The 6 Open Secrets of Successful Salespeople

Sound familiar? As a dynamic sales professional, you’re always on top of the latest trends in marketing and sales, and every so often a software vendor, a sales coach, or a bestselling author has supposedly found the philosopher’s stone: THE universal recipe to catapult your sales to dizzying heights. We read up enthusiastically on Customer Centricity, only to find out that the concept is no different whatsoever from good old-fashioned customer orientation.

Strikingly true. Of all the trends proclaimed over the years, the ones that remain consistently relevant are those that have always been the most effective and successful. And these are usually also used to promote sales routines packaged into software. There are plenty of those, and of course these digital tools are a great support. They help us achieve better results from our efforts. But they will never replace fundamental sales qualities. Anyone who believes software can compensate for a lack of expertise, insufficient preparation for the customer and/or the conversation, carelessness in follow-up, or weak closing skills is mistaken.

Here are the 6 fundamental requirements that successful salespeople meet, which also help optimize sales success in up-selling:

1. Know the product.

Successful salespeople do their homework, and they do it thoroughly. Especially the products in the software industry that require explanation demand intensive consultation, and the customer will only buy if they get the impression that the salesperson knows what they’re talking about. Remember your last visit to a gourmet restaurant? If the waiter can immediately name exactly the right wine for your dish and even describe how wonderfully it pairs with the main course, you order the bottle – without asking much about the price. He does have to prepare for that, but he knows his sales will shrink if he simply hands you the drinks menu. Never let such opportunities pass you by – keep the feature list and all the latest updates at your fingertips, stay informed – your sales will inevitably increase, not only with new deals, but also with up-selling.

2. Know your customer.

Are you familiar with customer typologies? Sales veterans can surely recall countless variations on this topic. Whether customer types are labeled with colors, descriptors like “doer” or “hesitator,” or even psychological temperaments like “sanguine” – they all have one thing in common. They sort customers according to their drive for power, security, and yes, curiosity as well. If you not only recognize these types but also manage to tailor your sales conversation to them, you’ll give your closing rate a decisive boost. Essentially there are only four, and their underlying motives can be traced back to three major emotional systems. Here you’ll find a brief description of the 4 most important customer types.

3. Let the customer look in the mirror.

70 to 90 percent of our decisions are made unconsciously, bypassing the cognitive areas of our brain, and they’re very often made quickly. But what do we – or our customers – actually react to? Facial expressions, gaze, and tone are registered far faster than words – and that famous first impression carries real weight: in a fraction of a second, we distinguish between friend and foe. That’s faster than we could ever manage to categorize the person in front of us into a customer type.

Fortunately, our own emotional brain is just as fast as the customer’s, and we’re all equipped with so-called mirror neurons. Use them to your advantage. If the customer smiles, smile back, and if they extend their hand, do the same.

But you can also use them to influence the other person’s behavior. How? Quite simply, by reflecting something back first. Try it out – give someone a big smile on the street who isn’t smiling. Even if they had the grimmest expression, chances are good that their mirror neurons will force them to return a smile. In the same way, you can spark enthusiasm for your product – show YOUR enthusiasm, and you’ll see how contagious it is!

4. Speak the language of emotions.

Emotions drive our decisions. Have you ever had a “gut feeling” about something, listened to sales arguments and nodded along politely, even though you knew from the start you wouldn’t buy? No matter how much we engineers like to see ourselves as rational beings, we will hardly ever make a purchasing decision that isn’t guided by emotions. And those emotions want to be stimulated. One great way to do this is storytelling. As long as we stay on the solid ground of accurate information, there’s nothing wrong with telling a story. Depending on which customer type we’re dealing with, it can be humorous, elaborate, or short and to the point.

It doesn’t always have to be a complete story either. A bit of tension, like in a story, can already be created with just a few words or phrases:

• Visual language, vivid comparisons: “Look at this…”, “Imagine…” “Let’s take a look at…”, “… runs like a well-oiled machine“, …
• Questions and superlatives: “We solved that exact same problem for [insert a well-known reference, if possible], would you like to know how?”
• “Have you heard about the brand-new feature XY?” “That’s definitely the best option you can get to solve XY.”
• Emotional descriptive words: “I have an exciting idea for how to solve XY.” Or: “I have something very special/exactly right for you.”
• Mini-story: A personal anecdote, a brief narrative about the brand, a quote from a satisfied customer – all of this diverts from the dry feature parade and tedious price discussion and creates a positive atmosphere.

With existing customers, it’s often even easier to find a story that matches the customer type. Simply prepare one or more in advance before you call, or try telling them to yourself on the drive there – you’ll see, it’s worth it.

5. Recognize buying signals.

Salespeople neglect buying signals more often than you might think. Some of them are also easy to miss, especially when running through a sales conversation routine. Too focused on our own presentation, we might not even notice how the customer’s body language becomes more relaxed, or that they might even be nodding in agreement. However, we must never miss it when they ask specific questions that only become relevant after the purchase:

• What are the payment terms?
• Who will be my point of contact at the company?
• How long is the delivery time?
• What follow-up costs are there?

The expected questions will vary somewhat from industry to industry. Take a thorough look at them, list them, memorize them, and practice not missing a single one.

You can also test buying readiness with targeted opinion questions:

• How does that sound to you?
• What do you think about that?
• To what extent does that meet your expectations?
• What do you find particularly useful about this?
• Assuming you buy the product, when should we deliver it?

Here you’ll find more on the topic of buying readiness in our article about the so-called pre-close.

6. Always fix the next step.

It can’t be repeated often enough: just as important as preparing for every meeting is the close – and that doesn’t always mean closing the sale.

You’ve thoroughly prepared for the customer, fine-tuned the opening and flow of your sales conversation – but be careful, it’s not over yet just because the conversation has ended or time has run out.

Picture an archer: he carefully positions his legs and arms, draws the string perfectly, takes aim with intense concentration – and misses by a wide margin because he loses tension the moment he releases the arrow.

You don’t want to make this mistake – you want to hit the bullseye! So never forget to close. Use a form with a prominent note saying “Next Step”, set an alarm on your phone, or make it a habit to pull out your calendar and jot down when and how things will proceed. Whatever you do, make sure that every step in the sales process is relentlessly and reliably followed by the next – a routine that pays off 100%.