Improve Your Sales Talk Track with 8 Actionable Steps

The age-old tactic of selling by trying to build false rapport is obsolete now. Such sales talk will not get you far. If responses such as “No, thanks, I’m not interested” or “Just send an email instead” are familiar to you, then it’s time to improve your current sales talk track. 

66% of buyers report that consistent and relevant communication is a key factor in their decision to buy from you. 

Effective selling requires powerful language. To build that value from the ground up, fix your sales talk track. The better your talk track is, the better your script will be, and ultimately, the better your sales conversation will be. 

What is a Sales Talk Track? 

A sales talk track is defined as “a checklist planned to assist you during a call with your prospect.” A talk track consists of shortlists of information or ideas that sales reps use while talking to a prospect to cover important points related to your product. 

The purpose of a talk track is to ensure that by the end of the call you have critical information about your prospect to set an agenda and move the discussion forward. 

Without a proper talk track in place, it is almost impossible to move ahead. 

If you want to increase your revenue from your sales team, but if you’re not considering having an actionable sales talk track in place you will miss more than hit the quota quarter on quarter. 

How to Structure your Sales Talk track 

Keep the following in mind when using a talk track in your sales conversations:

1. Always prepare the talk track beforehand. 
2. Make sure to cover all sections from your talk track.
3. As sales calls are typically shorter in duration, keep track of time and pace yourself in order to cover all the sections.

Here’s how to structure your talk track for your sales conversations: 

Framing your Sales Talk Track 

A sales talk track consists of four components: opener, qualifying, presentation and closing. Each of these components consists of mini-steps.

Opener 

Start by thanking the customer for meeting with you. Do not jump right into the agenda and talk about your product right away. 

Give your customer an opportunity to speak about themselves. For instance, ask the client about their role in their organization and what their day-to-day looks like. 

Then, transition the conversation seamlessly into the qualifying component. 

Qualifying 

Frame the sales conversation around the buyer and their challenges. The qualifying component of the talk track focuses on the buyer’s goals, challenges, and responsibilities. 

Here are a few suggestions to research before the call: 

• Visit the customer’s website to understand your buyer’s strategic issues and how your product will weave in with their product. 
• Supplement this research with your own takeaways from other case studies or examples from a similar industry. 

Prepare a set of questions based on your research that might support your pitch to understand the buyer and their problems better. 

Presentation 

Leverage the insights gained from your call with the buyer to understand their needs to position your offering. The purpose of this is to get the customers’ acceptance to aid your selling process. 

• Understand your buyer’s concerns thoroughly. 
• Prepare yourself for questions from the buyers.
• Try to address any questions and concerns directly. If you don’t know the answer to the buyer’s concerns, let them know that you will come back with appropriate answers later.

Once you understand the buyer and their needs, demonstrate your product with a sales demo and a corresponding sales pitch deck to support your statements. A positive outcome from the demo will put you in a much stronger position than when you initially started the conversation. 

Closing 

Once you seek the right information about your stakeholders, end the conversation with the critical information you need to qualify to move the sales process ahead. 

But, how can your sales team improve their current talk track in their sales conversations?

8 Key Steps to Improve your Talk Track Effectively

1. Focus on One Solution to Avoid Information Overload
2. Conclude Every Sales Pitch with a Commitment to the Next Step
3. Listen Actively and Learn from your Prospect
4. Switch to Smart Technology to improve Talk Tracks
5. Surprise the Prospect with Unique Questions
6. Never Miss Personalisation!
7. Let Go of Generic Sales Jargon
8. Organize your Ideas

#1 Focus on One Solution to Avoid Information Overload

A pitch’s purpose is to always pique the curiosity of the client. Ensure that your pitch is attention-grabbing and show the bigger picture to your clients. Pick just one crucial benefit that is truly your product’s USP, and make sure you weave a narrative around it. Do not cover too much and overwhelm or confuse the buyer with your pitch. 

#2 Conclude Every Sales Pitch with a Commitment to the Next Step 

Make sure that your talk track is always about your prospect. 

While asking questions is important, avoid finishing your pitch with questions that invoke doubt like “Does this make sense to you?” or “Would you like to try our other product?” - these questions will make the client feel less valued. 

Instead, close the conversation with positive and confident testaments of clients benefiting from using your product. And THEN follow up with questions. This makes them feel confident about your authority around the product and close the call with a commitment to move further in the process. 

#3 Listen Actively and Learn from your Prospect

Any good sales rep will listen more than they talk. 

Any sales conversation should be a two-way street and focus more on learning and understanding your buyer. This happens through active listening. 

Listen to your prospect actively and ask relevant questions. Typically, your buyers are experts in their fields and getting them to talk more will not only help you understand them better but also build rapport.

#4 Switch to Smart Technology to improve Talk Tracks 

Depending heavily on manual work for all sales processes will most likely lead to human errors and make it difficult to keep up with your buyers. 

Leveraging smart tech software like Salesken to enhance a talk track will get you several stages ahead. Salesken will help you set an agenda, keep track of your prospects’ conversations with real-time cues, learn how effective is your pipeline with call tracking metrics, and more. 

With a conversational sales intelligence platform like Salesken, you can make calls, get cues to navigate the conversation, track the conversation, and come up with a strategy to push the sales agenda further into the funnel. 

#5 Surprise the Prospect with Unique Questions 

Asking your buyers unexpected questions will get their attention and keep them engaged throughout your sales conversation. Asking unique questions that show interest and aren’t opportunistic will definitely encourage prospects to talk and share more and help you build rapport.

For instance, if your prospect is from the hospitality sector, in addition to asking questions about their industry, organization, and processes, you could ask a question like, “With COVID-19 in picture, how are you trying to navigate the situation and instill more safety in your establishment?” 

#6 Never Miss Personalisation!

With prior research and asking open-ended questions to your buyer, personalisation should be a natural flow of your sales talk track. 

While a talk track will act as a guide to assist you throughout your conversation, always leave some room for personalisation in the call. Look up your prospect on LinkedIn, Twitter, or any other public platform to gather insights about them, their interests, and their work to build deeper connections. 

In addition, leveraging speech analytics software like Salesken will help you keep up with your conversation with real-time cues.

#7 Let Go of Generic Sales Jargon 

One of the biggest mistakes that sales reps make is using generic and confusing sales jargon. 

Using technical terms such as CPM, retention, product analytics, farming, and so on only confuses the buyer further. Even if your clients understand such jargon, it is best to avoid bringing up lingo that does not add value to your conversation. 

The best way to lead sales conversations is by using easy-to-understand terms and concepts to explain your product and make that pitch. 

#8 Organize your Ideas 

Setting up an agenda and focusing on your north star benefits your sales conversation, while organizing your ideas into separate categories makes it easier to articulate them. 

Categorize your calls into different sections that add weightage to your pitch and help you build a personal connection with your prospect. The sections could include an opener, understanding the purpose of the call, a product demo, success stories, and a call to action. 

The more organized you are, the better you will be able to pitch and close your conversation. 

Sales conversational intelligence and analytics tools such as Salesken will help you automate manual tasks and provide real-time data and analytics to always be on track with your sales conversations. 

Book a demo with our expert to never miss a chance with your prospect!