Sales Techniques, Communication Styles, and Objection Handling

Vocabulary flashcards covering sales presentation types, behavioral styles, SMART goals, the SPIN selling technique, financial metrics, and objection handling methods.

Adaptive Selling

Changing your selling strategy around the customer (also known as customer-focused), which allows the seller to customize or tailor their presentation to the customer, but can also be the most expensive.

Standard Memorization

A canned presentation with high control, low skill, and low training requirement that ensures all sellers provide complete and accurate details and information, but allows less customization.

Outlined Presentation

A presentation format that includes a basic outlined intro and matches the general objectives of the pitch while still allowing some customization towards the customer.

Customized Presentation

A written or oral presentation that is based directly on the customer's needs.

Behavioral Styles

Personal traits, social characteristics, communication style, and decision-making tendencies that reflect how a person is likely to react to a particular situation.

Social Style Matrix

A method of classifying the customer based on their preferred communication style.

Assertive

A communication dimension characterized by being fast, active, a high risk taker, very verbal, and directive.

Responsiveness

A communication dimension describing emotional people who tend to show their emotions during a situation.

Analyticals

A social style characterized by low assertiveness and low responsiveness, focused on facts, logic, and details.

Drivers

A social style characterized by high assertiveness and low responsiveness; results-oriented, fast-paced, and decisive.

Amiables

A social style characterized by low assertiveness and high responsiveness; cooperative, supportive, and relationship-driven.

Expressives

A social style characterized by high assertiveness and high responsiveness; outgoing, enthusiastic, and visionary.

Planning Process

A three-step sales preparation process: gather pre-call information, set objectives, and make an appointment.

Seeding

Sending information before the meeting.

Specific (S)

Clearly states what needs to be accomplished with enough detail that everyone understands the goal and what actions are required.

Measurable (M)

Includes quantifiable metrics or indicators to track progress and determine when the goal has been successfully reached.

Achievable (A)

Realistic and attainable given the available resources, capabilities, and constraints.

Relevant

Aligned with broader objectives and worthwhile for the current business context or strategy.

Time-bound

Has a defined deadline, timeframe, or target date for completion to create urgency and focus.

SPIN Selling Technique

A sales framework structured to guide a sales conversation from understanding the customer's current reality to helping them recognize the value of a solution.

Situation Question (S)

A question used to gather facts, background data, and context about the customer's existing operations.

Problem Question (P)

A question used to uncover specific difficulties, dissatisfactions, or problems the customer is experiencing with their current setup.

Implication Question (I)

A question that explores the effects, consequences, and broader impacts of the customer's problems, helping them understand issue seriousness and building urgency around fixing them.

Need Payoff Question (N)

A question that focuses the customer on the value, usefulness, and benefits of solving the problem, prompting them to articulate the positive outcomes of a solution themselves.

Open-Ended Questions

Questions that have the customer go beyond a yes or no.

Closed-Ended Questions

Questions that can be answered in a word or two.

Feature

A specific characteristic, attribute, function, or capability of a product or service.

Benefit

The positive outcomes, emotional resonance, or solutions that product or service features deliver.

Customer Value Proposition

How your product fills the customer's needs and is different than the competition.

Simple Cost-Benefit Analysis

Compares the total expected costs of a single option or project against its total anticipated benefits to determine whether it is financially and operationally worthwhile.

Comparative Cost-Benefit Analysis

An evaluation method used to compare the costs and expected benefits of two or more alternative options, products, or courses of action.

ROI

Return on investment.

Payback Period

The length of time for the investment to be returned in the form of cash.

Net Present Value

Future cash inflows discounted into today's dollar investment.

Opportunity Cost

The return on one investment compared to another.

Profit Margin

Profit after subtracting all associated costs.

Inventory Turnover

Measures how fast a product sells relative to how much inventory has to be carried.

Return on Space

Assesses an investment as sales per square foot or sales per shelf foot.

Objections

Concerns raised by a prospective customer that indicate hesitation, doubt, or resistance to moving forward with a purchase.

Forestall

Prevent by doing something ahead of time.

Direct Denial

A method used when a prospect's objection is based on blatantly false or mistaken information, where the salesperson directly and firmly corrects the misunderstanding.

Indirect Denial

A method of addressing an objection by softening the response—often by initially acknowledging and agreeing with the prospect's point or concern before gently correcting the misinformation or providing context.

Compensation Method

A method used when the customer's objection is valid, where the salesperson acknowledges the drawback or weakness of the product and points out a compensating advantage or strength that offsets it.

Superior Benefit Method

A method of answering an objection by focusing on a different, powerful benefit that outweighs or overshadows the customer's specific concern.

Referral Method

Using the testimony, success story, or experience of a satisfied third party (or previous customer) to prove to the prospect that their concern is unfounded.

Acknowledge Method

Listening carefully to the prospect's concern, validating their feelings, and acknowledging it without immediately countering or arguing, allowing the conversation to progress smoothly.

Revisit Method

Turning the objection around so that it actually becomes a reason for the customer to buy (often called the translation or boomerang method).

Postpone Method

Asking the prospect to hold off on discussing the objection until a later point in the presentation when it will naturally be addressed in more detail.