One of the easiest ways to get your team on board is through the practice of recommendations. Anyone that has shopped at Trader Joe’s is probably familiar with this technique. The cashier will often share their recommendations based on the contents of your cart, or are quick to point out the products in your basket that they have personally tried and loved. Such a simple and natural thing for an employee to do can be a very powerful sales tool when used properly. And the pressure to “close” the sale is very low, so even the most apprehensive team members can adopt this technique with ease.
Another way to increase your sales across the board is to get collectively better at lead spotting. This is where you begin to notice signals that a prospect is either ready to buy or is looking for an upgrade or an additional product. Train your team to start asking the right questions in everyday interactions and then give them a process to turn those leads over to another team member to follow up and close the sale. This will not only increase the number of leads your sales team gets, but gives your entire team a chance to participate actively in the sales process regardless of their title.
Your sales team knows the pitch by heart. But when someone asks your IT person in the elevator who they work for, do you have any idea what they say? Don’t leave this one to chance. Instead write up a script and practice it with your entire team often. We use something like this:
Formula: “You know how __[insert #1 biggest pain point of your target market that you solve]___, what we do is ___[insert your biggest solution and benefit to that pain point]___.”
It’s simple, it’s to the point and helps everyone get on the same page.
With a little bit of practice, everyone can become a sales person in your company. By focusing on a selling culture, starting small, lead spotting and practicing your elevator pitches you may be surprised at who can become the unlikely sales star on your team.