3 Keys You Need to Know BEFORE The Sales Conversation

"Nothing happens until somebody sells something." Mary Kay Ash

It's true; sales are centrifugal to a company's growth and ability to scale and sustain. Regardless of the company's size, sales and the ability to close millions of dollars worth, allows a company the ability to achieve its core objectives, fuel the economy with job growth and support the communities where they are headquartered.

For more than a decade, I have been teaching sales in a way that makes a difference for every industry we've worked in. When it comes to sales, there are three (3) keys you need to know before you go into the sales conversation (whether that is a discovery session - typically B to C or a needs discovery meeting - typically B to B).

Each of these three are the tip of the proverbial iceberg and they are key to all of the other components of the sales process that will be followed by sales people and the leaders who develop them.

Number One: What is your prospect's SPIN - What is their situation, problem as a result of the situation, impact of the problem and needs pay off to invest in order to solve the problem and shift the situation. This is why primary and secondary research going into the meeting is key. Learning about the prospect, reviewing what you can find and identifying how what you find signifies their SPIN will help you to gain their confidence early during the conversation.

Number Two: The Answers to Their Two Biggest Questions - Will this work for me? And What's In it For Me? Regardless of how you work, every prospective client is listening intently for the customizable and easy to implement solution that will solve the problem. Being able to speak to each answer as a part of the meeting will turn that proposal you were going to write into an engagement letter. Thinking through these two answers from the prospect's point of view changes the game of sales. Most sales people make sales about them, but you want a process that makes sales about the prospect.

Number Three: How You'll Deepen the SPICE of their SPIN - When you take the time to deepen the SPICE in advance of the meeting this increases confidence and makes you the only and obvious choice. SPICE is an acronym that stands for Specific, Pervasive, Insurmountable, Clear and Expensive. Problems that fall into one of the following categories get the best interest to get access to a solution: Purpose/Identity/Legacy; Love/Relationships/Communication; Health/Wellness/Mental Health; Business/Money/Career; Time/Life Balance; Happiness/Fulfillment. And when you can speak to how their problem (personally, professionally, organizationally, financially, etc is impacted by these life areas, the sale is as good as closed.

BONUS: Make sure each member of your sales team has the mindset to sell millions. It's no secret that 67% of the adults in the US are financially illiterate. These are the people leading your sales efforts! By helping them to optimize the money and entrepreneurial mindset required to sell confidently you'll tighten your sales game. Our approach to sales has always first and foremost been about helping your people change what they see. After years of research, we can conclude that the way they see sales is really about the way they see themselves. By infusing our sales development training with money and entrepreneurial success mindset, we have watched the way sales teams see themselves shift so that they are developed to see and sell millions.

When we are working with sales teams and the leaders who manage them, helping them to tighten these four things (and more) makes a difference and shifts the energy sales teams show up to the conversation in. We watch clients go from anxious and desperate to confident, which allows their confidence to close more sales than their actual skills.

If you want to sell millions in your organization, let's chat. We are currently booking sales trainings in company's just like yours.