The 6 Key Phases of a Sales Conversation

This post is part six of a video training series on sales. To watch part one, Sales is NOT a Dirty Word, click here. To watch part two, 3 Reasons Your Sales Suck, click here. To watch part three, The Truth About Your Relationship with Money, click here. To watch part four, The #1 Thing Business Owners Forget About Sales, click here. To watch part five, 3 C’s You Must Master to Sell Anything to Anyone at Anytime, click here.

If you are a business owner who is not making more than $100,000 per year in your business, your sole focus should be on mastering the sales conversation. Period.

The fact is, sales is the biggest hurdle for any sized business, which is all the more reason why each of us needs to master how to have effective sales conversations.

Over the last 6 weeks, I’ve been hosting an impromptu video training series all about how to tighten your sales game. If you’ve missed the previous 5 videos (linked above), you might want to go check them out before stepping into this video, because it all boils down to this.

Tweetable: Building your business all starts with a conversation.

I cannot stress enough the importance of mastering the sales conversation. And, you should know that depending on your ideal client, there are some nuances to the conversation that, if not mastered, will inhibit your ability to close the sale.

In this week’s video, I share the phases of the conversation from a high-level view. See what I mean by checking out the video:

As I share in the video, this conversation is EVERYTHING!!! Let’s review the phases of the conversation. Please Note: depending on your client, the way you hold this conversation may vary. There are some nuances that you’ll need to know and be prepared for.

Phase 1: Setting Expectations & Boundaries. Here, I recommend that you check your time together, make sure they did any pre-requisites to the conversation and ensure that they know exactly what the time will be used for.

Phase 2: Understand Their Current Situation and the Impact. When you get clear on what’s going on, you can begin to shift them in to understanding how big the problem really is.

Phase 3: Discover the Cost of the Problem. Please note: this section is the most important phase of the whole conversation. Go south here, and you’ve lost the deal. It will be hard to make a comeback in your follow up if you failed to help them see the reason they truly need you.

Phase 4: Shift from Problem to Possibility. Once the problem is clear, the possible solution must become equally clear. Take your time to have them paint you a picture of what’s possible if the problem gets resolved (with your help of course.)

Phase 5: Clarify and Make an Offer. Start by reviewing all you’ve discussed, then you’ll invite them to hire you. If you’ve done things right up until this point, inviting them to hire you is a formality – it’s what you’re thinking and what they’re thinking!

Phase 6: Welcome New Client or Overcome Objections. You’ll be doing one of two things at this point – dancing a jig as you welcome a new client or overcoming objections. This, all by itself, is another area that requires mastery. I even give my clients a cheat sheet with how to frame the most common objections. The objections will be less if you handled phase 3 correctly. Seriously, I can’t stress enough how important it is to discover the cost of the problem. Even when they don’t say yes immediately, what you learned in that phase will help you overcome their objections! Yes, it is that powerful.

Sidebar, if your client is a corporation, you’ll likely need to master how to advance the sale so that you avoid writing a proposal and instead write an engagement letter.

Again, this conversation is the key to closing more sales and tightening your sales game.

Your assignment: Evaluate your confidence and competence in conducting each phase of the conversation. BY phase, give yourself a score on a scale from 1 (not so good) to five (total master.) If you score less than five in more than one area (unless that area is phase 3… if you are less than a five in phase 3, we need to talk) you need to join me at Sell The Incredible: Tighten Your Sales Game. To learn more and secure your seat, visit http://www.SellTheIncredible.com

Have you been enjoying this video series? Tell us by leaving a comment right here on the blog.

Sell-The-Incredible-1170x315-Banner-min


©2016 by Darnyelle A. Jervey. All Rights Reserved. Darnyelle A. Jervey, MBA, The Incredible Factor Business Optimization Coach and Mentor, is the founder of Incredible One Enterprises®, Incredible Factor University® and the Leverage Your Incredible Factor System®, a proven step-by-step program so you experience financial and spiritual abundance in your life because of your business. For more information and a FREE audio CD “7 Critical Mistakes Even Smart Entrepreneurs Must Avoid for Clients, Connection and Cash Flow!” just fill out the form below.

god
life
business
strategy
sales
move to millions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *