Navigating Sales Conversations from First Call to Closed Deal
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The analysis of over 1 million sales meetings reveals key patterns for successful cold calls, emphasizing the importance of engaging, two-way conversations and asking the right number of questions. Top performers excel by maintaining calm in objection handling, taking pauses, and responding to objections with questions, rather than monologuing. Additionally, successful sales calls often involve the prospect initiating discussions about concerns, indicating a higher likelihood of closing the deal.
Navigating Sales Conversations from First Call to Closed Deal
- 1. We analyzed over 1 Million sales meetings with AI and uncovered the following patterns and trends of successful cold calls.
- 2. Closing a dealis like embarking on a sea voyage
- 4. sales conversations are like ocean storms
- 5. Times between sales conversations are easy compared to conversations themselves
- 7. These insights are your Compass
- 9. The First Storm: Discovery Discovery Presentation Objections
- 10. Opening lines that don’t work Say Less, Get More Listen and ask genuine, relevant questions. Create a two-way conversation, not an interrogation. There’s an added bonus here. The natural flow of switching back and forth with your customer increases your likelihood of getting a second meeting. Do More Listening
- 11. Ask the right number of questions
- 12. Opening lines that don’t work 80 60 40 20 0 SuccessRates 1-6 (low) 7-10 (med) 11-14 (high) 15-18 (very high) Ask the right number of questions 11-14 is the magic number Aim to ask 11-14 target questions per call. After this amount, you’ll start to see diminishing returns on your question volume. 67% 74% 66% 46% Questions per Call
- 13. Ask your questions at the right time Call Duration
- 14. Ask the right kind of questions
- 15. Ask the right kind of questions
- 16. 16 “Help me understand… “ “Can you walk me through…” “Talk to me about… “ Phrase your questions to encourage long responses
- 17. 17 “It seems like you ______________” “It sounds like you _____________” “It looks like you _______________” Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference Make observations about their emotions
- 18. The calm before the NEXT STORM
- 19. The Second Storm: Demo Discovery Demo Objection Handling
- 20. Topics Discussed in Discovery Talk about the right things at the right time Successful Demo Flow
- 22. Salesperson Prospect Here’s what the presentation should not look like
- 23. Here’s what the presentation should look like Salesperson Prospect
- 24. Establish value before you introduce Pricing
- 25. Opening lines that don’t work Planning Pays Off The more time you invest in next steps, the higher your likelihood of success. 10% 7.5% 5% 2.5% 0 %ofcalldurationspentdiscussing“NextSteps” Successful Demos Unsuccessful Demos Reserve plenty of time to talk “Next Steps” 5.23% 8.14%
- 26. One last calm before you reach the PROMISED LAND
- 27. The Third Storm: Objection Handling Discovery Presentation Objection Handling
- 28. Paradise is in sight! We’re getting CLOSE!
- 29. But not without one more intense storm to navigate… objections
- 30. Avoid the “knee jerk” monologue in response to objections
- 31. Opening lines that don’t work Talk Less Top performers spend less time monologuing after an objection. When “average performing” reps receive an objection, they go on a “knee-jerk” monologue that stretches 21.45 seconds, while top performers keep their cool and maintain a healthy back-and-forth. 24 16 8 0 AverageMonologueLength(Seconds) Average Performers Average for All Reps During Non-Objection Scenarios Unsuccessful reps “monologue” in response to objections Top Performers
- 32. Opening lines that don’t work Slow it Down Top performers take their time responding to objections. Average reps speak significantly faster upon receiving an objection (top reps don’t necessarily talk slower, they just maintain their pace). Avoid nervous “fast talking” after objections
- 33. Opening lines that don’t work Just Press Pause Top performers pause far longer after an objection than their peers. Successful reps actually pause longer after objections than they do during “normal” parts of the sales conversation. These top performers are almost more calm in the face of “adversity.” 1.8 1.2 .06 0 SecondsPaused Average Performers Average for All Reps During Non-Objection Scenarios Successful reps “pause” 5x longer after objections Top Performers
- 34. Opening lines that don’t work Ask Questions Top performers counter objections with questions far more often Objection scenarios are rife with misunderstanding. Average sellers are so eager to overcome objections, they end up addressing the wrong issue. Take note: a strong answer to the wrong objection makes the objection worse. Successful reps respond to objections with questions
- 35. Opening lines that don’t work Keep the Flow Top performers maintain the “flow” of the conversation after objections. The back-and-forth dialogue (measured by “speaker switches” per minute) between a successful rep and the customer maintains its pace during objection scenarios. 3 2 1 0 SpeakerSwitchesperMinute Keep the conversation interactive Average Performers Average for All Reps During Non-Objection Scenarios Top Performers
- 36. We made it!
- 37. 37 BONUS! Close by LEADING, not MANIPULATING
- 38. First things first: What you do early carries more influence than what you do late.
- 39. Opening lines that don’t work Questions for The Win Prospects ask more questions on successful closing calls. In winning closing calls, the prospect initiates discussions that represent concern for making the right buying decision 81% more often than losing closing calls. Examples of these topics include SLA, implementation, pricing, agreement details, and long-term partnerships. 15 10 5 0 TimeSpentonTopicsofConcern (Asapercentageofthecall’sduration) Successful Closing Calls Unsuccessful Closing Calls Prospect-initiated Topics that Indicate Final Concerns
- 40. www.gong.io/blog