Can you let your customer be in control of the sales call?
Less talking, more listening is a recipe for customer engagement and trust. Once you get a prospect talking freely, you’re much more likely to glean the information you need to take them to the next step.
Not yet convinced? Here are 6 reasons to hand over the reins.
1. How else are you going to know what their need is?
Unless you’re letting them have some control, they’ll never share with you. Only when people are in control will they really share with you what they’re looking for.
2. Flush out bad actors faster.
There are customers who will have conversations with you, and all they’re doing is trying to gather information themselves. Or, they’re too polite to tell you that they’re not interested. I don’t have time for either one of those.
I need to be prepared to flush out the bad actors. So if I can’t get the customer talking to me—sharing genuine needs and concerns—why in the world am I going to continue?
3. Create more value.
Maybe it’s not that we create more value, but rather the customer creates more value for themselves.
When we talk to customers, they believe what we say—at least hopefully they do. However, when they themselves say something, it’s amazing how much more they believe it. The more we get them talking, the more we get them sharing, the more confident they feel, the more they truly believe that we can help them.
We create more value by allowing them to do more talking.
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4. More engaging follow-up.
The sales made in the follow-up. It’s that second, third, fourth, fifth call, and when you share information on this call, I can turn around and repeat it back to you and ask you some questions on the next call. That’s more engaging, because the customer truly believes that you’re linking everything together.
This is something I do continuously in my business. I may have information that you share with me on call number one, and I’m sharing it back with you on call number six, seven, eight.
I set the stage for you to create more value—you the customer.
5. Faster, better close.
By letting the customer drive, I’m not going to waste time going down paths that they’re not interested in. Yes, I’m going to guide the conversation, but I want to first understand where they’re going, and then I’m going to build on that.
I will close faster and I’ll close better. When I say better, I mean I’ll close at a higher price because the customer has more belief in the solution. Remember, customers will invest whatever amount of money as long as they feel they’re going to get a return on their investment.
6. More likely to gain repeat business and referrals.
When the customer feels like they’re in charge, they’re going to feel confident and comfortable. They’re not feeling unease from you, the salesperson, and those are the people who are going to without a doubt share more.
They’re going to refer you to other people, too. You’re going to get repeat business from their own organization. It’s amazing how your business is going to grow.
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Copyright 2024, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
