How to Seal the Sales Deal with Real-Life Results

Give your prospects real insight to your sales results. Here’s how to set up and tell the sales story.

Whether you’re in inside or outside sales, you sell. You don’t have time to wait until marketing creates case studies. And, for the most part, you don’t need them.

Case studies have their place: they’re collateral on your website, you may include them in a proposal, or leave them behind after a presentation. How many clients do you think read them word for word? Are they nice to have? Yes. To establish credibility and prove you know your stuff, yes. To close a sale? No.

Position, Set, Deliver

Prospects and clients want to hear about the results you’ve delivered for other clients. Deliver these insights with compelling stories and examples that you weave into your conversations.

Telling a story is engaging, quickly captures attention, and proves you’re a “real guy,” not someone parroting the company line—after all, anyone can get the basics from your corporate website. (The personal connection, the real story is human. Read, “How to Attract Sales Prospects in a Tech-Focused World”.)

Here’s a simple structure for telling a story about other client work:

• Situation—What was the challenge or business issue they faced?
• Action—What did you do?
• Result—What was the impact on the their business?

With this framework, you can tell a story in 60 seconds (or less). It’s quick, easy, and your sales prospect gets the point. It can be your story or anyone else’s on the sales team. Everyone in your organization has stories.

Your Action Step: Craft at least five stories that are ready to share with a sales prospect or client. As you work with new clients, quickly develop a story using “Situation, Action, Result.” Get your results stories crafted and out the door quickly.

Let marketing work on the case study. You work on closing the sale.

How Do You Seal the Deal?

What’s your go-to sales success story? Comment and share your experience here.