What Is A Sales Play?
Salespeople serve as the foundation for any company that seeks to provide a product or service. There are an endless number of options available to the average consumer in the fast-paced world we occupy today. With such stiff competition lurking around every corner, it is of vital importance that a salesperson is equipped with the resources to address any concern that a consumer may have. Of these resources, a sales play stands out as a premier technique of providing a structure for your team to use as the backbone of their sales. Sales plays serve as a guide for your sales team to rely on when engaging in all sales, enabling your salespeople the means to prepare for any scenario they may come across.
A collection of sales plays create the sales playbook; the combination of moves that your team can use to approach customers and secure sales. These plays also provide your sales organization the means to grow as salespeople by identifying areas of improvement and creating a strong framework with which to train new talent within the team.
Tips For A Successful Sales Play
Having a strong, structured sales strategy through your sales plays can greatly increase your opportunities for success. At iDecide, we want to ensure that you have the resources to build effective sales plays for your sales reps, so we have compiled a sales play template with tips to use as you continue to improve your own sales playbook:
1. Understand your target audience
Effective selling necessitates that you understand the audience you are selling to. Conduct research with the intent of acknowledging the demographics, pain points, and decision-making processes of your clientele. Understanding your target audience enables you to create opportunities to expand your sales playbook and avoid potential missteps during the selling process. Once research is concluded, every detail from calculators, questions, live and real-time data, and more can be added to an iDecide presentation to cultivate the selling experience you want to provide for your customers.
2. Create a compelling value proposition
Your value proposition, the benefits and value your product or service provides, should be clear and concise in addressing your customer’s needs. With the information gathered during the research of your target audience it is time to present what you offer to that audience. Showcasing the benefits of your product or service should be done with intent, as your value proposition serves as the baseline for why the customer should engage with your company. iDecide’s sales presentations are interactive and provide you the choice of how you want to best convey this information to the customer.
3. Build relationships
You have done the research on your audience and have started a relationship with potential customers. Now, it is time to build on that relationship and earn the trust of your clients. Understanding the needs of your audience and highlighting their importance to your company cannot be overstated. Your customers should feel that they are an important party in this relationship and a great way to create this feeling is by personalizing the sale to them. Your sales team will be the forefront of this as they engage with the customer, and having resources like iDecide’s personalized sales presentations can help establish credibility in your business and show the customer that they are important.
4. Qualify your leads
Unfortunately, there will be leads that do not work out. Assessing the customer’s budget, timeline, and decision-making authority is important, and there will be times where the expectations of both parties will not be met. Identify objections or concerns that your customer has and be aware that not every lead will be a great fit for your company. It can be a hassle trying to follow up with customers that are not interested, so having resources like iDecide available to know whether a client has even viewed your presentation can help you determine when it is time to move on to a different lead.
5. Address Objections
Objections are a normal aspect of the sales process, and it is vitally important that you have sales plays ready for when an objection arises. Being proactive and anticipating objections before a client brings them to your attention can provide more flexibility to your salespeople and provide your team the ability to tackle these objections with confidence. It can be difficult to anticipate every potential object, but with iDecide’s presentations the client picks their own route. This enables you to be one step ahead of them and have answers ready for their objections, building trust in your company.
6. Close the deal
After presenting your product or service, addressing any objections, and building a relationship with the customer, it is now time for you to close the deal. You have shown yourself to be clear, proactive, and trustworthy during your sales presentation. With this firm foundation built, make sure you are confident and assertive during this final part of the discussion, while still being open to negotiation. Since iDecide notifies you when someone starts and finishes your presentation, as well as reminders to follow up, you can move in for a prompt, efficient follow up to ensure the customer’s needs are met.
7. Continuously improve
As you close the deal or part ways, it is now time to review. You’ve established and followed your sales playbook through this sale, but there are always opportunities to grow. While sales plays serve as the structure for your sales, every sale will present opportunities to add more sales plays or build on what you have already created. iDecide’s presentations serve as a great way to improve as you view the analytics of a sale, highlighting your performance through your KPI, including views, close rates, a
Common Sales Plays Examples
Every sale provides the opportunity to expand your sales playbook. While we have discussed a sales play template to use with tips along the way, there are a few sales plays examples that are common and deserve a place in your sales playbook:
Solution Selling
This sales play focuses on identifying the customer’s pain points and presenting a solution that best addresses those issues. This requires the sales rep to ask probing questions and actively listen to the customer’s responses. Once the customer’s needs have been identified, the salesperson can propose a solution that addresses those needs.
Solution selling is often used in complex sales environments, where the customer may have multiple problems that need to be addressed. It is a consultative sales approach that requires the salesperson to be a trusted advisor to the customer, rather than simply a product pusher. By focusing on the customer’s needs and providing a customized solution, solution selling can lead to longer-term customer relationships and greater customer loyalty.
Consultative Selling
The importance of the business-customer relationship is paramount, and this sales play focuses on building that relationship up and understanding their needs. The consultative selling approach typically involves a longer sales cycle than traditional sales approaches. This is because the salesperson takes the time to understand the customer’s needs and provide a customized solution. However, the longer sales cycle can lead to longer-term customer relationships and greater customer loyalty.
Value-Based Selling
This sales play has an emphasis on highlighting the value that your product or service has to the customer. Value-based selling often involves a higher level of collaboration with the customer, as the salesperson works to understand their business and identify areas where the product or service can add value. This can lead to longer-term relationships and increased customer loyalty, as the customer sees the salesperson as a trusted advisor who is focused on helping them achieve their goals.
One of the benefits of value-based selling is that it allows the salesperson to differentiate their product or service from the competition. By focusing on the value that the product or service provides to the customer, rather than just the features or price, the salesperson can make a stronger case for why the customer should choose their product or service over other options.
Challenger Sales
This sales play centers around challenging a customer’s perspective and introducing new ideas to them. To use the Challenger Sales Play, the sales rep needs to have a deep understanding of the customer’s business and industry, as well as the ability to identify areas where the customer may be underperforming or could benefit from a new approach. The salesperson then uses this knowledge to challenge the customer’s assumptions and help them see the potential benefits of a new solution.
SPIN Selling
This sales play is based on the SPIN method, which stands for Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-Payoff. It is designed to help salespeople identify the customer’s needs, build rapport, and ultimately close more sales. The approach involves four types of questions, each of which serves a specific purpose:
- Situation questions: These questions help the salesperson understand the customer’s current situation, such as their current processes, challenges, and goals.
- Problem questions: These questions help the salesperson identify the customer’s pain points and challenges. By understanding the customer’s problems, the salesperson can identify ways in which their product or service can help.
- Implication questions: These questions help the salesperson understand the impact of the customer’s problems. By understanding the implications of the problem, the salesperson can help the customer see the value of solving the problem.
- Need-Payoff questions: These questions help the salesperson demonstrate the value of their product or service. By showing the customer how their product or service can help solve the problem and achieve their goals, the salesperson can help the customer see the value of making a purchase.
Utilize Your Sales Plays With iDecide
iDecide’s AI driven, interactive presentations are a one-of-kind sales technology platform that serve as a strong support to the sales plays you make. The presentations are easy to create and allow you to enter sales discussions with the personalized sales approach that you decide on, with a host of analytics, features, and real-time updates. If you ever need help, iDecide Assist allows iDecide team members to assist with a script and build it on the iDecide platform.
Learn more about how myiDecide can help you write and create the perfect sales pitch here.
Learn more about iDecide at: www.iDecide.com
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