The Soft Sell – How To Do It Right
In this article, we’ll uncover five consultative selling tips you need to practice something known as the soft sell.
Whether you’re a Sales Professional, Business Owner or Entrepreneur; these details will help you win more sales in a consultative way.
Read on to learn how to practice a soft sell approach, and how and why you should implement this into your sales strategy.
The Soft Sell – How To Do It Right
The Soft Sell Approach Tip #1 – Your Intent Statement
The first thing we encourage of you wish to practice a consultative soft sell approach, is to use something called an intent statement.
An intent statement, or pre-frame as we teach in The 5% Sales Blueprint; is a statement that delivers your expectations for a sales conversation.
It lets your potential client know what they can expect from you, and it gently lets them know what you would like to expect from them.
By pre-framing the conversation; you position yourself as a trusted advisor – you let them know that there are boundaries and parameters around the conversation, and that it will be structured.
Not only does it position you as a specialist, but it also handles objections before they come up later.
To learn more about the intent statement and how it’ll help you close more sales, read the linked article directly below.
Further reading: How To Use The Intent Statement For Sales Success
The Soft Sell Approach Tip #2 – Ask Probing Questions
An important strategy to use if you wish to utilise a soft sell approach with your sales conversations, is to ask a lot of questions, versus making general blanket statements.
The most powerful tool you can use in your sales arsenal, is your ability to ask deep diving questions.
The types of questions we recommend you ask should be:
- Learning how they buy
- Qualifying questions
- Finding pain
- Handling objections
- Asking for the sale
Sales probing questions are critical to your soft sales approach, because by using questions effectively, you can guide your potential client to sell themselves – rather than you having to do any kind of hard selling.
Below is a linked article which explores each of these categories in more detail.
Related article: Sales Probing Questions – 20 x To Use Daily
Tip #3 – Find Pain
People buy for two distinct reasons – to move away or avoid pain, and to move towards pleasure and desire.
Pain points; in a sales context, are the things that cause discomfort to your potential clients in their business, day to day activities, and their everyday lives.
Everyone has different pain points, and they come in different levels of pain.
Pain points are generally based on different levels of pain; and the measurement for the level of pain will be based on your potential client’s perceptions, and what they categorise their pain points as.
The common levels of pain your potential client would be facing are:
- Technical issues
- An impact on their business or career
- The personal impact
Sales Professionals and Business Owners who are successful at selling, usually prescribe solutions to their client’s pain – rather than present and hope that something will stick, and that they will be interested in buying.
Discovering pain points is one of our recommended tips if you wish to follow a soft sell approach, and it’s a critical ingredient to your sales success.
Related article: Pain Points & Sales – Your Ultimate Guide
The Soft Sell Approach Tip #4 – Don’t Present Too Early
As per our article in Entrepreneur; many Sales Professionals and Business owners make the critical mistake of presenting their offer – or pitching, much too early.
One of the most important strategies we recommend when using a soft sell approach, is to present at the right time, rather than doing it too early in your sales conversation.
Whenever you present an idea, solution or your product or service – it should be done in a way that demonstrates how buy investing in what you’re selling, it’ll help them achieve their desired outcomes and remove their pain.
People don’t buy things.
More importantly, they buy what it will mean when they own it.
By presenting too early, you can’t possibly know in detail what kind of issues they’re trying to alleviate, or what exact desire they’re looking for.
Presenting too early positions you as a commodity, rather than a trusted advisor.
The Soft Sell Approach Tip #5 – Use A Sales Process
One of the most important soft sell approach tips you can utilise to consistently close more sales, is the use of a sales process.
Of all the tips – this one is the most important.
A sales process is a road map – a framework in which you can lean on, to guide both you and your potential client towards the sale.
A good sales process will consistent of the following steps:
- Building rapport
- Qualifying your potential client
- Your intent statement
- Powerful questions
- Discussing money and budget
- Presenting your solution
- Handling objections and closing
A sales process is important, because it ensures that you won’t wing it with your sales conversations.
Winging it means that you will get inconsistent results, because one day you may have one approach, and another day something completely different.
By using a sales process – you can have a streamlined approach to your sales conversations, to help your potential client sell themselves if you can in fact serve their needs.
Further reading: The 7 Step Sales Process – Learn To Close Easier
Final Thoughts
These soft sell approach tips will help you close a lot more sales, because they’re based and founded on a consultative approach.
Your potential clients are a lot savvier than they’ve ever been, and the old school hard closing style no longer works, or is effective.
Instead, we recommend building rapport, and then guiding them on a journey towards a buying decision.
Want To Close Sales Easier?
Are you committed to closing sales a lot easier, and consistently?
If so, you should check out our self-paced and affordable online sales training program; The 5% Sales Blueprint.
It’ll give you everything you need to close sales consistently.
To learn more, simply click on the link below for more information.
Our Online Sales Training Program – The 5% Sales Blueprint.
