Tension in Sales: How to Create Engagement and Drive Action

Nobody likes tension, right?

Sales professionals should focus on diversity.

Tension is the seed in a prospect’s brain that grows into an idea about how your product or service can make their life better.

The best salespeople know how to create that tension and make the sale.

Here are some ways to create tension and use it to your advantage.

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Need Help Automating Your Sales Prospecting Process?

LeadFuze gives you all the data you need to find ideal leads, including full contact information.

Go through a variety of filters to zero in on the leads you want to reach. This is crazy specific, but you could find all the people that match the following: 

• A company in the Financial Services or Banking industry
• Who have more than 10 employees
• That spend money on Adwords
• Who use Hubspot
• Who currently have job openings for marketing help
• With the role of HR Manager
• That has only been in this role for less than 1 year

Just to give you an idea. 😀

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Your Foscus should be on the Positive

Traditional sales methods focus on the prospect’s pain. I think this is an ineffective strategy because it misses a fundamental point.

Many of your potential customers are just looking for the next best thing. They might not be in a bad spot, but they want to find something that will make them happy.

I like to look optimistically into the future, instead of focusing on what’s not there.

It all Starts With a Proper Connection

One of my good friends says that the best way to create a connection is by finding something in common.

I couldn’t agree more.

You can’t create that distance between your prospect and where they could be if you don’t get them to engage with what you have to say.

It’s important to give your listeners a reason to be there or else you’ll just bore them.

Barge in Through the Noise

It’s hard to get someone’s attention these days. It seems like there are so many messages competing for peoples’ attention, and it makes it really difficult to cut through all of that noise.

There are many ways to get someone’s attention when you’re in the job market, and that includes coming up with a great opening line. You need something provocative or funny enough to make them lean forward in their seat.

You’ll know The Lean when you see it. They’re smiling, they pause for a minute over the phone, and sometimes tilt their head to one side like a puppy dog that doesn’t understand your command…

To get a better response, you should avoid using boring greetings. These include:

• “Hi, how are you? Good morning.”
• How do you feel when someone asks a question and then interrupts your answer?
• “I’d like to discuss some things with you. Can we meet? I can come by your office or give you a call. What’s the best number for me to reach you at?”

Instead, try this:

• Hello, I am <>. Have you heard of me?
• “I’ll bet you’re glad I called. You must be having a rough day, huh?”
• Asking a really great question can also help you avoid an awkward silence.

Whether they’re interested or not, you will have their attention for a moment.

The Lean is not an invitation to pitch, but instead, it’s a question-asking opportunity. It shows that you care about the person and their interests.

This way, you can get your prospect to think about things in a different light.

A new way to create some engagement is by making it count.

Ask Questions the Generate Tension

Have you ever made a sales call to someone with a genuine interest in their needs and problems, rather than just trying to push your product?

It’s a shame that you can get someone to respond and then not even be able to start the process.

Nice going, Sport”

It is common sense that salespeople need to ask questions in order to get the ball rolling with a potential client.

It can be hard to know what questions you should ask during the hiring process, but it’s important to make sure that your company is diverse.

You don’t often ask questions to create tension, do you?

Most salespeople are people pleasers, especially when they’re trying to make a sale. But it’s not always the right approach because real engagement is more important.

If you want to change someone’s mind, the way they think needs to be changed. Trust and rapport are vital, but it is not enough just by being agreeable all of the time.

You must earn the trust of your employees, then use it to ask questions that will create tension.

You should choose your questions to accomplish three goals: 1. To learn more about candidate 2. To assess how well they will work with you and in what kind of environment. 3. This article is not discussing this topic, but it could also be used for assessing whether or not a person would make a good fit at your company

• When you’re trying to get a prospect’s attention, remember that they have needs. You can’t just sell them anything.
• Teach your prospect something
• You can do this by demonstrating how your product or service is different from the competitors.

What should you ask that will let you see their needs?

The problem with asking questions about what the prospect thinks they need is that sometimes, the prospects don’t know themselves.

Forget the questions you learned from your sales manual. Instead, be genuinely curious about what they want and how their goals align with yours.

I ask them about their aspirations, what they want for themselves in the future, and why they think certain things could cause failure to happen.

When you ask your prospect questions, they will offer a lot of insight into whether or not the solution is right for them.

What can you tell and say to your prospects?

I’ll be honest, I don’t think your prospects know what they need to know to take the next steps in their business.

One of your jobs is to take a consultative approach with customers and help them along their journey.

Ask yourself these questions:

When speaking with your prospect or customer, are you able to find out what they’re passionate about?

Is your business or industry fluent in the language of their company?

Do you understand what it’s like to be in their position and can ask questions that will help them?

Do you know what makes you different and how that difference could make a company more successful?

Here’s a pro tip: Act like you know what the person wants. Don’t ask questions that are too specific to your product or service: “Do you want this vacuum cleaner? It can do all of those things!”

Instead of asking them about what they do for fun, ask them to tell you more about the problem their company solves and how it affects people’s lives.

You’re trying to start a conversation about something you know more about than the person you are talking with. You are framing it in terms of an issue that is important to them.

Challenge Your Prospects

Now that they’ve become interested in what you have to say, it’s time to challenge their beliefs. They don’t know anything about the topic and will probably be receptive when you offer a different perspective.

The customer may well be doing things in the best way they know-how, but you need to show them that there’s a better option for themselves.

You don’t lose the trust you build by asking tough questions. Instead, you earn more of it when people see that your not just someone who agrees with everything.

You care about them and they know that, so they trust you.

If you do it right, finding the perfect match for their company will bring attention to your skills and make them want to hire you.

Don’t Be Shy to Ask the Hard Questions

Some of you may be wondering what the line is and if it’s okay to ask that question. The answer: It depends on who asks.

You can make friends at work, but you need to be genuine and kind about it.

When you ask questions that nobody else will, like what motivates them and why they want to work for your company, you’ll learn things other people don’t know. That allows you to solve problems others can’t.

You have the ability to make sales no one else can, so don’t be afraid of being too different from your competitors. Let positive tension create engagement and drive action.

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Need Help Automating Your Sales Prospecting Process?

LeadFuze gives you all the data you need to find ideal leads, including full contact information.

Go through a variety of filters to zero in on the leads you want to reach. This is crazy specific, but you could find all the people that match the following: 

• A company in the Financial Services or Banking industry
• Who have more than 10 employees
• That spend money on Adwords
• Who use Hubspot
• Who currently have job openings for marketing help
• With the role of HR Manager
• That has only been in this role for less than 1 year

Just to give you an idea. 😀