An engaging sales pitch is an art: you need to inform and educate the consumer while creating a need for your product. In order to be successful in this industry, salespeople require charisma, stamina, and active listening skills. A background in psychology doesn’t hurt either.
Built In asked three salespeople about the unique tactics they use to connect with clients and differentiate themselves from their competitors. Spoiler: Sometimes it pays to say, “namaste.”
Redgate Software makes high-level software easy to use for companies, including 91 percent of the businesses in the Fortune 100. If Redgate Software is easy to use, does that make it easy to sell? Enterprise Account Executive Josh Rodriguez shares how he connects with clients.
What sales tactics have you learned since joining your team that has had a major impact on your performance?
If you haven’t had the chance to read “SPIN Selling”, read it. Qualification is extremely important here at Redgate as we sell into a niche market. Asking the right open-ended “problem” questions is crucial in order to better understand the needs of our customers. From asking the right problem questions, we can dive even deeper into the “impact” questions to understand how those problems affect the business. The better the qualification, the better I am able to demonstrate the value of our solutions to C-level stakeholders.
I think we can easily overlook the sales skill of active listening.”
What's another successful tactic that you've used throughout your career that some may find surprising?
I think we can easily overlook the sales skill of active listening. A lot of times when working large enterprise deals, we are listening for the information we want to hear, not necessarily the information we need to hear. That can prevent us from gaining a clear understanding of what stage our deals are at in the sales cycle. Hopefully, through good active listening skills, we can have better leverage in getting our deals to close on time — which I am sure everyone’s sales manager would greatly appreciate!
MediaAlpha knows that the way consumers purchase products is changing. Director of Demand Partnerships Sarah Graves explains which sales tactics she uses to sell new features to existing clients.
What sales tactics have you learned since joining your team that has had a major impact on your performance?
We take a consultative sales approach here at MediaAlpha. We try to understand client needs before we recommend any solution. It's all about educating them on marketing trends. This means we need to be industry knowledge experts. Learning this consultative sales style strengthens our partnership by solving problems instead of just pitching our latest features.
The best sales pitches don't sound like sales pitches.”
What's another successful tactic that you've used throughout your career that some may find surprising?
The best sales pitches don't sound like sales pitches. They are interesting and educational. They tell a story about how our product can bring value. Since we are such a lean team, even our sales team has a deep understanding of the technology and the industries we support. We really get in the weeds when it comes to selling our clients and it pays off when our customers see us as an extension of their team.
Before even speaking with a client, sales requires a mental strategy. For VP of Sales Doug Shankman, that means having a clear head and zen attitude. Here’s how he differentiates CREXi from other commercial real estate competitors:
What sales tactics have you learned since joining CREXi that has had a major impact on your performance?
I am motivated by constantly seeking opportunities to grow as a professional. Deepening my understanding of Activity Based Sales (ABS) and the art of SPIN selling has spearheaded my development. If you understand the activities, you can reverse engineer the success. If you effectively leverage SPIN, a salesperson can lead a prospect to conversions by asking the appropriate probing questions.
Sales, in many ways, is a mental game.”
What's another successful tactic that you've used throughout your career that some may find surprising?
I attribute a lot of my success in sales to being a student of sales psychology and leveraging mindfulness tactics like meditation. Sales, in many ways, is a mental game. In my case, transcendental meditation provides me with a slight edge. I believe that it has allowed me to remain relaxed in high-pressure situations and has enhanced my focus and success.
