In old-school sales training, salespeople are told they must build rapport with prospects. Gurus say things like, “Your prospects must like you.”. This approach is not only shallow but also inaccurate.
A person will buy from someone they respect and trust. You’ll start to build genuine relationships based on trust and respect if you’re able to connect with your prospects on a deeper level. The more genuine relationships you build, the more sales you’ll make. These five tricks will help you crush your sales goals by connecting instantly with prospects.
Ask a provocative question.
Whenever you want someone to like you, you will say or do anything to please them. Whether they like them or not, prospects don’t trust salespeople like that. The salespeople they trust are the ones who challenge them to think differently about their problems and objectives. By asking your prospects provocative questions, you will be able to accomplish this.
When you speak with your prospective client, mention two or three challenges you’ve seen in the industry, and then enquire whether any of them resonate with them. If the answer is yes you will instantly establish your expertise and credibility with the prospect. When the answer is no, you know straight away it’s not a good fit when they’re not having challenges you can solve. As a result, you will be able to move on to another prospect who is more likely to need your product or service.
Don’t fake your enthusiasm.
There is a typical salesperson greeting that we are all familiar with. “Good morning Mr client! I hope you’re doing well. We are so excited to have the opportunity to tell you all about how we can help your company!” Over-eager, cheesy greetings kill sales, yet most salespeople are unaware of that fact.
You can see what I mean by recording your next few prospecting conversations. Play them back and listen carefully. Are you prone to raising your voice when you’re talking to prospects? If so, you need to drop your sales voice. This immediately destroys any trust or respect you might have established with prospects. Put your focus on being authentic. Don’t worry about sounding polished or smooth. Your prospects will find it refreshing to speak with a real person, and they will be more open to connecting with you.
It’s all about the prospect
There is only one thing that matters to prospects: themselves. However, what is the focus of most salespeople? Services and products they offer. As a result, salespeople have difficulty building solid relationships with prospects.
Your first response might be, “Not me. I’m always thinking about the prospect.” However, there’s a reasonable chance you’re wrong. You can’t build prospects’ trust if you talk about your product or service. Successful salespeople focus on prospects 100% of the time.
Identify key challenges
Prospects care only about themselves, as I said before. A more precise description would be that they’re only concerned with the current problems they’re facing. If you cannot show prospects how you can help solve their challenges, you will not be relevant to them.
Your questions should be focused exclusively on your prospect’s biggest frustrations. Take the time to understand how those frustrations are impacting the prospect. Consider valuing those challenges in Pounds. Salespeople rarely dig into this area, but when you do, you’ll build a trusting and respectful relationship.
Spend less time talking
Simple and straightforward. Spend less time talking and more time listening. Regardless of how much you talk in a conversation with prospects now, it’s likely you can do with even less. In any conversation, prospects should do the majority of the talking. When engaging with new prospects, keep this in mind, and you’ll set more meetings for sales success.
