How to Make a Perfect Sales Call

How-to-Make-a-Perfect-Sales-Call

 

You have to make sales, no matter what business you are in and sales is a numbers game. In order to make more sales, you need to reach more potential customers. But you can’t ignore quality in favour of quantity. Being more productive and successful when making the sales calls will help you in meeting or exceeding your sales quota by making fewer calls.

Below are certain rules of a perfect sales call to increase your conversion rate:

Before the Sales Call

Research your Prospects

Before getting on a call, find out as much as you can about the prospect and gain a deep understanding of his company as well. This will aid you in tailoring your call to his needs. To find everything about the person you are about to talk to, research the following platforms:

  • Website – Start with client’s website and try to understand his business. Who are their end customers? What do they offer? How can your solution fit in? Look for the news articles, blogs and press releases published on their website. Are they taking funding or are on a hiring spree or conducting events at various places. It will help you in gauging the health of their business. Find out how your offering can add value to their business. This will enable you to pitch your product in a better way.
  • LinkedIn – LinkedIn will allow you to research about the person you will be talking to and find out his background. Exploit this valuable tool and use it’s excellent search functionality to get some key details about the client’s past jobs, academic background, skills, interests and the groups he participates in.

Know about Client’s Competitors

Be well informed of your prospect’s competitors. May be one of them is already using your product. Just see if you have a case study to share with the client. Mention about the benefits that the client’s competitor have enjoyed after using your product. This tactic would be really helpful in creating a trust towards your brand in the prospect.

Be Specific

By doing a proper research, it becomes easy to figure out what information you need to provide on the call. Make a list of four to five key points that show how your solution can add value to their business and solve their needs and requirements.

Apart from quoting the client’s competitors in the conversation, also mention about the relevant use cases and case studies about your solution being adopted by other companies in the same business vertical. Simply talking about the features and capabilities of your offering is not entertained by anyone these days. So, give them details by quoting real-life examples.

Also, prepare how you will overcome certain sales objections.

During the Sales Call

Don’t Attempt to Sell on your First Call

Never make the first call with an intention to sell your solution. Focus on building a connect and gathering relevant information. Behave like a consultant whom they can trust and not like a routine salesperson. Take notes and convey that you will get back to them. Precisely, try to build a friendly relationship on your first call.

Ask Relevant Questions

A basic rule of a sales call is to let the customer do most of the talking and you should listen as much as possible. If this doesn’t help you enough in extracting the information you need, make sure you ask the right questions to understand more about them. For example:

  • What are your biggest challenges?
  • What problems your organization is currently facing?
  • If we can show you a way to improve the quality of your product at a lower cost, would you be interested to know more?
  • Which departments are directly responsible for the problem you are trying to solve?
  • Are you using any solution currently?
  • Have you heard about our solution?
  • Who is the key decision-maker?
  • Is there any budget allocated to this solution?

However, do not bombard the client with excess questions. Based on the flow of your conversation, wisely decide what all questions to ask. If they wish to take the conversation in a different direction, follow them.

Keep it Short

Your client’s time is valuable, so avoid wasting their time and annoying them. Make thorough preparation before the call so that you accurately deliver the key message. Keep your conversation crisp and tailored.

After the call

Summarize the Call

Send an email within an hour of the call with appropriate recap. Include the client’s issues and a brief mention about your solution along with the necessary case studies and product demos.  The email should also contain timelines for follow ups and the required call to action.

Follow Up

Do not forget to follow up with the prospect within 3-4 days if you do not get a reply of your first email. Get back to them on their preferred medium of communication to increase the probability of a response. If they are quick at responding to an email, follow up by sending one. Or if they prefer talking over phone, give them a call within a specific timeframe.

Also Read, 8 Deadly Sales Mistakes that every Startup must Avoid 

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