Closing sales can be a challenging, frustrating, and even mysterious process. Every sales person has come across situations where the buyer seemed totally willing to talk and almost ready to buy – and then stopped returning calls.
Ultimately, what closes a large deal isn’t every bell and whistle of your product, but the relationship you have forged with the prospect over time.
The best way to get better at closing sales is to get better at building relationships with the people on the other end of the phone. Even if a sales prospect is eager to hear from your company, your sales people still need to do a good job of creating trust, building rapport, and listening to prospects’ specific needs and business challenges.
Someone recently made a comment on our LinkedIn Group that really illustrated the importance of building a strong relationship with prospects.
Our LinkedIn Group member said:
I teach my sales team to always consider the questions that are in the minds of each of their prospects:
- Can I trust this person?
- Are they telling me the truth?
- Can their product really help me (Save me time, make me money, or keep aggravation out of my life)?
- What’s really in this for me?
And at the end of the day, we all know that everything usually boils down to having a relationship.
The relationship will take away the trust issues, the price issues, and the implementing issues. It’ll create loyal customers and clients, but here’s the kicker, you don’t have to have the best product or service available. It just needs to be dependable and meet the customer’s immediate needs. Having a relationship shows that your company is reliable.
If you don’t have a strong customer relationship, buyers won’t be ready to talk with you. Remember, it’s not about your sales pitch, your well-designed brochures, or your ROI numbers. Building a solid relationship with your prospects is key. If they believe you have their best interests at heart and are not looking to make an immediate sales commission, then the prospect will most likely to hear you out.
In addition to helping you close more sales, having a strong relationship can also help you retain more customers and grow your business. Customers are more likely to keep buying from you and help you grow your business.
Relationships are the key to everything else that happens in the sales process. Build relationships first. Create feelings of trust and rapport. Ask good questions and listen to what the customer says. Empathize with your customers’ unique challenges and look for ways to add value to them. And finally, nurture the sales relationship over time – continue to follow up and check in often, and offer new insights and business intelligence as part of your discussions.
The most successful B2B sales people know how to show the customer that they are not “just” sales people, but “industry peers” who are focused on the challenges facing the customer’s business. By doing these things, you’ll be able to build a stronger sales relationship – and get closer to closing the sale.