Sales Is A Conversation

Robert Naini, your Spray Foam Advisor, talks about sales and reminds you that sales is a conversation, a discussion between you and the prospect. You need the early back and forth exchange to learn about the prospect so that you understand them and what they want, then you can develop your follow up presentation specifically for their needs.

Today I want to talk about sales, and I want to get into the fundamental basis of what sales is.

Of course, you know that sales is the process of taking a prospect and converting them to a customer.

But what I really want you to focus on is that sales is a conversation. It is a two-way conversation where you should have a give and take.

There should be some questioning, some interviewing, some understanding.  You want to try to put yourself in the position of your prospect, you want to try to understand their perspective, where they are coming from, and what is the driving force behind their decision-making process.

This is the investigation phase, the opportunity for you to really understand who they are, and why they are doing what they are doing. Most of your time spent in the sales conversation should be understanding who your customer is and what your customer wants, because the worst thing you can do is walk into the sales close and not know what piece of information is going close your customer, why they are buying and what their perceived benefit is.

These are the reasons that are going to get them to say yes and close a deal, and if you do well in the early part of the high trust interview then you can tailor your presentation to that specific prospect.

I’m sure we’ve all made the mistake where we go in to talk to a customer, we go in to a close with our presentation or estimate and we just say the wrong things.

I don’t mean that what you say isn’t true, I mean that what you are saying, what you think is important, is not what the customer thinks is important.

The best example of this in the SPF industry is talking to a builder about energy savings. They don’t care how much energy the building is going to save long term, they don’t care about up-front cost offsets or the impact on the environment.

However, how fast you are going to be able to turn over the structures, how the builder can increase sales, how can they move more buildings faster and how they stay on schedule and on budget – these are the things that the builder cares about. In the early phase, during the high trust interview you need to have a conversation with your prospect to learn about their needs, wants and desires, you figure out how to tailor your estimate and presentation to what your prospect cares about and you will close more business, have more sales, and increase your revenue.