Deep sales triumphs in today's market!
A recent LinkedIn and Ipsos analysis of over 2,000 sellers reveals that deep sellers, those who embrace three key habits of deep sales, are nearly 2x more likely to surpass quota compared to their peers.
Deep sellers strategically target prospects, conduct thorough research, and prioritize relationship-building, positioning themselves as sought-after strategic advisors.
In contrast, shallow sellers, neglecting these deep sales habits, often resort to generic pitches and are perceived as transactional, leading to a higher likelihood of missing quota. To meet the demand for deep sellers, companies invest in training, utilize AI for enhanced customer insights, and emphasize long-term buyer relationships. These efforts are crucial for success in today's competitive landscape.
But there’s a crucial component that’s often overlooked when an organization is trying to develop a team of deep sellers: sales managers.
The challenge lies in traditional sales coaching, which tends to prioritize short-term revenue gains over the development of deep sales skills. Over our decade of coaching sales teams, we've observed sales managers inadvertently hindering long-term growth by exclusively focusing on immediate opportunities in their conversations with teams.
Below are three strategies for sales managers to evade this pitfall and promote deeper selling:
1. Distinguish between pipeline meetings and coaching sessions by shifting the focus to customer impact through strategic questioning.
While pipeline meetings are essential for revenue forecasting, solely asking about closure timelines and revenue figures can inadvertently promote shallow selling behaviors. Encourage sales reps to consider the broader impact on the customer by asking questions such as, "How will this sale benefit the customer?" or "How will the customer's experience change as a result of our partnership?" This approach prompts deeper reflection on the value proposition and encourages sellers to delve into customer needs and industry trends, fostering a culture of deep selling and setting them apart from competitors. Asking about customer impact also helps reps identify who else beyond the buying committee might be impacted; they automatically start to do more multithreading. It also encourages them to do deeper research to identify the issues their customer cares about. What matters to them and what’s happening within their industry?
2. Adopt a strategic approach to account planning to encourage sellers to be more deliberate in their outreach efforts.
In deep sales, focusing on high-potential accounts is crucial. Top performers prioritize organizations that align well with their solutions and are prepared to make a purchase. This requires each seller to take a long-term, strategic approach to selecting and targeting accounts.
How can sales managers reinforce this practice?
Start by asking sellers to self-identify the highest-potential accounts in their book. Encourage them to look for signals, such as accounts that are hiring quickly, have higher buyer-intent, and/or have a higher percentage of warm connections and hidden allies within them. Sellers, your input is valuable here. Don't hesitate to share your insights on account prioritization and long-term expansion with your manager, even if it's not requested. The goal is a collaborative effort between manager and seller to identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities and develop a comprehensive long-term account strategy beyond short-term goals.
Often, coaching sessions become mere status updates. Both managers and representatives can enhance these conversations. Embracing a forward-thinking approach to account planning reinforces the principles of deep selling.
3. Enhance your knowledge about customers and industry by asking relevant questions about both.
Managers can bolster deep selling by encouraging sellers to delve into customer and industry insights. Regularly asking questions like, "What's happening in our customer's industry?" and "What are the main business challenges our customers are facing?" prompts sellers to consider the broader business landscape and empathize with their customers' perspectives.
While shallow sellers often focus solely on their own solutions, managers can guide sellers to broaden their perspective by understanding industry-wide issues and engaging with broader networks.
By deepening their understanding of both customers and markets, sellers can effectively communicate with customers in their language, fostering trust and creating urgency. Ultimately, in sales, achieving targets is important, but so is making a positive impact on customers' lives and businesses.
For more on this topic, see our LinkedIn Learning course ‘How to Motivate Your Sales Team.’ You can also listen to our audio course called ‘Sales Fundamentals,’ where prominent sales leaders and salespeople share how they leverage these deeper, more purpose-driven selling practices.
Coaching your team to lean into deep selling makes them more likely to meet quota, it enables them to have better conversations with customers, and ultimately provides a more fulfilling work experience.
Want to learn more about the habits of deep sales and how to get your team to adopt them? Explore ‘Deep Sales: The B2B Sales Playbook to Boost Revenue in 2024’.
Also, please join our Masterclass #7 -Empowering Leaders to Navigate Sales Terrain with Precision
️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ Date: Thursday, Apr 18
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