Selling isn’t what you say, but what you do.

Sellers often get in the trap of thinking you always have to say the right thing, have the answer or have the perfect objection.

So much of effective selling is listening, but not listening so that you can talk more.

Listening so you can take the right actions when the call is over.

Being in the room or on the phone with your prospect is a small piece of the puzzle.

You’ve likely heard the sales / quarterback comparison.

The quarterback’s job is to orchestrate the offense. Looking, listening, reading signals the defense is providing so they can execute the right play on the field.

That’s how you should think about the call or meeting. You job is to read the prospect, listen intently looking for signals which allow you to orchestrate the next set of plays.

Last week I was talking to a prospect, they asked a very specific question about our capability in an area. While I could have answered the question, I suggested a side conversation with our lead in that area.

This does a couple things, it take me (biased person trying to sell to them) out of the equation and provides them access to a valuable resource.

The second piece of that is coordinating the meeting. It’s all well and good to make the recommendation, but if you don’t pay it off… immediately, the play will fail.

During every conversation, there are keys and signals to pick up on which should trigger you to orchestrate plays on the back end which build value and trust in the cycle.
What are some of the plays in your playbook?

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