Sales has never been more challenging. Sales professionals across all industries continue to face new challenges to make quota. Finding the right buyer and closing the deal takes longer, is more complex, and requires more effort. Sometimes it can feel as though closing is almost impossible in today’s climate. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic only add to the challenge.

If you want to close and continually reach your sales quota, you cannot rely on dated sales techniques and use the same strategy for each customer. You need to be creative and make adjustments to your sales solution if you want to close more deals. Here our Toronto sales recruiters outline some ways for you to add more creativity into your approach to selling.

1. Buyers Are More Cautious Today

Buyers have never been in a stronger position. They are educated and do their research. They often have access to the same information you do. Most importantly, buyers know they have options. Dated, pressure-style sales tactics simply are not as effective as they once were. Sales is simply not as straightforward and predictable as it was in the past. You can’t just hard sell and expect results. Buyers want to develop a relationship with sales professionals who consider their needs.

Add in the fact that COVID-19 has changed how companies approach doing business and sales reps have a lot of barriers to overcome to make quota.

2. Use Peer Recommendations

One creative way you can add more value to your sales solutions is to include peer recommendations as proof of the quality of your products or services. Social proof, testimonials, and recommendations play a huge role in a buyer’s decision-making process. People don’t make buying decisions blindly. They ask others for their opinions and want to hear what past customers have to say.

There are lots of ways you can add this as part of your sales solutions. Provide a list of past customers they can contact, collect video testimonials, or you could even set up a meeting with previous customers so your prospect can get insight into how products/services work post-sale.

3. Become a Trusted Source of Information

Buyers conduct their own research about solutions as they work through the purchase process. They have to go somewhere to get the information, right? Make yourself the most trusted source of information in your industry. Create content that will help your buyers along their purchase journey. Create blogs, reports, fact sheets, video tutorials, and other resources that can help them.

Offering content can create conversations, build trust with prospects, and make it more likely a buyer will come to you when they are ready to buy. Why? They have familiarity with your brand.

4. Be the Industry Expert Advisor

Buyers less and less want to deal with sales reps. They want to speak with industry experts and consultants who can provide them with solutions. So, position your sales team as industry experts. Buyers don’t want to be inundated with sales and marketing messages and sales tactics. They want to have conversations with people who can help them. They want to speak with professionals who will listen to their situation, needs, and get expert guidance. Provide valuable insights and help your customers develop a custom solution that is in alignment with their business goals and objectives.

5. Incentivize Your Customers

What incentive do you provide your customers to buy from you? Consider implementing a rewards or discount program to entice customers to choose your brand. Rewards-style programs are a great way to build loyalty and establish a steady stream of repeat business. Think about what matters most to your customers and see if there are ways to offer those types of incentives.

6. Focus on Helping Your Customers

Making the shift from selling to focusing on finding creative ways to help your customers can be the difference between closing and losing a deal. Build your sales process around helping others and the money will come. But you can’t just say it; you need to do it in practice. Think of unique ways you can help your customers with various facets of their business. Communicate how your sales team can help.

7. Make Your Sales Solutions Results Focused

At the end of the day, people want to know how you can help them achieve business results. Shift all your sales solutions to focus on how to help customers reach their objectives. Make it clear how your sales solutions are in alignment with your customer’s needs. Does it help them be more efficient? Will it boost sales? Will it save time? Make it clear how your solutions will help.

In order to compete and sell more, you have to be creative. Use some of the above ideas and apply them to your sales solutions. A few creative changes can help your sales reps more consistently reach their sales quotas.

Read More From Our Sales Recruitment Blog

You can always close more. Want to improve your closing ratio and boost your quota? Looking for more sales insights to improve performance? Check out these blogs from our sales recruiting experts:

7 Tips for Closing Sales in an Economic Downturn

6 Best Phrases to Use While Trial Closing

Guarantee the Deal With These 4 Trial Closing Questions

5 Sales Recruiter Secrets to Closing Tough Sales Customers

The 8 Best Sales Trial Closing Questions to Guarantee the Deal

Tips for Leveraging Technology to Close Sales Remotely

SalesForce Search is a Toronto sales recruiting company that specializes in the recruitment and placement of sales professionals. We recruit salespeople in every sector of the economy including, software, manufacturing, financial services, and medical devices. Find the right salesperson for your organization, start your search here.