If several closing techniques exist, the reality is that a closed sale in B2B is often the result of successive commercial steps carried out way before the signature – for example, in a classical way: qualifying and listening to the challenges of the customer, preparing the proposal, presenting the proposal and negotiating it.
Our experience in supporting our customer shows that, for a sales representative, giving himself more possibility to close a deal, is, above all else, to do the 4 following things better:
- Targeting better his effort, because sales moments are precious.
- Preparing better for communications with prospects or customers, to make every interaction a rich and useful moment for both parties.
- Involving the customer at every step of the sales process, to create and maintain an alignment on the nature of the need and the solution for it.
- Anticipating systematically the next sales step, to generate the trust of the customer and avoid leaving the deal in favour of another competitor.
But habits live a hard life and revisiting these practices in not so simple:
- Targeting better one’s effort is especially answering the question “what to do less?” or “when to give up a sales effort when its probability of success is low?”.
- Preparing better for meetings is becoming aware of what else we can bring to our customer at every commercial moment, for example: – When listening to his challenges, by exploring with him the aspects of his need that he had not identified. -When preparing the offer, by suggesting different options. How many proposals, built on a commendable spirit of perfection, actually only leave few options to the customer, whether it is in terms of the product suggested, the implementation or the budget? When facing a single solution, is it not normal to want to negotiate resolutely?
- – During the presentation of the proposal: by helping the client visualising to which point the suggested solution meets its expectations, or surpasses them. Is it not a pity to limit a proposal to the description of products or services and their associated prices? On one hand, the sales representative has so much to say to enhance the reflection carried out beforehand to help his customer and, on the other hand, to highlight the relevance of his proposal.
- Involving the customer more implies increasing opportunities for him to take part in the building of his solution, the one he might purchase at the end of the sales process. Far from making him waste time, it is about helping him ask the right questions and make his contribution so that the offer he will receive will not only be his supplier’s but also the one he has defined himself. The sales representative’s role is to ensure that his customer takes into account certain decisive actions towards this solution. It goes without saying that, in B2B, the customer has “multiple heads” and this work of involving him must be carried out with several individuals.
- Anticipating the next step is resisting to the temptation to think “we will see later, depending on his response”. It is rather about investing a little more time to consider the various outcomes possibles and show the customer that we have already started to think about these. Finally and especially, it is about leaving each meeting with a clear and shared idea of the actions to be taken by the two parties to prepare for the next meeting.
To help our customers progress on those topics, we work together with sales teams and their management. Our commitment can take the form of an individual or collective support, of working on organising the sales process or on facilitating customised trainings.
Our team is at your disposal to discuss with you further
if you wish to improve the effectiveness of your sales representatives.
Contact us at +33 1 40 07 40 40 or +33 4 72 18 96 00.