Are You A Deal Maker Or Deal Breaker?
How strategy and skills training for salespeople help seal the deal.
Entrepreneurs today stop at nothing to remain competitive, be on top of their niche, and always ahead of the game. For most enterprises that’s how you run a business in a typically dog-eat-dog world and if you happen to lose your footing or are caught unaware, you risk running your business to the ground.
At the backbone of every enterprise, retail or otherwise, are the salespeople. The team responsible for the growth and nurturing of clients and accounts. These are the people who create value for the business enterprise and the customer alike. The salesperson is a deal maker but sometimes without the proper training and information, they can easily turn into the deal breaker.
Salespeople are the front-liners of any business enterprise. They are key sales personnel and are delegated to bring new customers and clients. As such, the average salesperson can be expected to face all sorts of problems from a sales standpoint on a daily basis. Problems and concerns that can be addressed with proper training, a clear strategy, and killer salesperson skills.
Prospects often have different perspectives toward what your salespeople have been trained to sell. Some are simply skeptical at the onset, while most are ready to buy into wherever it is you’re selling, until they become actual customers or clients and give you more pain than you’ve ever imagined. True story.
Customers, clients, or prospects don’t come in the same shape and size. The problems and concerns a salesperson will deal with are of the same nature. Thus, adopting proven strategies in sales and marketing can strengthen the principles we have learned, giving us the boost we need to establish positive rapport, credibility, and trust. Training your salespeople on how to handle pain points of every kind can build skills to provide practical real-time solutions for real time problems. Growing a business is easy if you have grit. Remember, it’s a dog eat dog world in the realm of commerce and enterprise, without grit, you stand on very loose ground.
There are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time―longer than most people imagine. As a salesperson, you’ve got to apply these skills and produce services that are valuable to your customers. Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it. It’s doing what you love, but not just simply falling in love― it’s staying in love.
Let’s walk through the types of prospects and problems every salesperson faces and find the best ways to face each one!
The Prospect: A Profile For Every Persona
Ah, the prospect. The soon to be customer, the most valued client. Sure as they are what every salesperson needs to make a sale and keep the business running, not all prospects are what they seem to be. Sometimes, when our eyes get too fixed on making the sale, we get lost in the deal. Unbeknownst to you, the prospect has led you into a maze, chasing rainbows at every end.
Here are a few prospect personas you need to get to know better, before you even set your phasers to stun.
The Prospect Who Promises But Never Purchases
It’s the classic cat and mouse scenario with this prospect persona. Evidently, this type of prospect is as fixed on the promise of purchase given as you are fixed on trailing wherever they lead you on to. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Remember the following:
- A salesperson always leads the prospect, and not the other way around.
- The promises a salesperson makes are always kept, with the solid backup of a company that builds trust.
- If a promise to purchase has been brokered, show your prospect an active timeline and the benefits that come with the period covered in closing the deal. Turn the tables around and be in control. Always.
- Before you lose yourself in making the deal, know where your limits are in pushing for a sale. When and where promises are made, there are tell-tale signs that show sincerity, or the lack of it.
- Not all prospects are worth the wait. Time is of the essence, and yes, you can always find a better opportunity every time.
It’s pretty evident that most salespeople often forget this. Salespeople are not aware of this sign. They may find themselves putting much time and effort into prospects that it’s a colossal waste of valuable sales-closing time.
The Price Anxious Prospect
Salespeople beware! In the course of closing a deal, the prospect that stands before you may morph into another persona. This happens when the cost is mentioned, or the price is laid on the table. They turn into the Price Anxious Prospect!
When everything begins to move in the opposite direction of a clear sale and your prospect shows unwavering concern about the price, what do you do? How do you handle the situation
When price anxiety becomes a top concern, here’s what you can do;
- Assure the prospect with the value of your product.
- Present data from real clients, show and tell real results and statistics.
- Address the needs and goals of your prospect by contrasting the cost with value added service.
- Make your prospect understand that they own the advantage being offered. No matter what the cost, whatever the price tag, it’s theirs for the taking.
Constants And Variables
There are 2 sides to a coin and both sides make for legal tender. The salesperson stands as a constant on one side of the sales equation with the prospect as the lead variable on the equal opposite side. Both sides are essential to our story, both personas a problem and a solution within themselves.
Sales training can only help your sales team get better. Weekly meetings to assess and reassess prospects and leads will help sharpen those skills in no time and eventually, help your team become sales specialists.
Remember that prospects and leads are potential clients and as salespeople, we are adept with the expertise to fulfill our mission of giving out the best client experience. We are deal makers and we possess the resilience to face every single problem, no matter how large or small in scale.
Stay hungry, stay focused, and keep your eyes on the prize, That’s the Mirku way.
If you would like to learn more about how Mirku can help grow your business, please email support@mirku.com or call 727-842-9999 to setup a free consultation today!