10 Phone Selling Negotiation Techniques That Will Boost Your Sales

In today’s world, it has become essential for businesses to prioritize their customer’s needs and even try to walk them through the best choices. This is known as inbound sales. So, instead of the traditional and old-fashioned methods involving cold calls and insipid emails that are eventually reported as spams, businesses have come to understand the importance of inbound sales in establishing a trustworthy relationship with prospective buyers. 

Since we execute most transactions online nowadays, the question on how to convert leads into sales is what many businesses are trying to keep up with, through phone calls and e-mails. The chances of converting leads into sales are quite slim and it’s important to face that reality and get to the bottom of it. In this article, we’d be going through 10 phone selling negotiation techniques that will boost your sales.

1. Aim for an Effective Opening

Phone selling negotiations involve speech. It only works by two or more people having audible conversations in which case; the business representative has to do most of the talking. The opening speech in phone selling negotiations is vital as it might set the tone for how interested the prospective buyer on the other end would be at the end of the call. 

For instance, a Congressman trying to retain his seat in Congress at the mid-term election will put so much work into his opening speech because he knows it will set the tone for that supportive atmosphere every politician craves. So also, business representatives in trying to pitch their sales should work on a very brief, friendly, and enthusiastic opening speech and not only will it get the customer’s interest, it will help the representative deliver the latter points confidently.

WORTH READING: 10 Questions Every Head of Marketing Should Ask Head of Sales About The Lead Source

2. Have Clear Objectives

As mentioned earlier, inbound sales is a critical aspect of sales and marketing. This has consequently led to business owners having to place so much importance on lead nurturing, which is the smart thing to do. However, you are expected not to veer off into unnecessary areas in the guise of lead nurturing. 

It’s still imperative to have your goals and objectives well defined which in this case, is successfully pitching the sale and making the lead a buyer. For instance, it’ll be way out of line for a business representative to start getting flirty with a lead because he or she is trying to be comfortable and friendly enough to pitch a sale. Not only is it a distraction for the representative, but it could also blow over and tarnish the reputation of the business. 

Also, venturing into anything without well-laid-out goals and objectives usually lead to failure. Not only should one have such objectives clearly-defined, in rendering assistance and helping a lead, one should never lose sight of those objectives. It is also crucial to swiftly connect with leads to enhance the conversion rate. Monitoring the time to lead is essential in optimizing this process and ensuring continual growth

3. Have Something Else to Negotiate with Other Than Price

It would be very unprofessional for a sales representative to slam prices at the lead on the other end of the call. According to Marketo, 50% of the leads are not yet ready to buy and MarketingSherpa estimates that 80% of leads never become sales. So there’s a common challenge of how to convert leads into sales and a business representative should not worsen that by being impulsive.

It’s important to be strategic, and being strategic does not involve making a list of prices the whole time. It’s necessary to have done proper research and come up with something else that the lead might value and start with it. This will increase the business’s chances of landing that sale.

READ ALSO: 21 Tips That Will Help You To Double Your Sales

4. Get All the Information You Can

Implementing inbound sales involves getting all the information you can about the lead. The depth of your knowledge about their needs and interests would go a long way in raising the odds of a fruitful phone selling negotiation. So it’s expected that before you put that call through to begin the negotiations, you’ve dedicated some time to know a lot about the lead. This will give you the needed headway once you start the negotiation.

MUST READ: How To Convince The Client To Buy? 10 Proven Psychological Tricks

5. Do Not Give Unnecessary and Unsolicited Information

When making phone selling negotiations, you can do away with some unnecessary information. Such information can even be harmful to the progress of the company. This is why it’s important to be calm and confident when making such calls. Many businesses have had to settle for egregious deals or no deal at all because they provided unnecessary information or made concessions where none was required. It can hurt the business because the customer would now expect such unfavorable concessions on future negotiations.

6. Analyze and Prepare for Possible Tactics

In dealing with the challenge of how to convert leads into sales, it’s essential to have certain expectations of what the lead could bring forward in the course of the negotiation. One can achieve this through skillful analysis of the lead’s possible tactics and afterward develop a counter tactic. Doing all of these and arming yourself with counter-tactics puts you on top of the negotiations. 

The chances of discovering the lead’s possible tactics borders on how acquainted you are with the lead. For instance, a weak sports team with an upcoming match against the best sports team would be expected to have watched and get acquainted with their strong opponent’s pattern of play which will enable them to develop a viable counter tactic and have a shot at winning.

7. Always Make a Reasonable Counter Offer

An inevitable stage in phone selling negotiations is the point where the lead makes an offer and the sales representative has to respond. It’s a very critical stage that one must handle meticulously. In getting through this stage, you might have to come up with a plan involving a range of prices. There should be the first price you offer and then there should be some adjustable prices with a limit in the event of counteroffers. 

You should never go below the limit no matter the pressure, retain your calm and double down on your persistence. This is why it’s much better to have a range of safe prices you can keep bringing up before the final, unchangeable offer. For instance, where your asking price is $100 and your limit is $90. When you make counteroffers of $98, $96 and $94, the chances are that you’ll get better than your limit of $90.

8. Get Something in Return for Your Concessions

Most times, concessions are inevitable, and they can be good for business when they are reasonable and safe. When you concede to a customer’s offer, you can ask for something in return. This is excepted to happen in the final stage of the negotiations after you have reached an agreement. Conceding to the customer’s offer gives the customer an impression that you have acted in good faith and this would prompt them to accede to your request. For instance, a commitment to buy other products from your establishment or to refer their families and friends.

WORTH READING:  6 Ways To Get People To Buy Your Product

9. Prepare a Payment Method Beforehand

It’s important to have a payment method ready for the customer if you close the deal. A customer might be so excited about the agreement that he wants to make the payment immediately. You don’t want to be a hindrance to that. When you have a payment method ready, you could even suggest immediate payment to the customer.

10. Follow Up with Your Customer

You shouldn’t get too comfortable after landing a deal and lose track of the lead. Lead nurturing does not stop after negotiations and it’s applicable in every business, including assignment help uk. In cases where there is an agreement already or a pause in negotiation, it’s important to follow up with the customer as it creates a good impression.

Conclusion

A salesperson has to be calm and collected before starting up sales negotiations on the phone. Take time to clear your head and loosen up a bit before picking up the phone. You don’t want to have the lead figuring out that you are on edge. Carefully implementing each of these tips will put to rest, the troubling question on how to convert leads into sales. You can also apply these tips if you aim to get good deals and boost your sales.

Are you looking for a way to drive more sales leads and convert them into happy customers? Сheck our demo today or test our tool for free for 14 days.