What most companies call sales training is really product knowledge training.

When we get face to face with a prospect we need to accomplish 5 main objectives:

1 - Gain favorable attention.?Even when we show up to a scheduled appointment, in person or online, we must quickly gain favorable attention. We can accomplish this by simply thanking them for their time and reiterating the purpose of the appointment.

2 - Create interest in what we have to offer.?We need to have first started establishing rapport by asking questions during gaining favorable attention. Remember, those who ask questions control the conversation. Also, we need to ask open ended questions, ask questions to clarify responses, and ask more specific questions to dig deeper or drill down to discover their pain points and uncover the dominant buying motives. It is difficult to have our value proposition on target until we uncover the gap between where they are now and where they need to be to achieve the objectives they are to be held accountable for.

When we let our prospects do a great deal of the talking and we listen well, and guide the conversations with the correct follow-up questions, in many cases the prospects will openly reveal their greatest challenge and the dominate buying motive. When a sales person talks too much they can actually create more objections and buy back the sale.

3 - Conviction.?Convince the prospect how what we offer solves their problems and creates the positive outcome they are looking for. Most prospects are thinking “who says so besides you”. We must convince the prospect that we have the solution to their main challenge or challenges we uncovered during creating Interest.

How do we convince our prospects. Here are a few examples:

• Use testimonials of satisfied customers
• PowerPoint presentations can be used to create interest and convince. Try to avoid letting the PowerPoint be the center of attention. Let the PowerPoint be more of a well planned guide and assist you in leading the prospect to the desired destination which is a closed sale.
• Demonstrations, well planned out and practiced demonstrations can be very effective. Just know the best time to go into the demonstration.

4 - Create Desire.?Create desire for the prospect to obtain your product or service now. If the prospect doesn’t see, or clearly understand how your product or solution will solve their dominant buying motive, then they will not buy.

• Tell a story of how your product or service solved a problem or provided a solution to the dominant buying motive of a client or clients. Then ask a question like “that is what you’re looking for isn’t it?”. If the prospect does not respond favorable, then the dominant buying motive was, more than likely, not uncovered or the prospect needs more “convincing”.
• Paint a word picture of the prospect achieving their objective, solving their problem, and being recognized for the accomplishment. Once you create an effective word picture, you can say “how would that make you feel?”.

5 - Close.?Ask for the order. Many sales people do not close a sale because they don’t ask for the sale. Also, ask for referrals even if the presentation outcome is not a closed sale.

I truly believe that a closed sale is the natural outcome of a well planned, practiced, and presented sales call.

Depending on what industry you are in it may take several appointments to close a sale, however, make sure every appointment has an objective, and schedule the follow-up appointments accordingly.

A sales person’s future depends on closing enough deals to achieve company objectives and earn bonuses and commissions. Every call should have an objective; otherwise we are just paid visitors.

There are many steps that should go into planning and preparing for a sales call.

Prospecting - filling your sales funnel with well qualified prospects that have the authority to make the decision.

Researching the prospects company, industry, and background.

If we keep on learning, prospecting, scheduling appointments, asking good questions, listening, creating interest, convincing, and creating desire in the mind of your prospect, we will all grow more passionate about the great opportunity sales provides. We will close more sales by helping more people solve their problems and achieve their business and personal goals and objectives.

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