In a world full of products and services that are all too similar to someone else’s, how do you make yours stand out? Honestly, there’s no way to make your product or service appear obviously better than something similar. What you can affect, according to Emma Brudner, writing for HubSpot, is the sales experience. The sales rep is the primary differentiator between each sales pitch your prospects sit through.
Using the Sales Experience to Sell Your Product
Qualify Your Leads
In the middle of a pandemic, it can be tempting to make a sales pitch to anyone who is willing to listen. After all, sales meetings are becoming more scarce as people are looking to save money wherever they can. But what happens if you meet with someone who doesn’t fit your customer profile? The products you’re selling probably won’t fit any of their current needs. So, you may end up desperately trying to sell them something they don’t want or need. In short, the sales experience will be atrocious. It will reflect poorly on you and your company, which will deter them from meeting with you again in the future, regardless of your offerings. And, if they post about their experience online, it could negatively affect your reputation and, therefore, sales pipeline going forward.
It’s All About the Prospect
Now, when I say you are the primary differentiator between your product and your competitor’s, that does not mean that you’re what the prospect cares about the most. They still have to look out for themselves and their own interests. They are meeting with you because they want a problem solved or a need fulfilled. So, you need to make the sales experience all about them. Do not center your sales pitch around how wonderful your product is or how you’re one of the top salespeople in the industry. Instead, focus on your prospect’s problems or needs and how exactly your product will fix or fulfill them. That’s what your prospects care about.
Utilizing Psychology
Did you know that there are specific situations that our brains are hardwired to respond to in a certain way? There are quite a few psychological strategies Brudner encourages sales reps to use in order to create a favorable sales experience:
- Rhyme-As-Reason: For some reason, we tend to think of rhyming statements as more true than non-rhyming ones. Taking the time to create rhyming facts about your product or the industry in general can help build trust with your prospects. Rhyming has also been known to make things easier to memorize. For example, you probably know all the words to every song on your favorite album by your favorite band, right? But can you recite all the periodic table of elements? Half the table of elements? Didn’t think so (if you can, you’re a rare breed; good for you!).
- Confirmation Bias: “We are more likely to accept information that aligns with our beliefs than contradictory evidence — no matter how compelling,” says Brudner. If you can align your main takeaways from your presentation with the prospect’s beliefs, they’ll be more likely to agree with you. And who wouldn’t want to work with someone who they share values with?
- Loss Aversion: We already know how to live without something we don’t already have. It’s losing something we currently possess that worries us. That’s why an effective sales strategy is to ask prospects to think about how much the toll on their business will be if they wait to fix their problems. Will they lose something important if they wait too long? Make loss aversion an important part of your pitch.
Reflect Their Personality
If your prospect is clearly someone who cares about fact, figures, and analytics, you’re not going to sway them with a sales pitch centered around creative ideas and visions. To craft an effective sales experience, you need to approach the sale from the same mindset as your prospect. You’ll get a good idea about what their personality type is during your initial cold calls and other interactions. Most people fall into one of four DISC profiles:
- D (Dominant): direct, in control
- I (Influence): social, cares about people
- S (Steady): accommodating, want to be well-liked
- C (Conscientious): analytical perfectionist
Identify and build a pitch around their personality type to best communicate with each prospect. Knowing how best to communicate with someone is one of the most important parts of a good sales experience.
Ask Questions
No matter how much research you do, there is no possible way to know everything about a prospect or their situation. So, you need to ask questions. That way, you’ll know without a doubt what your prospect needs and what they expect from someone they work with. With that information, you will know exactly how to sell the product that will work best for that prospect.