Consultative Selling Is Where It’s At – Making the One-Call Close Easier!

When hitting weekly and monthly goals relies on making many sales calls each day, increasing the ratio of one-call closes makes a considerable impact. Each deal closed with a homeowner or business on the spot, is another deal closer to increased earnings and defeating the competition!

Many high-volume salespeople have either no or a low base salary. Their primary compensation is earned from closing more deals. Achieving the one-call close is essential to their success. The most lucrative wins hit the sales trifecta: profitable outright sale, long-term contract, and inclusion of multiple reoccurring services.

Using a consultative and technology-based selling approach increases one-call close success!  Let’s look at why, how, and what you can do to improve closing sales on the spot.

What happened?

COVID concerns and lockdowns in 2020 forced buyers to find new ways to buy. With an inability to go to stores or meet in person, buyers’ processes changed. They began doing more product and service research individually before meeting with salespeople.

Salespeople found that they too needed to adapt to new ways of working with buyers. What didn’t change is their desire to nail the one-call close, even if the process required to get there now looked quite different.

The transition hasn’t been easy, given the complexities of the security and home automation sales process. New buyer behaviors have made the old sales playbooks obsolete. At this point, it’s worth taking a new approach to selling that is much more in line with what buyers are looking for today.

What Buyers Want

COVID accelerated changes that were already underway in the way we all buy. This became especially true for significant lifestyle purchases that require more information to complete the decision and purchase process. Instead of making appointments to visit with salespeople directly, buyers expanded the breadth and depth of their initial online research, allowing them to zero in on precisely what they wanted. Most statistics show that today’s buyers are, on average, 60-70% into the buying process before speaking with salespeople. They’re not just looking at company-generated marketing material and websites. Research includes highly influential recent ratings and reviews from other buyers.

Once deeper into the buying process and more ready to purchase, buyers initiate conversations with salespeople to complete the cycle. Even now that COVID in-person restrictions have been mostly lifted, the largest purchases – including real estate, security and other home related service sales – continue to rely at least partially on online tours, webinar calls, and specially scheduled on-site appointments, occurring much later in the buying process. Buying preferences have also affected the process for smaller, add-on sales. Buyers who know what they want prefer quick, frictionless transactions, that save them time.  Security system and home automation or “comfort” salespeople need to find new ways to connect with buyers on their terms and schedule.

Buyers are embracing a much more consultative sales approach.  They want to talk with salespeople after they have conducted their initial research and narrowed down their solution and provider choices. The good news is that when they are ready to talk, a much higher percentage are in the immediate buying window!

These buyers want to talk to salespeople who listen and focus on them and their needs.  They want to continue their buying decision by confirming what they may know so far, asking pointed, relevant questions, and validating the products and services that would best suit their specific situation.  They are looking for an expert willing to consult with them – no strings attached.  The “show up and throw up” and high-pressure sales approaches, that do not focus on listening to buyers, are old school and simply won’t work.

Sales Behaviors that DO Work

Today, salespeople who have perfected a consultative “win-win” approach with buyers are much more successful from the start. Conversations must be laser-focused on the buyer’s expectations and needs. Research indicates that as high as 35-50% of sales close with the vendor who first provides the needed solution. Because the buyer is confident that they’re making an educated decision, their search ends then and there. 

Furthermore, with buyers so far along in their journey before a sales call occurs, the ability to close on the spot in a single meeting dramatically increases. That’s not just more convenient; it’s more lucrative! Research shows that a single outside sales call costs an average of $308 per visit – a significant operating expense that is often overlooked – especially when a single sale requires multiple visits, and loss rates hover in the 60 – 80% range.

With statistics like these, it is even more important to be the salesperson who exemplifies the experience and consultative approach buyers are looking for. In security and home automation sales, this requires being prepared. You must be knowledgeable and experienced in the products and services you sell and well-versed in how they deliver in various scenarios buyers face. Being able to listen and address buyers’ questions, discuss possible options, and explain how these options have worked for others, instills confidence in buyers; it removes the pressure of focusing on a “sale” and redirects you and your customer’s energy toward finding a mutually beneficial “solution.”

Sales Technology Supports Consultative Selling. And Closing!

Sales technology is available that enables completion of the sales process during the first call with buyers. This may be achieved on-site, or as an “inside” sales rep over the phone, or “face-to-face” on a webinar.  That visual connection is important, as it helps put buyers at ease and feel more comfortable with you as a consultative salesperson. 

Sales software, like WeSuite’s QuoteAnywhere and the Site Survey, brings unprecedented ease to buying and selling on the spot. You easily engage the buyers in the sales process. Because only sell pricing is shown, there is no pricing hide-and-seek. You and your customer see the same thing as you work together to design the best solution for them. Here are a few other key advantages:

1. A buyer’s relevant lead information is automated. No re-entering information manually. You can easily review pre-completed information to confirm its accuracy and provide a starting point for conversation. Adding buyer information on the fly is easy too, and it’s centralized in your company database for future use. Being well prepared and organized with the help of technology builds buyer confidence and saves everyone time.
2. Access to your centralized, accurate, and pre-priced products, labor, and services database means it’s fast and easy to design and build quotes without worry.
3. The on-board Site Survey tool – a digital canvas (aka your screen!) enables direct design consultation with buyers. Take a photo, use on-board drawing tools, or upload a pdf, png, or image file, and you are set to work with your prospects to design the solution right for them and their home, a parent’s home, or their business. 
4. Part icons make it easy to understand what the buyer is getting. Because icons are associated with actual parts in the database, as they are brought onto the design, the estimate automatically builds, including any associated labor and pre-built pre-priced packages. 
5. Adding reoccurring services like monitoring, inspection, and managed services, is also very easy.
6. Buyers are fully engaged with you! They can see that the solution they are designing with you suits them and their budget. Salespeople can easily answer questions, make suggestions, and find the right combination of technology and services for the buyer’s needs.
7. You can include special notes important to expressing buyer concerns and needs, while also ensuring delivery teams have the information needed to make installation smooth for all. 
8. Contract and proposal documents are automatically generated, including automation of sales data in the proper document fields, without salespeople losing time or making mistakes by manually completing paper forms. When ready, buyers may sign electronically on the spot or online, completing the sale then and there.
9. Consumer financing is also available – on the spot! Imagine offering financing within a few minutes, instead of the back-and-forth, manually driven process that delays completion and probability of the sale.
10. Finally, salespeople create a win-win by completing sales that are focused on buyers’ needs, leveraging products and services their company is confident offering. The process creates a great buying experience, while saving time, and increasing sales success.

A mutually beneficial, fully engaged sales and buying process is what consultative selling is all about. The proof is in the numbers:

• Increased one-stop-close success
• Happier buyers
• An increase in lucrative referrals
• Continued purchase of add-on services after the initial sale
• Long-term buyer relationships

If you sell technology but don’t use technology in your sales process, what are you waiting for? Create the consultative and customer-focused experience buyers are looking for today, while increasing your one-call close sales success. It’s a win-win!

Would you like to learn more?  Let us know and we’ll connect.