A good opening impacts the rest of the sales call.
By being yourself during the opening sales call you will be seen as more sincere. You must also demonstrate that you are confident and you must engage your customer/prospect. By doing this you are demonstrating the traits of a true professional sales rep and will be able to close more sales.
It’s important to be your authentic self so that your client can get to know you. A prospect or client likes to buy from someone they know and trust. If you are confident, sincere and engaging while you are being your authentic self, you are more likely to win the business.
To improve levels of confidence and demonstrate the traits of sincerity and to engage your customer, make sure that you practice your opening sales call.
What is an opening? It is a starting place, you are planting seeds to grow the relationship.
There are many benefits of preparing for opening a sales call. Above all, it improves your chances of closing the deal. Through this practice, you become better prepared to deal with objections, answer questions and ensure you cover key points during your opening sales call. As much as you should take the time to ask questions and learn about the consumer, take as much time to listen to what they are saying. Listening allows you to fully understand their needs and company goals. This preparation also helps you formulate your own questions about their company that relate to your product or service. By preparing, you are learning more about your customer/prospect and this will help you offer a sincere and engaging solution to their problem. All of this helps to improve your confidence. Successful salespeople prepare for their opening sales calls and almost all other sales meetings and demonstrate the above traits.
You have to “let go” of the pressure you face from yourself and from your management for making the sale and you must focus on possibilities and solving clients problems, rather than meeting a quota.
Benefits of a Positive Opening Sales Call
Forces you to be prepared
Positions you as a credible expert; someone prospects want to do business with!
You are now focused on possibilities rather than pushing to meet a quota
This also sets the tone for enabling you to discuss your “biggest competitor,” which is aversion to change.
You will often find yourself opening the initial sales call and having follow-up meetings. In both types of meetings, you will open the call in a similar fashion.
You will follow the Opening the Call model, which shows the steps for an initial call.
In follow-up meetings, you will simply summarize what happened in the prior meeting, instead of making introductions.
However, in some cases, there will be new decision makers who attend the meeting. In that case, you will summarize as well as make introductions.
Opening The Sales Call Model
This is the model you will follow when you open a call.
Make Introductions
Make sure you know the names and roles of everyone in the meeting
(No time for small talk for today’s busy customers!)
Tips for Introductions
Keep them brief
Know everyone’s name; take notes
Thank them for their time beforehand
Plan a transition to next step, “Confirm Agenda”
Confirm agenda
Bridge from how you got the meeting (referral, idea, etc.)
Confirm purpose of meeting and timing
Provide an Overview of Your Company and Your Products/Services.
Summarize what your company does and present a mini case study (explain a challenge a customer faced, how you helped them, and the results the customer achieved).
Shift to focusing on the Customer
Listening and Questioning
Business discussion
Summarize
Advance to next step
Tips for Opening The Sales Call
Remember that sales is a long-term process; success doesn’t happen overnight
Prepare to be an insightful outsider. You can offer a fresh perspective to your prospects and “see the forest through the trees.”
Connect with prospects. Relate your communication to their vision, values and core competencies.
Conduct extensive company research and plan effectively before making your initial sales call.
Commit to continued self-improvement.
Above all, always be yourself!
Successful Traits for Opening the Sales Call
The sales process helps us stay on track. That’s one way to ensure success. Another way to ensure success is to demonstrate certain traits.
Let’s quickly review the sales process. First, you spend time prospecting and identifying qualified leads. Next, do your homework and convince the prospect to meet with you. Now, you are about to meet face-to-face with this prospect.
This step, Opening the Sales Call, is about making a good first impression, positioning yourself as an expert and setting a positive tone for potentially doing business.
As you get to know the prospect and ask questions to understand his needs, you will determine if there is a solution your company can provide to fit his needs. Once your present that solution, you may need to overcome objections and then you will close the deal.
Lastly, you will continue to cultivate the relationship, and develop the client for life.
In this video training series, we will talk about opening the initial sales call and opening follow-up meetings. In both types of meetings, you will plan to open the call in a similar fashion.
In sales follow-up meetings, you will summarize what happened in the prior meeting, instead of making introductions. However, in some cases, there will be new decision makers who attend the meeting. In that case, you will summarize as well as Make Introductions.
What is an opening? It is a starting place, you are planting seeds to grow the relationship.
Successfully Opening The Sales Call Involves:
– Good First Impressions
– Position Yourself As An Expert & Trusted Advisor
– Setting a Positive Tone For Doing Business
– Above All, Always Be Yourself!
We are excited about your interest in becoming an expert on opening the sales call. We have eleven more consultative sales training videos and blogs designed just for driven sales reps like yourself that will teach in more detail the following.
Planning The Opening Sales Call
Practicing The Opening Sales Call
The Importance of An Agenda For the Opening Sales Call
The Importance of Making a Positive First Impression on The Initial Sales Call
Creative Ways To Build Rapport During The Initial Sales Call
The Importance of Understanding and Utilizing Open Ended Questions During The Sales Call
The Importance of Being Your Authentic Self
The Benefits of a Positive Opening Sales Call
How To Transition From Introduction To The Sales Agenda
How To Adapt To Meet Client Expectations During The Sales Call
Sprint Selling – How To Quickly Develop & Prototype New Revenue-Producing Strategies That Deliver Results!
Primarily, the two most popular business models are now defunct. The first one, centralization by function, just means that almost all of the functions of daily running were in-house. While this business model still works to some degree, new revenue-producing strategies must be implemented to ensure that you keep a competitive edge and hit your monthly sales objectives.
The second model used decentralization by region or product, which just means that there were various branches of the store in different states, cities, regions, etc., all selling the same products/services. Likewise, the products/services could be based in particular areas, such as Indian-style dresses in India and Midwestern styles in the US. Both of these models worked well for the last 25 years and still can work today, as long as you can develop and prototype new strategies to help deliver the results you want.
The Virtual And Velcro Models
Now, more and more corporations are focusing on two new models of sprint selling, called Virtual and Velcro.
Virtual Model
With the virtual business model, almost everything is done online (and some companies only work online). Keeping up with consumer culture is an important way to understand the interests of clients. With everyone focused so much on technology and what it can do, it makes sense that almost every company in the US would have a website, if not a virtual store. A recent Fortune 500 Survey of CEO’s asked, “What is your # 1 concern in 2016.” The answer – “The rapid pace of technological change.” That’s why it’s critical to have a strong grasp on those emerging technologies that can help to make your business more competitive.
Velcro Model
Likewise, the Velcro model works by completely pulling apart the company and reassembling it in a new way or a new location. More and more companies are focused on implementing the Velcro business model because that means they’re always ready to start over and create something new that will offer the results they want.
The best way to develop and implement new revenue-producing strategies is to focus on what the customer wants/needs, what your team can do to help them, and keeping costs as low as possible while still delivering great results.