Without a conversation, there’s no conversion.
Salespeople have long set their sights on winning the deal. These days, we should really be focused on sparking the dialogue. In a highly competitive and buyer-controlled digital marketplace, reaching the point of engaging in a quality conversation is an accomplishment unto itself. Treating it as such can dramatically improve our ability to earn trust and build relationships.
Think about it: If a seller’s primary goal during outreach is merely to open up a back-and-forth discussion, rather than pitching or prying or prompting in efforts to generate sales momentum, how much does that alter their general approach? And how differently might it shape the perception of someone on the other end?
It’s been suggested that 2020 is the year we see a full shift toward conversational marketing, and the same might be true for selling. The appearance of “conversational commerce” on trends lists for this year reinforces the notion.
As salespeople, we need to talk to prospects and customers, instead of talking at them. Let’s cover some ways to make this crucial transition.
Generating Sales Conversations that Yield Conversions
“I think you really have to assess how you engage with prospects and buyers focusing on the conversation,” said Seismic founder and president Ed Calnan in an interview with Demand Gen Report. “It's more about their business than your technology. We really try to train our teams to think critically about the business objectives that they're going to go discuss with the buyer.”
All sellers likely recognize that listening is a vital skill. But gaining a deeper understanding of business objectives, and developing an empathetic point of view, requires more than listening. It requires understanding, internalizing, and exploring.
These techniques and strategic adjustments can help embed such a mindset on your team.
Harness Data and Come in with a Plan
We talked about the importance of preparation recently, in our discussion of enhancing sales meetings, and it’s relevant here, too. Digging into data and developing a clear understanding of the buyer’s context, background, and business circumstances will pave the way for a smooth conversation that doesn’t get bogged down at the outset.
Said Calnan in his interview: “For B2B sellers to do the right job in truly preparing for a meeting — really researching the business problem and other folks who have solved similar problems in the industry with the same buyer persona — I think it's on those progressive vendors to ensure they are harnessing all of this data to not only give salespeople 360-degree views of the customer, but also help them with next best action. I think that's the key for telling personalized stories.”
Every conversation has a flow. When the salesperson gets a detail wrong or has to ask about something they should already know, it disrupts that flow. Proper preparation helps prevent this.
Thought Leadership Content Can Spark Conversations
Is your sales content designed to sell, or is it designed to initiate thought-provoking conversations?
It’s great if a piece of content you provide compels a prospect to discuss it with you; it’s even better if that content compels them to discuss it with their executives or peers on the buying committee. These are the seeds of influence.
Not long ago, Jon Reed had an excellent writeup at Diginomica on thought leadership content and its role in earning B2B buyer trust. He makes a number of salient points about the heightened importance of thought leadership with buyer journeys growing more complex and customer experience rising to the forefront.
In short: customers want to find value in every interaction with your brand. Delivering impactful thought leadership content that is relevant to them provides value. And being able to take the next step, helping them unpack and connect this insight to their own situations, adds to that value.
Collaborate with your partners in marketing to sharpen your focus on conversation-starting content that enables you to demonstrate your expertise.
The Sales Manager’s Role in Coaching Conversations
Sales leaders can play an active role in developing a culture of conversation. Part of this initiative lies in goal-setting — viewing the conversation as an objective, rather than simply a stepping stone en route to a sale — and part of it lies in coaching.
There may be some disconnects on this front. For example, in her guest post here on strategies to achieve sales quota, ValueSelling Associates CEO Julie Thomas pointed out that 62% of salespeople who aren’t reaching quota say they aren’t taught how to communicate value, while 72% of sales leaders say they are teaching this skill. That’s a pretty essential element of a sales conversation.
One practical solution that’s starting to take hold is a strategic shift from solution selling to insight selling. ZenDesk’s Stephanie Lee posits that this is an emerging priority for sales managers as reps work to cultivate a “trusted advisor” perception. She says innovative training can help move sellers in this direction.
“To offer specialized advice, sales reps must know customers inside and out,” Lee writes. “Hold workshops that teach reps how to ask their customers challenging questions and actively listen to their responses. Have your sales reps shadow customer service to get a better idea of customer problems. Also ensure that metrics are customer-focused in order to avoid reps unnecessarily pushing solutions onto customers.”
Another method to help reps become more conversation-minded is by advocating for the “tactile negotiation strategy” cited by Tyler Menke at SalesHacker in his list of research-backed B2B sales techniques. “Preconceptions often derail the negotiation,” Menke argues. “Get the other party talking. Have them divulge their specific needs, wants, and desires first. Listen, ask questions, listen, then act.”
Embrace Conversational Selling
The basic premise behind “conversational selling” (and maybe just modern selling more broadly) is this: You want to develop a level of trust and rapport prior to engaging in nitty-gritty sales talk. This setup will give greater credibility and impact to everything you offer later. It also supports consistent relationship-building and network growth.
Data, content, and coaching can help get your team aligned on this directive. But step one is simply starting the conversation.
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