Online meetings are rapidly becoming the new de facto standard.

Savvy sellers have discovered that the ability to quickly move a phone conversation online yields a richer, deeper interaction with prospects. It enables them to discuss, demo or present using a variety of resources. As a result, prospect engagement goes up, new opportunities emerge, and deals close faster.

That’s a competitive edge worth paying attention to—especially since only 58% of salespeople met or exceeded their quota last year. But right now, most sellers are barely tapping into online meetings because they don’t know how or when to best use them.

Salespeople need to be nimble and ready to pivot. In conversations, they must be able to quickly spot and capitalise on emerging opportunities. It’s even better if they can create these moments on their own.

That’s exactly what savvy sellers do with online meetings. During a phone call, when they spot a need or when inspiration strikes, they immediately suggest:

“Do you have a few minutes? How about we jump onto a quick online meeting?”

That’s sales agility at its best. The key to success with these impromptu online meetings is strategic spontaneity. Savvy sellers are prepared. They know the best times to suggest this option and they know how to do it, seamlessly. They know what they’ll ask, point out, suggest or clarify.

In short, they nail it! These savvy sellers create an “aha” moment that crystallises value and drives differentiation. When the conversation is over, they’ve established credibility, deepened the relationship and moved closer to a signed contract.

1. FOCUS ON PURPOSE

What outcome do you want to achieve from jumping online with your prospect? Always start with this question, then craft a meeting plan that supports it. The best “purposes” are typically aligned with the various stages of a prospect’s buying cycle. These are the three main ones.

Pique Curiosity. If you’re prospecting, know that more than 90% of the people you contact are reasonably satisfied with their status quo— whatever that might be. When you connect, your objective is to get the prospect so interested that they want to learn more—either now or in very short order.

Drive a Commitment to Change. Once you’ve piqued your prospect’s curiosity, their next step is to determine if it makes sense to change. This is your opportunity to help them determine their business case. It’s also a chance to explore the factors they need to consider if they do go ahead.

Close the Deal. When your prospect has decided that changing is worth it, your purpose shifts to that of showcasing why working with your company makes the most sense, provides the best value and is the least risky.

For lead follow-up, try to gauge where the prospect might be in their buying process by reviewing what they’ve downloaded from your website and the pages they’ve visited.

When you know your purpose, it’s time to identify when a “quick” online meeting can help you achieve it.

2. PINPOINT THE OPPORTUNITIES

When does it make sense to have an impromptu online meeting? Start by mentally identifying when it could be beneficial to jump online. Often visual elements are involved and referencing them while you’re talking enriches the conversation.

You might want to consider an impromptu online meeting to:

Spark a new idea. If your offering enables prospects to do something they hadn’t conceived of, pull up a graphic to trigger their thinking. You could also highlight relevant research or data that supports a change from the status quo.

Expand on concepts. Once prospects are ready to change, they want to discuss factors such as configuring the right solution and implementation issues.

Do a demo. Give your prospect a quick tour of your solution. Whether it’s an actual demo, screen shots, or animated, you can gauge their reactions.

Review in real-time. Any time there are questions or concerns re: proposals, pricing, layouts, design and more, the quickest way to resolve them is to jump online. When people post a need or comment regarding an issue you can solve, invite them to a virtual meeting. Again, they’re already online. They just need to be online talking to you!

Research shows that people remember 80% of what they see and do. Online meetings, much more than phone conversations, make you and your message more memorable and engaging.

3. ZERO IN ON VALUE

How can you get prospects to invest the time and energy needed to change from the status quo? It’s your toughest sales challenge. According to SBI, over 60% of forecast deals do nothing. That means you lose to “no decision” more than all other competitors combined.

If this happens to you, it’s likely you’ve been doing too much pitching, trying to differentiate your product/service from competitors. Forrester Research reports that only 13% of executive buyers believe that a salesperson can clearly show they understand customer business issues and articulate a way to solve them.

During your online meetings, focus in on what matters most to your prospects. Be very specific. Increasing sales and decreasing costs is far too generic. Pepper your conversations with value propositions like these:

• Increased sales productivity, enabling 30% more calls/day.
• Reduced customer churn by 2.9% in just six months.
• Stabilised workflow, eliminating 47% of overtime pay.

This is what prospects care about. This is why they’d change from the status quo. Use your online meeting to tailor the value to your buyer’s position.

Don’t get sucked into a “tell me about your [product/service]” conversation. Knowing about your leading-edge capabilities, unique methodologies and unbeatable service will not make people change from the status quo.

Instead, cut to the chase; make it abundantly clear about the value you can deliver to their organisation. That’s what gets people to buy.

4. LEAD CONVERSATIONS

How can you create a meaningful dialogue in a quick online meeting? Huthwaite’s research on 10,000+ reps in 30,000 sales calls revealed that the kind and quality of questions asked during a meeting had more impact on sales success than any other behaviour.

Asking questions allows you to showcase expertise, demonstrate concern, establish trust and build stronger relationships. Additionally, questions enable you to gauge a prospect’s level of interest, expand the possibilities, determine your strategy and find the right solution.

To take advantage of your limited time together during an online sales meeting, consider these suggestions:

Plan questions ahead of time. Brain research shows that it’s impossible to do two things at once. That’s why it’s imperative to figure out the best questions to ask and the right sequence before you initiate contact. Keep them in front of you, but feel free to go with the flow too—if it makes sense.

After asking a question, be quiet – especially if your intention is to make people think. The average salesperson feels compelled to jump in after 2-3 seconds, totally high-jacking the opportunity to learn critical information.

Wrap your questions in your expertise. Lead into them with phrases such as, “In working with other VPs of Sales, we find that …. Is this something you’re struggling with too? Or “In talking to other manufacturers, their three biggest priorities are … How do those priorities compare to yours?”

It’s your responsibility to lead the conversation—and the best way to do it is with thoughtful, provocative questions.

5. CREATE ENGAGEMENT

How can you be more collaborative? Online meetings give you a chance to interact in real time. They can be just as effective as actually sitting in your client’s office, getting a deeper understanding of their needs, and discussing their business challenges.

Here are some ideas to make impromptu online meeting more engaging:

Rather than you doing a demo, try highlighting how easy it is and pass control to your prospects. Let them do it themselves. Sampling simplicity makes them more likely to change.

Use different content. Don’t just show a presentation; change the info you share. Jump from a presentation, to a report, to a website. This on-thefly access to a variety of resources increases interest and involvement.

Bring your recommendations up on the screen and get your prospects’ input. Find out what they like/don’t like. Ask if the solution meets their needs or not— then make appropriate changes. This increases buy-in and the commitment to move forward.

Revise critical documents together. Invariably prospects want to make changes to your proposals, SOWs or contracts. It’s much simpler to actually work on the “same page” as your prospects instead of trying to talk about it. With today’s online contracts, it’s pretty easy to move from conversation to proposal to contracting.

This real-time collaboration capability is also highly useful for internal usage—especially when multiple people from your company are involved in the sales process. It’ll help you get things right before you suggest your prospect jump online for that quick meeting.

6. PICK THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

What’s the right tool for you to use? Today, 30.3% of sales professionals believe that the online meeting tools they’re using get in the way of sales, rather than helping. That’s not good because it reflects on your competence. The solution you choose can be critical to moving the conversation forward or closing the sale.

To select the right technology, ask yourself these questions:

How easy is it to initiate an online meeting? This is crucial. You need it to be seamless. There’s nothing worse than having to stop the conversation, figure out how to launch a meeting, send an invite, wait while your prospect downloads some software—and then runs into problems. You lose momentum, and your prospect loses interest. Plus, you get frazzled and all your best thinking evaporates into thin air.

Does it have the capabilities you need? When you start out, screen sharing might be all you need. But as you get more proficient you’ll want video capabilities. This makes you more real” to prospects, increases engagement, deepens relationships and drives more sales.

Be sure to check how easy it is to switch between the key documents, demos, or presentations that you want prospects to remember. Also, advanced users may want to highlight certain areas, swap presenters, record meetings and create presentations “on the fly” via new online whiteboarding.

What’s most important is that you select the right online meeting tool for your needs—and that it’s a no-brainer for both you and your prospect.

7. GET REALLY GOOD AT IT

Whether scheduled or impromptu, running a flawless meeting is a skill that needs to be learned. While it may be simple to do, when you’re talking to an interested prospect on the phone it’s easy to flub things up. That’s the last thing you want to happen.

Instead, you want to come across as the true professional you are.

Here’s how you can prep for the maximum impact:

Set the stage. Sloppy desktops make you look disorganized, so get yours cleaned up. Shut down any pop-up messaging too. Or, if your tool allows, select the window-sharing option in addition to full screen sharing.

Know what’s in your virtual briefcase. Being able to quickly locate the exact document, image, PowerPoint slide or resource reflects on your professionalism.

For video meetings, it’s crucial to have appropriate surroundings, de-cluttered workspaces and good lighting. Make sure your webcam mic is clear enough; otherwise, get a headset. Put your computer at eye level so you’re looking directly at the camera. Maintaining eye contact is essential for relationship building.

Do mock meetings with your colleagues. Practice logging on, sending an invite, doing a demo, passing the presenter role and re-taking control. Once you’re proficient, have a colleague role-play someone who’s new to online meetings—like a potential customer. That way you’ll be prepared for that scenario too.

Remember, your prospects judge your competence in every interaction. This is one more opportunity to prove you’re an invaluable resource.

8. FINALISE NEXT STEPS

So now you have zeroed in on business value. You’ve asked great questions. Your prospect is highly engaged. In fact, they’re oohing and aahing about what you’ve covered. It feels like you’ve nailed it.

But have you? It’s easy to get seduced at this point—especially if prospects start asking you all sorts of detailed questions. Sometimes it’s good to put the brakes on to find out what’s really happening.

Try asking, “It sounds like you’re really interested in changing. Help me understand the business case from your perspective.”

If they can clearly articulate it, find out what the next steps are to move the decision forward. Who else needs to be involved? What criteria needs to be considered? How will it be implemented? Or, suggest what you see typically happening: “Based on my experience

working with other companies, the next step is …”

If your prospect can’t articulate the business value, you’ll need to spend more time here. Again, suggest a logical next step: “Usually, at this point, we need to (engage other individuals, do more research, etc.) to determine if it makes sense to move ahead. Let’s get that on the calendar.”

Don’t leave an online meeting without a clear action step. Know what you’re doing next and get commitment from your prospect regarding their responsibilities.

9. TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

How can you get even better leveraging impromptu online meetings? It’s great to be able to quickly jump online with a prospect, but it’s even better when you move from proficiency into mastery. Many service providers today offer the ability to record your meetings—and it’s definitely something you’ll want to take advantage of.

Initially, when you replay your meeting, you’ll find all sorts of personal flaws that will drive you nuts. You’ll hate your voice. You’ll notice every mistake. You’ll realize you weren’t looking at the camera. Note all these and work on getting better.

But then, go deeper. Ask yourself questions like:

• If you were a prospect, how would you feel?
• How was the overall flow? Did it make sense?
• Did you focus on value or get lost in the details?
• Were you able to advance the sales process? If not, what happened?
• Did you miss any important points?
• How else could you have created a better experience?

It’s a good idea to review the recording by yourself first. But that’s not sufficient if you want to really master this tool. If possible, get feedback from your colleagues or boss. Peer coaching is one of the best ways to make giant leaps in performance. Mastery is possible, especially when you get input from others.

THE KNACK OF NAILING IT

There’s great triumph in nailing an online meeting. Striking while the iron is hot enables you to quickly capitalise on an opportunity and moves you one step closer to closing the deal. It sets you apart from competitors, deepens credibility, crystallises value and builds relationships. It can even create new opportunities that didn’t exist before you said:

“Do you have a few minutes? How about we jump onto a quick online meeting?”

As we’ve shown, the key to successful impromptu online meetings is being planful and prepared— strategic spontaneity. That’s what sales agility is all about.

Start by picking just one scenario where an online meeting could add value to your sales process. Then, review the suggestions in this article, and get going. You’ll get better as you experiment with this tool. You’ll have richer interactions, greater connections and even more opportunities. Before long, you’ll be nailing it all the time too.

The post 9 Strategies To Improve Online Sales Meetings And Close More Deals appeared first on Head Of Sales.

So how can you ensure it’s a success? By studying and replicating what top sellers are doing. To start, top sellers spend lots of time preparing for this critical first meeting. They research their prospects in depth. Then, they scrutinise the research looking for ways that they can add value with their products or services.

Here are three critical reasons why most sellers don’t ever make it past the first meeting:
1. They don’t invest enough time preparing for the meeting.
2. They don’t understand the components of an effective initial sales meeting.
3. They focus on their own offering—not the prospective customer’s business needs.

For these reasons, prospective buyers will respond in the following ways:

“Thanks for your time; if we ever need one we’ll give you a call.”
“We’ll think about it and get back to you.”
“It’s not exactly what we were looking for.”

What steps are necessary to pass the first test with an important account and get invited back for a second meeting?

STEP 1 – CONDUCT PRE-MEETING RESEARCH

Prior to meeting with a prospect, it’s critical to invest time understanding their business. Start your information gathering and planning early enough to give you time to create an effective meeting plan.

Start by checking out their website. Look at the “about” section; that’s where companies list important announcements and post financial results. Read the company’s annual report to identify where they’re headed and what their future priorities are. Do an online search for recent articles about them in the press.

Then, go to LinkedIn to find out about the people you’re meeting with. What are they responsible for? Do you have any connections, interests or groups in common? Look for other people you can meet with too; you never want one person to be your sole lifeline for a sales opportunity.

If the person you’re meeting with contacted your company, check out what they’ve done on your website. Did they download any special reports, watch any videos, etc.? Use this context to plan your approach.

Here are seven things to look for while you’re doing research. They’ll help you understand your prospect’s business better.

Primary business: What industry are they in and how do they help their customers?

Business unit/division: How is the company divided? What is the role of each division? Where’s the best fit?

Market segment: Who is their target audience? What characteristics make up their ideal customer profile?

Financial position: Are they growing or shrinking? Borrowing money or cash rich?

Their customers: Who are some of their customers and what are their success stories?

Key strategic initiatives: What specific objectives are they trying to achieve?

Industry trends: What is the growth pattern in the industry? How are the buying patterns changing?

STEP 2 – DETERMINE YOUR POSITIONING

After completing your research, identify where you might have a positive impact on your targeted company. While it’s tempting to say that there’s no way to know until you have a conversation, that’s not the way it works anymore.

Today’s busy, savvy and well-educated buyers expect you to have some idea of the difference you can make prior to meeting with them. And, while you can’t know the specifics of how you can help them, by doing the research you’ll have some good ideas.

The key is to leverage what you know from working with similar companies to set the stage for your conversation and your questions. You need to bring fresh ideas, insights and information to the meeting. When you do, your prospects will be more than willing to do a needs assessment with you. But they need to know you’ve invested time learning about them before they open up to you.

Based on your research of your prospect’s organisation as well as similar companies, think about these questions:

• How are they handling things today without your product or service? What is their status quo?
• What kinds of problems or challenges might they be facing because of how they’re currently doing things?
• Because of their current status quo, what gaps might exist between where they are today versus where they want to be?
• Looking at the problems, challenges or gaps that may be present, what are the potential business implications? (This is important!)
• If this company used your products or services, what business value would they realize? (At this point, it’s a guess. But, if you’ve done your homework you should have some ideas.)
• What difference could your product or service make? (Net it out to the best of your ability, making sure you’re focused on key business drivers that your prospect is measured on.)

STEP 3 – PLAN YOUR QUESTIONS

Good questions are one of the best ways to demonstrate that you’re committed to helping your prospect achieve their goals. They show you care about them, which is important because most people think sellers only care about their commissions.

You’ll want to ask questions that:

• Uncover info about your prospect’s objectives as well as the status quo relevant to your product/services.
• Identify (or confirm) issues, problems, difficulties and obstacles they’re facing that would prevent them from achieving their goals.
• Determine the business ramifications of these challenges.
• Explore the business case for making a change

STEP 4 – DEFINE THE MEETING OUTCOME

As a result of this meeting, what is the logical next step? Research into sales success shows that if you’ve defined an appropriate desired outcome prior to the sales meeting, you’re much more likely to achieve it.

While you might want to walk away with a signed contract, the likelihood of this happening from just one meeting is slim to none. So don’t set yourself up for failure; plan on having multiple conversations from the beginning.

Think process. Today’s buyers don’t make snap purchase decisions. First they need to determine if it’s even worth the effort to change from what they’re currently doing. They’ll likely involve multiple people in this discussion. And, unless it makes good business sense, they’ll stay with the status quo.

Once people decide to change, they need to look at multiple options to ensure they make the right decision.

Use your typical buyer’s journey as a guideline for determining the appropriate and best outcome for your meeting. Here are some “next steps” that you could suggest:

• Meeting with another person involved in the buying process.
• Analysis of a specific situation or problem.
• Demonstration of your product or service.
• Proposal with your recommendations.

STEP 5 – PLAN THE MEETING AGENDA

Good meetings focus on your buyers and what’s most important to them—not your product, service or solution.

The following meeting agenda works well for both in-person or phone conversations. Thinking about what you’ll do ahead of time matters. It gets you clear on where you’re headed. It ensures that you stay on plan and on message, which is exactly what it takes to advance to the next step.

Strangely enough, it also enables you to be more flexible during the meeting. You can be curious about new information you learn, without losing track of where you’re ultimately headed.

Use this sample agenda as a guideline, not an absolute. The timeframes below assume a one-hour meeting.

(1) OPEN THE CONVERSATION (5-10 MINUTES)

Buyers don’t have a lot of time for meaningless chitchat and relationship building these days. Be cordial and friendly, but business-focused at all times.

Make the introductions

Take a few minutes to learn about the responsibilities of the people in the meeting. If others are present, make sure to introduce yourself and learn their names. Find out why they’re attending and what interests they have relative to the business issue.

Confirm times and agenda

Before you get started, double check to see if times have changed since you set up the meeting. If your prospect has to run into an urgent meeting in 30 minutes, you need to adjust your game plan or reschedule for a future time. Reconfirm the purpose of the meeting also to ensure there are no misunderstandings. You might say, “As I explained earlier, we work with high tech firms to increase brand awareness and drive sales. In our time together today, I’d like to give you a little background on how we address these issues, find out what your company is doing in these areas and see if we have grounds for further discussions. How does that sound?” Notice the professionalism and leadership in this overview. It shows that you have a clear plan for the meeting. Buyers feel better immediately; they know their precious time won’t be wasted.

(2) LEAD THE DISCUSSION (40-45 MINUTES)

You want to create a dialogue—not make a pitch. Lay the groundwork by sharing information of high interest to your prospects. Then invite them into a discussion by asking questions that make them think.

Set the stage (5 minutes)

Your prospects will need more grounding about what your company does than the brief one-sentence description given above. When you arranged the meeting, something you said was enticing to this person.

Now is the opportune time to give a brief overview of the business results a specific client achieved with your product, service or solution. Explain the challenge your customer faced, how you helped them, and the results they achieved. Also share your position statement—your insightful ideas on how you can make a positive impact on their business.

Transition to questions (less than 1 minute)

As quickly as you can, shift the focus to your prospect—where it belongs. To do this, simply say, “That should give you a good overview about how we help our customers solve their problems (or achieve their objectives). The most important thing is to find out if this makes sense for your company. In preparing for today’s meeting, I noticed that (insert data re: company’s direction, trigger event, other info uncovered in research). I was wondering how …” Unless you plan your transition, it’s sometimes hard to stop talking—especially if your prospect is goading you on with questions about your product or service. Please realize that this most likely means they’re trying to rule you out. That’s why you need to lead the conversation and why effective transitions are so crucial.

Focus on business issues (35-40 minutes)

Prior to the meeting develop a minimum of ten insightful, powerful questions you can use to lead a business-focused discussion. Decision makers are always interested in talking about their business.

They wouldn’t be taking time to meet with you unless they truly wanted help solving their problems or achieving their goals.

Have the questions handy so you can refer to them. Your prospect will be impressed by how well you’ve prepared for the meeting. But don’t give them the list of questions or they’ll just rattle off the answers.

Ask your questions in a conversational manner—not like a schoolteacher giving an oral test. Questions build relationships, establish rapport, demonstrate your competence and show that you care.

Remember, this is a discussion—not a sales pitch. Listen to their answers. Be interested. Learn as much as you can. Take copious notes of everything that’s said —not just the parts you find interesting.

Always LEAN BACK. The moment you move forward, you’re pitching. The discussion is over and the push is on. Your prospect immediately puts up defensive barriers and raises objections. Getting the sale is going to be infinitely harder unless you immediately recover and get back into the discovery mode.

(3) ADVANCE THE PROCESS (5 – 10 MINUTES)

When you focus on questions, your one-hour meeting flies by. Even if your prospect seems oblivious to the time, it’s important not to overstay your welcome. Draw attention to the clock. See if you’re invited to stay longer. If not, it’s time to wrap up and advance to the logical next step.

Summarise your understanding

Since it usually takes multiple sales meetings to close a deal, don’t try to share everything you know, ask every question you want answered or hand out every piece of collateral in your briefcase at the initial meeting.

Instead, show your professional expertise by summarizing what you learned about their critical business issues and the value of resolving them.

Do not, under any circumstances, get into a discussion about your product or service. This will be the hardest thing in the whole world for you to do, but it’s essential. Remember, buyers don’t really care about your offering—only what it can do for them. They also realize that in a short one-hour meeting, you can’t possibly offer them a well thought out solution. They don’t expect one.

Suggest the logical next step

Then, without making a big deal of it, simply recommend a good option to move the process forward. This is the logical next step you were working toward from the onset.

You might say, “Usually when I work with companies on product introductions, the next step is to have a conversation with the product manager to get a better understanding of the launch plans already in place and where gaps might exist. Can we get a meeting set up with this person in the next couple weeks?”

If you’ve had a good discussion, it’s highly likely that your prospect will have already suggested a next step. If so, great! Get it on the calendar.

If your prospect missed an important step, offer it up as another idea: “Ms. Biggie, I’ll get going on your recommendation right away. Also, based on my experience, we need to talk with the IT department as well. Can we get that set up, too?”

Ending meetings like this advances the sales process to its next logical step. It’s honest and full of integrity. It’s just simply suggesting the next logical thing that you both need to do to determine if your offering is a good fit for their business.

The post 5 Steps To Master Sales Meetings appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Here are 17 sales truths and why understanding each one helps you win more deals.

(1) Everyone is overwhelmed. 

Focus only on what’s relevant, actionable and valuable to your prospect. Minimize complexity. 

(2) Your prospects are pretty OK with what they’re doing now.

If they weren’t, they’d have already changed. Your  job is to help them see why it’s worth doing things differently. 

(3) Prospects don’t like change. 

Crazy-busy people don’t want MORE work. Help them envision how your solution will get them to their goals with greater ease. 

(4) It’s your responsibility to pique curiosity. 

Experiment with creative ways to get people to say, “Hmm. That’s interesting. I’d like to learn more.”

(5) Your ideal prospects have a lot in common. 

Leverage what you already know about your customers to ask better questions, deepen conversations and establish credibility. 

(6) Prospects want to deal with experts. 

Demonstrate familiarity with your prospects’ business, processes, industry, issues and challenges to set yourself apart from the competition. 

(7) Assume responsibility when you fail. 

If your prospects buy from another vendor or decide to do nothing, analyse what you could have done differently. If you don’t learn from your mistakes you’re guaranteed to repeat them. 

(8) 50% of your forecasted deals won’t close. 

(That’s about average.) To exceed your goals, ruthlessly inspect your pipeline to eliminate “hope” and fix lurking deal killers. Clear out “dud” opportunities to make room for real ones. 

(9) Prospects act in their own self interest. 

If they can’t see how they will win by making a change, they won’t take the risk. Ask them how they’re evaluated. Explore how your product/service helps them achieve their goals. 

(10) Prospects will struggle to get buy-in. 

Arm them with the tools they’ll need. Prep them about the common obstacles. Help them facilitate change conversations with internal stakeholders. 

(11) You’ll hit the world’s worst traffic snarl on your way to a big meeting. 

Give yourself ample (2x) time to arrive stress-free. Get there early. Review your strategy. It’s the only way to be at the top of your game.

(12) Technology will fail. 

Have Plan B ready to go. Have handouts to support presentations. Prepare to jump on a white board to facilitate a conversation … Hey! That might even be a better idea in the first place!

(13) People will use devices during meetings. 

Think about how you’ll get them so engaged that they won’t want to. 

(14) Buyers won’t remember anything. 

After a phone or in-person conversation, follow up with a summary of key points and next steps. Take the burden off of them. 

(15) Your top accounts are at-risk. 

Bring fresh ideas, insights and information to help your customers achieve their goals. It’s the single best way to keep your competitors at bay. 

(16) Buyers don’t know how to buy. 

Review typical hurdles your customers had to overcome at each phase of their buying process. Ask how “similar” decisions were made—from concept to signed contract. 

(17) Your contact will leave the company, get downsized or go on an unexpected medical leave. 

To protect yourself from a shake-up, make sure you have multiple relationships in an account. Never leave your future in the hands of one person.

The post 17 Truths Sales Professionals Need To Accept To Win More Deals appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Customer-attracting elevator speeches must convey TWO main ideas. They must specifically define your target customer. AND, they must help prospective customers understand the value they can receive from your product or service.

Follow these guidelines to create your personal elevator speech.

Talk Results, Not Products or Process

Customers don’t care what you do. They don’t care how you do it. But they do care deeply about their business. They’ll be extremely interested if you can do things such as:

● Solve a pressing problem.

● Improve operational efficiency.

● Eliminate bottlenecks.

● Increase sales or cut costs.

● Enhance customer loyalty.

● Open new markets.

This is the most important thing to remember as you develop your own elevator speech. Focus on what the customer gets – the outcomes – not on what you do.

Make Sure It’s Conversational

An elevator speech is not an ad or a slogan or a tagline, so avoid words you wouldn’t normally use if you were talking to people. You don’t need to sound “catchy.” Remember, when you’re talking to people you use lots of contractions. You don’t say “are not”, you say “aren’t” in everyday conversation.

Choose the simplest words possible for your elevator speech. “Use” is better than “utilise.” “Get” is better than “obtain.” “Turn” is better than “transform.” These are the words you use (not utilise) when you’re talking to someone. Also, I recommend using 8th grade language to ensure your elevator speech is understandable to all. Don’t use acronyms, impressive-sounding words or complex descriptions unless your target market is people who know the meaning of everything you say.

Strive for Repeatability

If your elevator speech is easy for you to say over and over again, then you have it right. Plus, those who hear it can easily repeat it when you’re not around – spreading your message to others who may benefit from what you offer.

Developing Your Elevator Speech

Crafting your elevator speech is a challenging exercise. It may take you months to achieve the clarity and simplicity that you want in this marketing message. The key to coming up with a great one is this – create the best elevator speech you can right away, practice it, and then use it. When you see how people respond, refine it over and over again till you are confident that it’s clear and that it will attract just the right customers to you.

Every word you use in your elevator speech is critical. Your prospective customer either understands what you do or he doesn’t. She’ll be interested in learning more about your offering or she won’t. That’s why finding the right words is so important.

Getting Started

This is probably the hardest part for many people. If you’re an entrepreneur, independent professional or small business owner, what you do is closely attached to who you are as a person.

Lots of soul-searching may be needed to clarify the true value you bring to your customers.

If you work as a salesperson for an established firm, your management may have already told you what your “elevator pitch” is and they expect you to follow the company line.

However, most companies have messages full of words that either convey no value to customers or are discarded as self-promoting puffery. No one in today’s market puts any credence in words like “best” or “state-of-the-art.” Your challenge is to find the real value in your offering.

How can you find out what customers think your biggest value is? There’s only one way. You have to ask. I strongly recommend interviewing:

● People who you’ve worked with before.

● Users of your products, services or solutions.

● Other consultants and independent professionals who know your strengths.

Explore with them the value you, your products or your services bring to their business. Ask questions such as:

● From your perspective, what difference did my product/service make for your business?

● In what ways could you quantify the value of my solution?

● What were the primary problems, difficulties, bottlenecks or challenges that my offering solved for you?

● Can you explain to me the business implications and ramifications of these problems?

Whatever answers you get, explore them in greater depth. Aren’t you curious about the impact of your products and services? I always am. It’s always interesting and incredibly valuable to get a perspective that’s different from your own

Step 1: Specify your target market.

Be clear and explicit in your target market definition.

For example:

● Government

● Human resource departments

● Manufacturing plants

Step 2: Write down the problems/challenges faced by your target market and solvable by your product or service.

These are common problems and challenges faced by many organisations today.

For example:

● Inefficient processes

● Employee turnover

● Customer turnover

● Declining profitability

● Increased competition

● Lack of innovation

● Bottlenecks in workflow

Step 3: Describe how your target market “feels” about these problems or challenges.

A compelling elevator speech has an emotional component. It appeals to the heart of the prospective buyer. Here are some highly effective words you might want to use in your elevator speech.

For example:

● Struggling

● Concerned

● Frustrated

● Having trouble

● Constrained

● Difficulties

Step 4: State the results or outcomes your customers get from using your product or service.

Remember, people don’t care about your product, what you can do or how you do it. They’re only concerned about what’s in it for them. How can you help your customers improve their business? That’s what’s important. Know what they want to achieve! Use them to trigger ideas for your own elevator speech.

For example:

● Increase cash flow

● Increase customers

● Acquire profitable customers

● Decrease turnover

● Stimulate new business opportunities

● Improve customer loyalty

Notice how each of these results starts with a word that shows movement. As an outcome of working with you, bad or costly things are reduced, eliminated or minimized. Conversely, outcomes people want are improved, enhanced or ensured. That’s what’s in it for your customer.

That’s what they want to hear. And, the more specific you can be the better. How much can you reduce turnover? What percentage of improvement did your customers receive? Telling people a range is fine – no one expects their company to achieve exactly the same outcomes as other businesses.

Step 5: Refine your lists.

Your next step is to review all the problems and challenges you identified in Step 3. As you look over all the ideas you wrote down, try to determine which are the most appropriate and relevant to what you can do for your customers. Pick out 2 or 3 to start with.

Next, look at your list of words that describe how your targeted customers feel about these problems and issues. Which two words are most descriptive of how your ideal prospect feels?

Finally, review your benefits. From your customer’s perspective, which are most important and compelling? Again, pick out 2-3 that you can try out in your first elevator speech.

The Problem-Centered Elevator Speech

Research into sales success shows that customers respond much more to problem-centered approaches than to benefit-oriented ones. Why? Problems usually have top-of-mind awareness.

No one likes to deal with aggravations, frustrations, major issues and bottlenecks. These things can cause massive headaches and people want to get rid of their headaches as quickly as they can.

Here’s the formula to use for creating a problem-centered elevator speech:

I/we work with (insert target market)

… who are (insert feeling word)

… with (insert problem/issue you solve).

Example

Before: I’m a sales development specialist.

After: I work with small-to-medium sized manufacturing companies who are struggling with unpredictable revenue streams and profitable growth.

As you can see, the “After” versions clearly identify the target market, the feelings prospective customers are likely to experience, and the problems or issues that have caused them to feel this way.

The Benefit-Centered Elevator Speech

These elevator speeches are focused on what customers want to achieve. Sometimes it’s their personal dreams. Or, it could be specific business goals. But it’s out there in the future and your customers haven’t arrived at their destination yet. There’s a gap between their current reality and their desired future state.

Here’s the formula to use for creating benefit-centered elevator speeches:

I/we work with /help (target market)

… who want to (describe what your customers want).

Example

Before: I’m a mortgage broker.

After: I help first-time home buyers get financing for the home of their dreams.

As you can see from these sample elevator speeches, the focus is on the future – a highly desirable

Final Thoughts

Being able to describe your product or service offering in a manner that everyone understands is one of the most important marketing skills you need to master. It takes time and effort to work through the many iterations that you’ll try before you arrive at one that works like a charm. But the challenge is worth it. Enticing is good!

Just think how you’ll feel the next time someone asks, “What do you do?” Your heart won’t beat rapidly in your chest as you stumble and bumble through your clumsy, poorly worded, nonappealing elevator pitch.

Instead you’ll look at your prospective customer with a winning smile on your face and very confidently say, “I help small businesses win big contracts in the corporate market.”

If you missed part 1 – here it is:

An Expert Guide To Elevator Pitch Mastery – Part 1

The post 5 Steps To Create An “Elevator Speech” That Attracts Prospects To You – Part 2 appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Advertising is everywhere – television, radio, road signs, email, banner ads, direct mail, clothing, pens, newspapers and magazines. These pervasive, and often intrusive methods of capturing attention have created a backlash; most people don’t even notice them anymore.

To break through all this marketing clutter, it’s imperative to have an enticing elevator speech that speaks directly to the needs of your customers. And, it has to roll off your tongue easily, naturally and conversationally. Many people intuitively know this, but still struggle with how to respond.

If you’re unsure about the quality of your elevator speech or want to improve it, here’s what you’ll learn in this article:
1. The most common responses to “What do you do?” and why they’re ineffective.
2. How to develop a compelling elevator speech that attracts prospective customers.
3. How to fine-tune the delivery of your elevator speech.
4. Different ways to use your elevator speech to market your product or service.

Developing a clear and compelling elevator speech helps you attract more of your ideal
customers and gives you enhanced clarity about the work you do. Plus, if you repeat it often enough, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’ll become even more of what you want to be.

Classic Elevator Speeches

Let’s take a look at the classic elevator speeches people give to the “What do you do?” question. This will help you understand why you may not be attracting as many customers as you’d like.

The Minimiser

Most people are Minimisers. They position themselves by either their title or by their products/services. Minimisers’ elevator speeches are brief and factual. Knowing their elevator speech needs to be short, they give the most concise response possible. They really dislike “puffery” and bragging too.
Here are some common Minimiser responses to the big question:
● “I sell software.”
● “I’m a consultant.”
● “I’m a mortgage broker.”
● “I’m self-employed.”
What’s wrong with the Minimiser’s elevator speech? When you lead with your title, most people immediately assume they know what you do. As a consequence, they’re typically not too interested in learning more. Plus, many jobs have really negative connotations.

For example, you wouldn’t believe how many people DON’T like consultants. It doesn’t matter if I’m the best in the world, charge reasonable rates and consistently deliver extraordinary results. At least 50% of people think consultants are overpaid for what they do or that they’re laid-off employees trying to earn some quick money while they look for another position.

Perception is everything. It doesn’t matter if what people think is true or not – they still believe it.

And if that’s the case, the last thing you want to do in your elevator speech is turn off half the people out there. When you position yourself by the products or services you sell, you immediately put yourself into the same category as your competitors. How many other web designers are there? How about printing salespeople? Marketing communications companies? IT specialists?

Placing yourself in the same category as your biggest competitors makes you a commodity. If someone needs what you do, they immediately want to know how much you charge or what your price is. No matter what you say, you’re in trouble! Buyers automatically compare your price tag to other suppliers – even though they don’t know why you may be a better value, more productive or more capable.

The Rambler

Much as I dearly love most Ramblers, they do drive me (and most everyone else) crazy. As you can imagine, Ramblers babble on-and-on, seemingly unaware of their affect on prospective buyers.

Based on my observations, there are two types of Ramblers.

Floundering-For-My-Niche Ramblers
These Ramblers lack a clear target market and value proposition. In response to the “What do you do?” question, their elevator speech usually sounds like this:
“I do a lot of things. I’ve done lots of sales training in the past. But lately lots of my customers have been asking me to do facilitation. I’m really good at helping companies launch new products.
“Sometimes I write their marketing copy; sometimes I do PR. It really doesn’t matter. I like doing both – and I’m good at both. I’m doing this neat project right now for a client – it’s mapping the various futures for their markets so I’m into strategy development too.”
The floundering Ramblers share everything they can do – hoping that something they say piques your interest. They don’t want to close down any opportunity to generate revenue. Unfortunately, their elevator speech has just the opposite affect. People much prefer to work with specialists. Also, what these Ramblers don’t know is that their elevator speech projects a sense of desperation and ‘lost-ness’ that’s unattractive to most all buyers.

I-Love-My-Subject Ramblers
Ask these Ramblers what they do and you’ll wish you never had. Typically they’re highly involved with their products or processes –and really love them. When they start talking, they don’t want to stop.

Here’s how their elevator speech might sound:
“We do process re-engineering with the various department, divisions, business units and
subsidiaries from organizations as well as the numerous contractors that provide products and services that go into the development of your own branded and unbranded products. We initially start by doing a comprehensive assessment of the multiple groups involved in the process, covering questions such as …”

Boring! While these Ramblers are certainly specialists, they say so much that you don’t know what’s important or relevant in their elevator speech. And the last thing you want to do is ask them another question because they may bore you to tears.

Here’s how their elevator speech might sound:
“We do process re-engineering with the various department, divisions, business units and
subsidiaries from organizations as well as the numerous contractors that provide products and services that go into the development of your own branded and unbranded products. We initially start by doing a comprehensive assessment of the multiple groups involved in the process, covering questions such as …”

Boring! While these Ramblers are certainly specialists, they say so much that you don’t know what’s important or relevant in their elevator speech. And the last thing you want to do is ask them another question because they may bore you to tears.

The trouble with the Impresser’s elevator speech is that it’s off-putting. Most people don’t like the implications of intellectual superiority or elitism. They’re intimidated by the big words and won’t ask questions that might make them look stupid. Again, another elevator speech that doesn’t deliver results.

The Attractor

The Attractor’s elevator speech is magnetic to the right listeners because it’s focused on their needs, issues and concerns. Here are several examples:
● “I work with people who are struggling to sell their products or services into large corporate accounts.”
● “I help small businesses win big contracts with large corporate customers.”
● “I help technology companies who struggle launching important new products into the market and want to improve their time-to-profitability.”

These are some of the different elevator speeches I have used. Each one of them has been successful for me. They all invite and stimulate further discussion – which is exactly what I want!

Publisher’s note:

Part 2 – Attracting More Customers (published June 16) – will help you become an Attractor with an enticing elevator speech that puts you in front of the right people who are most interested in what you offer.

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The post An Expert Guide To Elevator Pitch Mastery – Part 1 appeared first on Head Of Sales.