To sell is to engage in an active process. If you aren’t naturally a salesperson, the idea of taking the necessary steps to get prospects over the line might be daunting.
However, being active doesn’t mean pushing too hard. That can have the opposite of your desired effect. Instead, selling your services should feel straightforward and uncomplicated. You don’t need a sales team or a fancy strategy to be successful.
When you know and believe in what you offer, all that’s left is to properly communicate its value so you can get a chance to wow more people. Use the following five-tiered approach to help your soon-to-be clients have confidence in your skills and services.
If you don’t know any better, it’s easy to make the classic sales mistake: thinking you’re merely selling a bulleted list of features or services. In a client-based business characterized by ongoing relationships, the prospect has to buy in to much more than that. They need to know why and how you provide services, not just what they consist of.
Of course, you still need to present a list of your offerings, but the more important aim in sales conversations should be to connect those to potential outcomes. Help the potential client envision what their life or business could accomplish — and what it will feel like to get there.
Put it into practice: You might have to break some habits and shift your mindset. Check out these value-based selling examples, then take a course or do some research on this approach to feel fully prepared for your next sales call.
People can tell when you’re genuinely interested in a conversation. Interactions throughout the buyer’s journey are no exception. But if you overthink things or try to follow a script too closely, you risk making it feel forced, which is often the precursor to a lost deal.
Instead of just looking for a yes or no, generate a real discussion with each prospect that comes your way. Even if they don’t become a client, you can learn from the pain points that prompted them to inquire about your services.
Put it into practice: Align your processes and sales journey to support great first impressions. Every interaction is a chance to show someone how you will care for them and their success as a client.
Social proof is a standard tool in good marketing, but it continues to hold value once your lead moves into the sales stage. They need to be reminded that other people have chosen your business and experienced significant gains as a result.
Let your current and former clients do a lot of the hard work of selling for you. Highlight their impactful quotes and reviews in as many places as you can, including email signatures, one-pagers and slide decks.
Put it into practice: Make collecting testimonials part of your team’s regular routine. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking: According to BrightLocal, 35% of customers left reviews more than half of the time after being prompted.
A basic CRM could hinder your efforts to simplify your sales process. Any amount of manual entry will slow you down and divert your attention away from the story of the next prospect. Not only do you need to keep track of their unique needs, but you should be able to visualize your entire pipeline at any time.
An integrated CRM gives you the power to check lead status, project revenue and automatically attach every action you take to a client record for easy reference down the line.
Put it into practice: Adopt a platform with robust and customizable automation. With Accelo’s trigger automations, you can streamline communication, receive helpful notifications and set up a sales cadence that makes sense for your business.
You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: Being true to yourself and your business values is the best hack there is — because it’s not a hack at all. It’s vital to present your services sincerely in the sales stage to avoid misunderstandings after a contract is signed. People appreciate not feeling “sold to,” so adopt honesty as your number-one policy.
This includes being straightforward about the limitations of your services and your team. If you get a gut feeling that you’re not the best fit for a prospect, it’s better for both of you to be honest about it.
Put it into practice: Get clear about your business strategy first. When you know what you’re working towards, you’ll naturally adjust the way you sell to match your goals. Potential clients will be able to detect your laser focus, too.
While each piece of advice above may be simple on its own, constructing a consistent sales approach out of all of them could still be challenging. The best thing you can do for your win rate, your prospects and your confidence is to have support in the form of reliable tech.
Accelo is a partner to many professional services leaders, supporting an authentic client experience by making your operations and communication more efficient. See how the platform can help with sales and more by starting your free trial or scheduling a demo today.
