Conversation starters in sales can help sellers break the ice, build trust, and establish rapport with potential customers.
A good conversation starter is typically a statement or question that uncovers important information about the prospect’s needs and interests. These opening lines can also introduce your company’s product or service and gauge the prospect’s level of interest.
Three best practices for improving sales conversations are:
- Develop emotional intelligence (EI) to understand what prospects want and need and their emotional triggers.
- Practice active listening and strengthen rapport-building skills to manage objections and navigate challenging conversations with grace.
- Be fully transparent to build credibility, establish yourself as a trusted advisor, and prevent misunderstandings.
Best Conversation Starters for Sales Professionals
Starting a sales conversation can be tricky. Questions are an effective way to get a meeting going. Three types of consultative selling questions are particularly useful when it comes to learning about prospective customers.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and require the prospect to provide more information. They allow sellers to gather crucial insights into wants and needs and help build relationships.
Questions such as, “Can you tell me about your current situation?” or, “What are the biggest challenges you’re currently facing?” give a deeper understanding of a prospect’s goals and pain points.
Give the prospect time to respond, and practice active listening. This will show that you genuinely care about their needs.
Problem-Discovery Questions
Problem-discovery questions focus specifically on uncovering the prospect’s particular challenges and difficulties. By asking these questions, sellers can gather crucial information about the prospect, understand their needs, tailor sales messaging, and show interest in solving their problems.
Some examples of problem-discovery questions include, “How does this problem affect your bottom line?” and, “How does this problem impact your daily operations?”
Value-Discovery Questions
Value-discovery questions focus on uncovering the prospect’s goals and objectives as well as what they consider to be most valuable. These questions make prospects feel your company’s product or service can add value to their business.
Using a value-based selling approach helps sellers gain a deeper understanding of the prospect’s priorities and adapt their sales presentation based on those priorities. Sellers can learn the desired outcome and how the company’s product or service can help them achieve that outcome.
Some value-discovery questions you can ask prospects include, “What are your top priorities for this project?” and, “What are your long-term goals for your business?”
6 Techniques for Effective Sales Conversations
Sellers need to accomplish multiple objectives during customer calls. They need to highlight the benefits of their company’s product or service, address any objections, and create a sense of urgency. Here are six proven tactics sellers can use to have more effective sales conversations.
1. Research the Prospect
Researching a potential customer’s social media accounts is a great way to gain insight and prepare for a sales call. Look up the prospect’s profile on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (Twitter). This will give you an idea of their interests, professional background, and current role. You can also look up your prospect’s company to learn more about how their business operates.
2. Find the Most Qualified Person
Make sure you are speaking with the right person before launching into your presentation. You don’t want to waste time and effort with someone who isn’t a decision maker or stakeholder. Find out what the person’s role is in the buying process and what level of authority they have first.
3. Make a Good First Impression
First impressions are crucial when making a sales call, as they set the tone for the rest of the conversation. It’s a good idea to start with a friendly and professional greeting, using the prospect’s name if you know it. Speak clearly and confidently, avoiding any hesitation or uncertainty in your voice.
4. Use a Personalized Approach
Using a personalized approach when starting a sales conversation shows the prospect that you have taken the time to understand their specific role, wants, and needs. Personalization helps establish trust and credibility with your prospects. Research potential customers before you call, and use the information you gather to adjust your communication style and messaging to fit their preferences.
5. Develop a Mutual Connection
Establish a mutual connection by finding common ground with the prospect and building a relationship based on shared interests or experiences. In the first few minutes of the sales call, show interest in the prospect’s life and make connections based on their responses.
6. Listen Actively
Active listening means focusing on what the prospect is saying without interrupting or thinking about the next thing you will say. You can practice active listening when starting a sales call in several ways. Remove any distractions before the call to allow you to give the prospect your full attention. Reflect on what the prospect says, and try to understand their words’ underlying meaning and emotions. Feel free to ask clarifying questions during gaps in the conversation if you need to.
How to Improve Your Sales Team’s Prospecting Conversations
Improving your sales team’s conversations takes coaching and practice. Here are three specific ways to improve your sellers’ skills.
Develop Emotional Intelligence
The best sellers have very high emotional intelligence (EI). This is the capacity to understand their own emotions as well as those of others. They understand what people want and need, and they understand emotional triggers. The people who have this skill sell more because they’re able to create long-term relationships. Sales leaders can learn their team’s EI with an emotional quotient assessment.
Build Relationship Skills
Effective sellers are skilled at building rapport, managing objections, and navigating challenging conversations with grace and empathy. Provide sales training on the importance of building relationships with prospects and how to win their trust. Use sales coaching one-on-ones to practice active listening and other rapport-building skills.
Encourage Transparency
When sellers are transparent about the features and possible limitations of your company’s product or service, they show credibility and establish themselves as a reliable source of information. Being fully transparent during sales calls can also help prevent misunderstandings prospects might have about the product or implementation requirements.
Setting the Right Tone
Conversation starters play a crucial role in sales as they can help establish a connection with potential customers. A good conversation starter can make all the difference in a sales call, setting the tone for the rest of the relationship and ultimately leading to a closed deal.
See how The Brooks Group’s IMPACT Selling training program can improve your sales team’s questioning and relationship-building skills for more productive conversations.
