Like most things in life, the best way to improve is through practice and adjustment. if you aren’t in an active routine of reviewing your calls and identifying the necessary adjustments needed to move the needle, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
A great place to start is by defining what your ideal call looks like, and outlining those elements in the form of a scorecard. From there, you are able to narrow down specific areas of a call that need improvement. Once you’ve identified the improvements you need to make and the adjustments necessary to make them happen, you can begin to implement those changes within your conversations, track your success, and then, of course, rinse and repeat.
Following this cadence will help you establish the building blocks of a successful call through a regular and measurable process.
RINSE AND REPEAT
Chuck JonesChuck is manager of sales development at SalesLoft. SalesLoft’s Sales Engagement Platform helps your team set and execute on a cadence of phone, email, and social
communications so they can convert more target accounts into customer accounts. The platform equips sales leaders with new capabilities to test, learn and adapt to ensure
they execute on the most effective selling process for their account-based approach. Connect with Chuck through LinkedIn.
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Many sales reps think spending time doing research before they pick up the phone to speak to a prospect for the first time is time well spent. Sellers often use Linkedin or search the web to look for connections related to the target company or contact before they call the prospect. The hope is to make a cold call = a warm call.
Great idea, right?
But what most people don’t realize is that much of the information your sales team is researching on the web about the contact or company they are trying to build a relationship with is outdated, inaccurate and/or not relevant to their products or services.
Sellers will research the college or schools their prospects attended, or their interests and hobbies, or where they worked and their experience. All of which in the end is a complete waste of time for a “first conversation” because if used in a first conversation more often than not it just comes across super creepy.
It’s like walking up to a girl to ask her out on a date and saying “I noticed we went to the same school, you play golf, and you used to date John, Alex, Mark. Would you like to go out on a date with me?”
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS; IT’S THE BEST “RESEARCH”
Ken JisserKen is Cofounder, VP of Sales & Customer Success at Replystream. Ken is an acknowledged
industry expert on inside sales processes, data management, marketing automation and CRM systems, and has been a speaker at numerous industry conferences. Prior
to Replystream, Ken was Chief Solutions Architect for ConnectAndSell. In this capacity, Ken created and led the professional services team and was directly responsible for
product deployment and customer success. Ken created and ran the inside sales team at CaseCentral (acquired by Guidance Software) where he also led direct
marketing and lead generation activities. He created the Brocade Communications’ inside sales function, scaling it to a global operation. Ken was also responsible for
establishing the inside sales functions of Kazeon Systems (acquired by EMC), RingCube Technologies (acquired by Citrix). and PacketMotion (acquired by VMWare).
Connect with Ken through LinkedIn.
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Your sales team is likely spending too much time trying to figure out what to say to prospects when they pick up the phone, instead of trying to get people on the phone.
The end result is you build pipeline excruciating slow.
Here’s another option...
“Know Your Customers”
The best research to do is to know your customers and to understand the challenges they had, the solution your company provided, and the results/benefits they achieved using your products or services.
This sort of information is more interesting to your prospects and is a great way to start a conversation. It also makes you an expert in your field. This is important because to build a relationship you have to be an expert. People do not just want to buy another product from another vendor, they want to buy the expertise that goes with it.
if you have this expertise.... that is interesting and valuable to your prospects and is a great reason for them to meet with you and your company.
How to Go Faster
if you truly know your customers, you can pick up the phone and start a conversation with any prospect. if you don’t...create and build a conversation guide or AKA “battle card.” Think of it as a checklist for sales. Document what you need to know, and remove everything else you don’t.
The key is to be prepared to have lots of conversations instead of just one conversation at a time. Document your customer references, break them down by industry, and write down the challenges they were experiencing, your solution, and benefits they achieved.
Also, nail down your pitch i.e. when someone asks you “what does your company do?”
What are YOU going to say?
Be sure you can answer the question clearly and concisely. if you start the conversation properly, your prospects will definitely ask you.
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Document the discovery & qualification questions, so you never lose track of the information you are trying to collect from the conversation.
Finally, be prepared for the objections. include your toughest objections in your conversation guide, and prepare your responses.
But don’t just prepare, Practice.
Share your best practices with your team by role playing, and coming up with different scenarios to try your new pitch, and objection handling techniques.
Companies that prepare their sales teams to have lots of conversations can go faster and build pipeline quickly because their sellers are focused on the most meaningful sales activities, which is trying to get prospects into the conversation as opposed to figuring out what to say when they get them on the phone.
Don’t have a conversation guide? Click here to access a free conversation guide template that we built in excel. Just fill in the blanks in Sheet 1 and VOILA! Sheet 2 will have a printable conversation guide.
I hope these tips and this template helps your sales development efforts in the coming months and years. i appreciate that not everyone agrees with this approach, but it just might be why it works better.
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What’s interesting is that very few companies have a formalized process to rate whether a call was good or not. Managers are either giving feedback ad hoc, at random, with no real structure to what a good call should actually sound like, or not giving feedback at all.
There are certain things that, as a sales leader, you know should happen on every single call, and that certain things mean more than others. There are certain things that your best reps do/say on every call that make them your best reps.
So you know what you do with all that? You build a call scorecard that you can use as a guideline for your reps, but also a tool for your managers to be looking for the right things on every call. it is by far the best training tool i’ve used to date.
Systematize sales call feedback. Tweet this.
SYSTEMATIZE CALL FEEDBACK
Kevin DorseyAs the VP of Sales at SnackNation, I am leading, coaching, motivating, and holding accountable an amazing team of 50+ dedicated and hardworking
individuals who all share the same goal “Create Awesome Offices”. Connect with Kevin through LinkedIn.
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Throughout this e-book, you’ve heard me refer to a study we did several times: We analyzed 25,537 B2B sales conversations using Ai. Tweet this article.
The customers we pulled this anonymized data from were using the Gong conversation AI platform for sales call coaching .
The customers that had the highest usage of coaching activity within the Gong platform experienced the highest increases in win-rates and revenue, while also shaving the most time off of their sales cycles.
it makes sense.
The highest leverage point of the sales cycle is the conversation between a rep and a prospect.
If you can increase the effectiveness of that “lever,” you’ve made measurable progress. Click here to see a Gong demo.
COACH AT THE CONVERSATION LEVEL
Chris OrlobChris is Senior Director of Product Marketing at Gong.io - the #1 B2B sales
conversation AI platform. Gong automatically records your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI and NLP technology to help you understand what’s happening
in the sales conversations across your team. Learn more at Gong.io
Call coaching pays off — the data says so :)
THEME 7:
BONUS SALESEXECUTION ADVICE
The Ultimate Guide to Winning Sales Conversations
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The QBR is an opportunity to put everyone on your team in a position to take their sales game to the next level and to ensure that they are treating their book of business like their own business. Here are three steps to a productive QBR.
1. Get the backstory. Numbers and metrics tell the final story, but understanding the color behind the scoreboard is critical to developing a world-class sales organization. if your hard commits lagged, why did that happen? Was it a result of not forecasting correctly? Pausing to understand why deals didn’t go according to plan can help you get a better read on how well your sales team is forecasting, and if there are process challenges and/or external issues at play that are preventing deals from closing in a linear fashion.
2. Drive the right deal focus. Review existing pipeline opportunities and evaluate their strength. Do you have a healthy spread of smaller, higher probability deals mixed with a few less certain, but highly value “elephants”? Look for opportunities to pull deals forward to meet the current quarter commitments and always hold reps accountable for their commitments to the team goal. Assure your reps are constantly prioritizing new business development alongside closing out existing deals. This practice should be a part of everyday good sales hygiene.
3. Pave the trail to a winning quarter. Partner with your reps to develop strategies that not only guide commits to close as forecasted, but increase the likelihood of pulling deals forward. Have them articulate how are they will leverage company resources such as marketing, product, SDRs and the exec team to manage their business plan to success. As “virtual CEO” of their respective territories, ensure your sales reps are staying accountable to the process rigor, methodology, and business they have committed to delivering.
HOW TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL QBRMarc Silberstrom
Marc is Vice President Worldwide Sales at Clari, which is the leading provider of sales execution and forecasting solutions. Sales teams from industry leading companies like Box,
Juniper Networks, Symantec, Palo Alto Networks, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise use Clari to drive forecast accuracy and show their sales teams where to focus to close more business,
faster. Powered by artificial intelligence, the Clari platform gives execs confidence in the forecast, makes sales managers better coaches, and puts sales reps in position to crush their
numbers every quarter.Connect with Marc through LinkedIn.
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People often say that sales is a numbers game. That’s true, but which numbers? Good salespeople understand that they need to be aware of their metrics and work on constantly improving. What’s harder is to know which metrics to focus on. Should you work on making more cold calls? Sending more emails? Getting more stakeholders to attend your meetings with prospects?
You can’t do everything, so you have to prioritize. The only way you can prioritize effectively is if you have a clear understanding of what actually helps you win. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to find out yourself. Somebody’s probably already done the work for you! Start by finding the top performers on your team. You know who i’m talking about. The eagles who make President’s Club quarter after quarter, year after year. Once you’ve identified these stars dig through your sales analytics to see what they’re doing. How do they spend their day? Chances are that if you start copying their behavior, you’ll start copying their results as well.
Don’t have solid sales analytics? No worries. Offer to take your eagles out for coffee and ask them about their approach to sales. What helps them win more deals? What can you do to improve? Trust me, the five dollars you’ll spend on coffee is well worth the extra commission you’ll be making as a result! Do this on every team you’re apart of. Why? Because a rockstar at one team or company might be focusing on activities that won’t be as effective at another team or company.
FOCUS ON THE METRICS THAT MATTER
Ben DatersBen Daters is Vice President of Sales at Y Combinator-backed People.ai. Prior to People.ai, Ben spent six years as a top performer at Marketo, where he was
consistently promoted as he climbed the ranks from SDR to AE, Sales Manager and Director of Sales. At People.ai we’re reimagining how sales leaders make decisions by building the world’s first AI for managing sales teams. We’re proud to have the
support of Y Combinator and several leading Sand Hill Rd venture funds. Connect with Ben through LinkedIn.
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Account-Based Sales Development (ABSD) is a cornerstone of Cloudera’s pipeline strategy. Our SDRs are empowered with strategic tools to:
1. Target accounts at the right time by detecting buying signals and intent.
How often have you heard an Account Executive tell an SDR, “Go get me into any of my greenfield accounts” without any particular justification? Wouldn’t you rather spend your efforts on the lowest hanging fruit?
Tools now exist that give you a much better indicator of when an account is “raising its hand.” Pay attention to web traffic, web content intent, job changes, and set something as simple as Google Alerts with key phrases relevant to your industry.
2. Target the right people with specific titles and keywords that we know benefit most from our products.
it seems obvious to do this, but we have found that the wider the net you cast, the bigger the holes in the net become.
You have to know your customer profile intimately. You have to be able to answer the questions: What part of the organization is my customer in, what is their background, what tools do they use?
TRANSFORM YOUR OUTBOUND DEMAND
GENERATION STRATEGYLars Nilsson
Lars Nilsson has spent his career building Silicon Valley inside sales teams. Now he has built a sales methodology that transforms how businesses
approach high-value targets – Account-Based Sales Development (ABSD). Lars currently serves as VP of Worldwide Inside Sales for Cloudera.
Connect with Lars through LinkedIn.
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The tools exist to locate people based on keywords. There is no excuse not to find them.
3. Deliver the right message by researching the account and mapping our value drivers with the account’s strategic initiatives.
Bottom line: Don’t be lazy. Your prospects are being pitched all the time. You have to stand out.
A well-thought out ABSD approach will set you apart from the pack. Speak that company’s lingo -- use the names of their specific groups, products, mottos, and board-level initiatives. Weave a story about how your company’s solutions address that company’s needs, and you have a winning formula.
Your accounts want to be sold to. They are looking for a competitive edge. But you have to sell them in a way that resonates.
Without a doubt, ABSD is a proven strategy that has added millions in pipeline to our company.
To learn more, feel free to check out this resource.
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1) Pursue prospects with similar problems.
You know that perfect lead your rep has been chatting with this week? There are probably more like her just waiting to be discovered. To get ahead of the game, help your team look for companies that face similar problems. if it’s not an industry-wide issue, think of some other common factors that may impact them (geography, company size, etc.).
2) Identify meaningful events.
Train reps to pay attention to trigger events that may create change for a client. For instance, maybe the company just went public on the NYSE, or recently acquired another company. Change means opportunities that need to be acted on quickly. Tweet this.
3) Keep an eye on leadership changes.
New leadership always means some form of organizational shakeup. A surefire way to get the attention of new key players is to get on their calendars within the first few months of their start date (the sooner, the better). Be sure your reps pay attention to job changes in their Linkedin newsfeeds and other news sources to spot prospects (and customers) on the move.
CHEAT SHEET: 8 WAYS TO UNCOVER
SALES OPPORTUNITIESMarc Maloy
Marc is EVP of Worldwide Sales at Instructure. He began his career in operations and spent several years in customer support roles before moving into sales. Most recently, he was head of sales for HireRight and played a big part in growing the
business from a startup through a successful IPO. Marc earned a B.S in both HR and operations management from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.
Connect with Marc through LinkedIn.
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4) Get cred by sharing meaningful content on social media.
The people in your team’s social media networks have one thing in common—they’re feeding on endless streams of content. Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter are great for sharing interesting, relevant content that can catch the attention of potential customers. Have your team post updates from your favorite industry influencers or inspirational quotes to show thought leadership.
5) Use social media as a search tool.
Your team should know and love industry influencer accounts and check them daily—who’s following them? Searching hashtags, interests, groups, and comments on relevant posts is a great way to see who may be a hot prospect (and no, we’re not talking about on Tinder).
6) Volunteer.
Whether helping friends and family, fundraising, or networking and making calls for a favorite nonprofit, pro bono work is always worth the elbow grease. It’s a low-risk way to build trust and gain visibility. Encourage your team to pay it forward and share the good deeds on their social networks.
7) Keep skills sharp with training.
The more they know, the more they grow. Keep sales reps’ skills sharp and practice new tactics to open doors for more prospecting opportunities with learning and engagement platforms like Bridge. And training is good for your company overall because corporate learning is the new competitive currency.
8) Read up on industry publications and blogs.
Be sure your reps subscribe to blogs and magazines from your target industries to get a sense for what’s happening, upcoming trends, and any identifiable problems they may be able to solve. Encourage them to create email folders to save relevant industry emails and reference them regularly.
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if it’s worth marketing spending hundreds of dollars on a client dinner or thousands of dollars on a trade show booth, then it’s worth sales spending a few minutes personalizing an email.
if sales wants marketing to get on the same page, embrace revenue responsibility and contribute to pipeline, then sales must stop thinking of marketing as a cost center. it’s not about whether a marketing channel generated the lead or if a sales activity did. You must remember, you’re all on the same team.
There’s no one single best channel, but rather there’s channel methodology. There’s no one single best closing tactic, but rather there’s an account based strategy. And that’s highly dependent on what’s best for your customer, not what’s best for you.
ALIGN SALES AND MARKETING
Jon MillerJon is the CEO and co-founder of Engagio, and previously the co-founder at Marketo.
Engagio’s Account Based Marketing and Sales platform enables teams to measure account engagement and orchestrate human connections at scale. Jon holds a bachelor’s degree in
physics from Harvard College and has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.Connect with Jon through LinkedIn.
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Throughout this ebook, you’ve heard people on the Gong team refer to a sales conversation analysis research project we conducted where we analyzed 25,537 sales conversations using AI, transcription, and NLP technology. Here are the details:
We analyzed aggregated, anonymized sales conversation data from 17 customer organizations as a way to conduct AI-driven sales conversation research —to find out what’s working on sales calls (and what’s not).
The customers mainly consisted of high profile B2B SaaS companies in the mid-market range.
The goal was to identify various patterns, trends, and insights that are driving the most revenue and the highest win-rates at the sales conversation level.
Although we continually publish new insights and research, we were able to surface 5 initial “trends” of high-yield B2B sales calls.
The Methodology
• We analyzed the recordings of 25,537 business-to-business sales conversations conducted on platforms like GoToMeeting, join.me, and Webex, averaging 43 minutes per call
• We first mapped the CRM opportunity outcomes to the calls that were analyzed
• Calls were then speaker-separated, transcribed, and cleaned
• Finally, we used Gong’s artificial intelligence engine to analyze the calls and transcripts, categorizing key sales behaviors and call events.
Here’s a link to the five initial insights we discovered in Q1 of 2016.
Be sure to regularly visit our website at Gong.io for new Ai-driven sales conversation research like this.
ABOUT GONG’S AI-DRIVEN SALES CONVERSATION RESEARCH
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Gong is the #1 B2B sales conversation AI platform.
Gong automatically records, transcribes, and analyzes your sales team’s conference calls and uses AI (artificial intelligence), transcription, and NLP (natural language processing) to help sales leaders understand what’s happening in the sales conversations across their team.
Nothing to install
Up & running in 5 minutes
ABOUT GONG