Top 9 Sales Techniques for Closing Deals Faster | Sharp Blog

In today’s fast-paced business world, speed matters. Whether you’re working with warm leads or cold prospects, the ability to close deals efficiently can make a huge difference in achieving your sales targets. Here are 9 useful sales techniques that can help you shorten the sales cycle while setting yourself and your client up for success.

1. Seek first to understand, then be understood

Building trust in your prospect is not only valuable in closing deals, but also a vital part of establishing a healthy, successful, long-term relationship. There are a variety of ways to do this, an effective one being understanding how to ask the right questions and understanding as much about your prospect, their situation, their needs, and their business as you can. The more information and perspective you have, the better you’ll be able to address their pain points and propose an ideal solution. It is easy to get caught up in what you’re trying to sell, but taking the opposite approach will yield better sales and relationships. A personalized approach increases trust and engagement from the start.

2. Understand your product or service

To properly execute sales techniques like the above, it is important for you to know your product or service inside and out. You should be equipped to answer most questions from prospects or have resources available for quick responses during meetings. A well-informed sales team will always be more successful. Having experience in the product or service makes you a better salesperson.

3. Focus on the “Why”

There is likely a reason a prospect is taking time out of their day to speak with you – they have a problem they’d like to solve, or something they’d like to improve. Understanding this pain is important in putting a solution together to relieve or eliminate them, so hone in as much as possible on why they are interested in the project and what it looks like after executing it. Do this by asking questions and getting the prospect to verbalize these things for you.

4. Address Objections Proactively

Do your best to identify common objections in advance and prepare responses. For example, if price is a frequent concern, highlight the return on investment (ROI) or available financing options early in the conversation. Use your expertise to ask questions that get to common issues. This could be project timelines or clarifying expectations and eliminating assumptions. Do not be afraid to ask questions that may feel awkward to ask or bring up challenging areas. This is far more than merely one of a hundred sales techniques… doing so establishes trust versus focusing only on positives or avoiding things that could go wrong. The more you understand about their expectations and the more you address up-front, the more confident everyone will be in the success of the relationship. Honest conversations are invaluable.

5. Have Testimonials or a Portfolio

Showcase case studies, client testimonials, or success stories to demonstrate your product’s value. When prospects see how others have benefited, they generally feel more comfortable moving forward. Depending on your product or service, seeing specific examples of what you’ve done can bolster confidence.

6. Understand Budget & Never Assume

A key part of proposing a solution that is suitable for a prospect is understanding their budget. This can be a challenging topic to dig into, but it is important and could affect what you present. If you’re able to identify a budget or range up-front you can identify whether there actually is a fit, honor the prospect’s time, and factor that into whatever solution you end up proposing. Try to ask the open-ended question versus putting numbers out there yourself. It is very easy to assume what the prospect may or may not be willing to spend – don’t ever do that. If you can’t get anything specific out of the prospect, then you have full reign to propose whatever makes sense based on the rest of your conversation and can revisit this topic once more concrete numbers are in the mix.

7. Offer a Clear Next Step

Always leave every conversation with a clear understanding of where we go from here. This could be as simple as asking “when would it be appropriate for me to follow-up if I don’t hear anything?” or identifying who is communicating what and when each time. No conversation or meeting should end with anyone wondering where things are at.

8. Follow Up Strategically

After clearly identifying at the end of each meeting when it would be appropriate to follow-up, make sure that follow-up happens. Ask the prospect what their preferred method of communication is. Some people don’t like email, or you get buried in their inbox, they may prefer a phone call or text. Make sure you are accommodating the communication style of your primary contact. The key is to be persistent but not annoying.

9. Know When to Walk Away

Sometimes, a lead isn’t ready, or the fit isn’t right, and that’s alright. Knowing when to walk away –which can be challenging – not only saves you time but also leaves the door open for future opportunities. Focus your energy on high-probability deals. Understand that no number of fancy sales techniques can or will guarantee immediate success. Don’t be afraid to close a prospect’s file while leaving the line of communication open should they ever want to revisit the conversation.

Sales can have a negative connotation for a lot of people because of high-pressure tactics and dishonest practices, but it doesn’t have to be that way. If you are truly invested in having a positive relationship with a prospect, providing real value, believe in what you are selling, and want to do good work not only will you be a better salesperson, but you will foster valuable, mutually beneficial, multi-year relationships and increase leads via referrals. By focusing on the prospect’s needs and proposing solutions to problems you’ll set yourself and the prospect up for success, building trust along the way.

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Ready to begin your relationship with Sharp? At Sharp Innovations we pride ourselves on the wonderful, multi-year relationships we’ve built with clients in a wide variety of industries by following this process and continually refining it over our 25+ years serving them.