Do you have healthy sales habits that enable you to close large deals? When you adopt the right sales approach, you’ll increase your client base and build long-term relationships that enable you to consistently achieve and exceed your quota. Check out these six habits the best sellers have. Adopt them, and you’ll soon be closing larger deals, too. First and foremost, your prospects need to trust that you understand their business and can offer impactful solutions that help them address their biggest challenges. Prospects need to trust that you’re working with them to reach their business goals. So, how do you build trust or positive business intent with your customer?Habits of Sellers Who Close Large Deals
1. They Quickly Build Relationships Based on Trust.
- Execute effective discovery. It’s difficult to demonstrate positive business intent if you don’t understand your customer’s business. The only way you can do that is by executing an effective discovery session that helps you determine the customer’s required capabilities, positive business outcomes and success metrics.
- Provide testimonials. The best way to demonstrate the benefits of working with your company is to provide testimonials from current or past clients. These first-hand reviews can back up your claims of success and provide support that you can deliver what you say you can deliver.
- Bring in resources when it makes sense. A well-defined sales process should indicate when and where you can leverage your company’s various resources. If your company doesn’t have that defined for you, have your head of sales call us. All kidding aside, determine who you can bring in at the right time to provide expertise when it matters most. Does your customer have specific requirements with installation around their CRM? Perhaps you bring in a technology expert to talk through the implementation process. Display the resources your clients will have at their disposal and demonstrate that your entire company is focused on client success.
- Define success metrics. Hold your company and your customer accountable throughout the implementation process by defining success measures at the beginning of the sales process. How will you measure the success of this initiative? What are the key benchmarks you’re trying to reach with this solution? Secure agreement from the key players within your customer’s organization, and hold both your company and your customers accountable for these metrics.
- Be upfront about potential problems. Is a potential client not the right fit for the product or service that you’re selling to them? If not, articulate why. When you’re not forcing a solution, you’re not wasting time on deals that won’t happen and you can spend time finding a problem you can effectively solve. If you’re customer-focused, your prospects will be able to trust that you’re working for them, not against them.
2. They Ensure They’re Working with Qualified Leads.
Budget, need, timeline, and authority are four key aspects of the lead qualifying process that should be defined and evaluated. Assess your prospects based on these features, making sure to ask yourself:
- Does this client’s budget align with our services or products?
- Do they have a need for our solutions, and is that need one with significant business impact?
- Is there a compelling reason for the buyer to take action?
- Am I talking to someone with decision-making authority, and if not, who should I be speaking with?
For sellers that close large deals, answering these questions is vital to building a successful sales process. It’s better to move on from a prospect you’ve been talking to than to waste time on deals that will never happen.
3. They Listen to and Address the Prospect’s Pains.
Deals are won and lost on effective discovery. Top salespeople first uncover compelling business pains and the implications of that problem on their prospect’s business. Then, they determine who owns that problem, and how your solution can resolve the issue.
The best salespeople go into the sales process with curiosity. They identify where the urgency and need for an immediate solution to the problem exists. As we said earlier, effective discovery allows you to build trust, but it also helps yo sell more, faster. The best way to shorten your sales cycle is to uncover a problem that can’t go one more day without being fixed. Few prospects will care about your solution, unless it helps them solve a problem. [Dig Deeper on Improving You Listening Skills]
4. They Stay Visible.
Not every prospect is ready to sign on the dotted line today. However, top salespeople stay top of mind with their prospects. It minimizes the need to cold call and ensures you are staying on your prospect’s radar.
There’s no better way to stay engaged with your prospects than to share digital content and insights with them. If you meet someone at a conference and exchange business cards, you’ve made a successful first connection with them. However, if you take the card, put it in your wallet, and never reach out, you haven’t done anything to develop that connection.
It’s the same with digital engagement. If you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you have a way to reach that person in the future. However, you have to take steps to build a relationship and engage with the prospect. Stay visible with your buyer by sharing information that points to the business problems your solution solves. When you share value, you build legitimacy with your digitally savvy buyers.
5. They Can Articulate the Value of Their Service or Product.
Great sellers know that the value they provide clients extends beyond the service or product they offer. It’s about creating, capturing, and communicating value. Demonstrating the value of a partnership enables you to command higher prices and close larger deals.
In conversation with a prospect, top salespeople can easily articulate the value and differentiation of their product or services. They can answer the following questions, in a way that has meaning to the buyer.
- What problems can your solution solve?
- How exactly do you solve these problems?
- How you do it differently than the competition?
- What’s your proof?
6. They Respond Rapidly to the Buyer.
Experienced sellers are highly communicative and quick to respond to prospects. In fact, prospects often go with the first company they contact. If they don’t hear from you, they could easily turn to your competition to meet their need.
Being a trusted advisor requires that you are responsive to your customers. You may think waiting a day to respond is no big deal, especially if you have an established relationship. But, it can be significant if your competitor responds in half the time. Never let a competitor out-work your responsiveness.
Win More, Win Bigger
Closing large deals doesn’t have to be hard. You just need to adopt the habits that seasoned sellers display. When you do, you’ll not only close large deals, but you’ll build lucrative, long-term partnerships with your clients.
Do you want more tips from B2B sales pros? Learn more about Ascender by Force Management. Content, Curriculum, Community.
