Most successful sales professionals have broken down their sales activity into specific steps or elements. Those elements strung together create their sales path or activity ladder.
For example – Cold Call > Elevator Pitch > Agenda Set > Discovery > Presentation > Proposal.
Each element is rehearsed, adjusted, rehearsed again. Look at any sales person in the top 30% and you’ll likely see a sales rep who has all their elements well in place. Look at the top 10% though, and you’ll see something else. You’ll see a sales rep that not only has the elements down, but they also have mastered the transitions between those elements.
Over the course of a 24 hour period, it is mostly daylight or nighttime, but the most spectacular part of any 24 hours period is sunrise and sunset, the transitions between day and night.
Mastering your transitions boils down to two things.
1 – Recognize the signs to move to next. One of the most common questions I get during sales trainings is, “How do I know I’m done with discovery?”. The answer is that you have to know the signs, and they are often specific to your industry and clients. Have you, as a sales professional, or organization, deliberately noted the signs of moving on to the next step? Are they part of your sales training agenda?
2 – Language transition keys. Once you know the signs, start training key language or phrases to help get you there. For example, I know that after my agenda set, my discovery is next. Discovery is about asking questions. Hence, I’ve inserted a piece of language on the end of my agenda set that facilitates that transition. My agenda set ends with “Ok, my first question is..” or “All right, the first thing I really need to know is……”. Again, these language keys should be boiled into your sales training.
Ease of transitions further converts your sales process into a conversation, making it feel far more natural to your clients and prospects.