Find the Right Clients and CLOSE: Part II

Follow the trusted advisor sales process, which emphasizes discovery and aligning your status with your prospect.

The goal of sales is to get prospects to close. However, take this a step further: what does the ideal closing look like?

The answer should always be that prospects came to logical self-conclusions that this is the right step. Instead of pressuring them, the goal is to foster that self-conclusion. They have to make the call, and you want them to feel confident working with you.

This second part of our Find the Right Clients and Close series, walks through the trusted advisor sales process, the true role of sales, and focusing your calls on status alignment.

The Trusted Advisor Sales Process

The trusted advisor sales process should be used on every call. This process relies on four key milestones for every sales interaction:

1. Reach status alignment: Failing to align with the prospect risks losing their attention and engagement on the call.
2. Discovery: Do the work to figure out what matters to them. The best closers master discovery.
3. Advisement: Make a recommendation based on what you learn to earn their trust.
4. Commitment: Apathy is the ultimate killer in sales. Make prospects excited about this decision and commitment.

The first two milestones occupy about 80% of the call at the front end, and the last two 20%. These milestones’ order is clear — you can’t move on without the prior step.

The True Role of Sales

Most salespeople proclaim they’re “problem-solvers.” Good ones are actually problem-finders. The sales team finds the problem and sells the right solution.