20 Sales Points to Remember for Effective Selling

Selling is more than just convincing—it’s about connecting. Did you know that sales teams who strategically address customer needs see a 50% higher conversion rate, according to HubSpot?

Whether you’re refining your pitch or building trust with potential customers, mastering the fundamentals is key.

This guide breaks down 20 essential sales points to transform your approach, making each interaction count. You’ll learn actionable ways, backed by data and examples, to help you resonate with your audience and close deals confidently.

What is a Sales Point

A sales point refers to a specific benefit or feature of a product or service that is highlighted to persuade a potential customer to make a purchase. These are strategically used during the sales process to address the needs and concerns of the target audience, effectively steering them towards a buying decision.

• Effectiveness: Sales points are designed to resonate with the customer's specific interests or pain points. For example, if a product offers a 30% faster performance than competitors, highlighting this can influence the buying process of tech-savvy consumers.
• Strategic Use: During in-person meetings or phone conversations, sales teams strategically place these points to convert expressed interest into actual sales.
• Conversion Rates: Data shows that well-crafted sales points can increase conversion rates by up to 50% when aligned with customer expectations and market demands.

20 Sales Points for Effective Selling

Effective selling for many businesses requires focusing on key sales points that resonate with customers and influence their purchase decisions. Here are 20 essential sales points to remember for effective selling:

1. Know Your Product Inside Out

Your first step to being a great salesperson is understanding what you sell. Learn every detail about your product or service. Can it save time, cut costs, or improve results? For example, if your product increases efficiency by 30%, let your customer know. Being knowledgeable builds trust.

Improving your connect rate with potential buyers can significantly boost your sales process.

2. Understand Your Customer’s Needs

Selling isn’t about talking; it’s about listening. What challenges does your customer face? Ask questions to learn their goals. For instance, in a phone conversation, you might ask, “What problem are you trying to solve?” Once you know their needs, explain how your product helps.

3. Build Genuine Relationships

People buy from those they trust. Be friendly and authentic. A simple smile or remembering their name during in-person meetings can go a long way. Share a quick story about another customer who solved a similar problem using your product to make them feel understood.

4. Customize Your Approach

Every customer is unique. A one-size-fits-all pitch doesn’t work. Adjust your message for your target audience. For a business-to-business sale, focus on return on investment. For individual buyers, highlight ease of use. Show them you understand their situation.

5. Ask Open-Ended Questions

Avoid questions that only need a simple answer of yes or no. Instead, ask open-ended ones like, “How could this feature help your business?” These questions encourage discussion and help you learn more about your customer’s pain points.

6. Highlight Value, Not Features

What matters most to your customer? It’s the value they get, not just the features of your product. Instead of saying, “This phone has a 5000mAh battery,” explain, “You can go two days without charging your phone!”

Show how your product solves problems or improves life. Customers care about results, not technical terms.

7. Be Prepared for Objections

Objections are a normal part of the sales process. Some customers may say, “It’s too expensive,” or “I’m not ready yet.” Prepare clear answers to these concerns. For example, if someone thinks it costs too much, explain how it saves them money in the long run. Always stay calm and confident.

8. Show Empathy

People like to feel understood. If a customer shares their problem, listen carefully. Say things like, “I understand why this is frustrating for you.” Share a story about another customer who had the same issue and how your product helped them. Empathy builds trust and stronger relationships.

9. Master the Art of Storytelling

Stories are powerful. Instead of listing features, share how your product made someone’s life better. For example, “A small business owner used our service and doubled their sales in just six months.” Stories make your product relatable and easier to remember.

10. Follow Up Consistently

Many sales don’t happen on the first try. Did you know it can take 8+ different touchpoints just to close a deal? Send a follow-up email or make a friendly call. Keep the conversation going without being pushy. Customers appreciate your persistence and dedication.

Building long-term leads requires patience and consistent follow-up, ensuring future sales opportunities.

11. Leverage Social Proof

People trust what others say about your product. Use customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies to show your product’s value. For example, highlight a review where someone solved a problem using your service. This builds trust and makes potential customers more likely to buy.

12. Understand the Decision-Making Process

Every customer has a process before making a purchase. They think about their needs, compare options, and decide. Ask questions to understand what steps they take. For business-to-business sales, identify who makes the final decision. This helps you focus your efforts on the right person.

13. Stay Positive, Even in Rejection

Not every lead will turn into a sale. If someone says no, stay polite and professional. Thank them for their time and ask if you can reach out in the future. Many customers return later when they’re ready to buy. A positive attitude leaves a lasting impression.

14. Use Data to Support Your Claims

Facts make your pitch stronger. Share data that proves your product’s benefits. For example, “Our software reduces costs by 20% on average.” Numbers show value clearly and make your claims believable.

Providing detailed white papers can help prospects understand the technical benefits of your product.

15. Practice Active Listening

Listening is key to understanding your customer’s needs. Don’t interrupt or rush to respond. Instead, repeat what they’ve said to show you understand. For instance, say, “You’re looking for a tool that saves time, right?” This builds trust and helps you offer the right solution.

16. Maintain a Professional Appearance

First impressions matter. Whether you're meeting a potential customer online or in person, dress neatly and present yourself confidently.

Customers trust professionals who look and act the part. For example, wearing clean, business-appropriate clothes during a face to face meeting shows respect and seriousness.

17. Keep Your Sales Pipeline Organized

An organized sales pipeline helps you track potential customers at every stage of the buying process. Use tools like CRM software to keep records of follow-ups, customer interactions, and progress. This makes it easier to prioritize leads and close deals faster.

18. Be Adaptable

Every customer is different. What works for one might not work for another. Be ready to adjust your approach based on their needs and preferences. For example, some customers prefer detailed product demos, while others just want a quick summary. Stay flexible to match their buying journey.

19. Create Urgency through Marketing Messages

Sometimes, customers delay making a decision. Use marketing messages to create urgency. For instance, share limited-time offers or emphasize benefits they can enjoy immediately. Phrases like “Only 3 days left!” or “Act now to save 20%!” encourage quicker decisions.

20. Close with Confidence

When the time feels right, ask to make a sale more directly. Use confident language, like, “Would you like to proceed with this today?” Avoid hesitation, as it might make the customer second-guess their decision. A strong closing shows you believe in your product.

How to Identify Sales Points

Identifying compelling sales points is critical for effectively communicating the value of your products or services. These are the features or benefits that make your offer stand out in the marketplace and resonate with your target audience, driving their decision to purchase.

Step 1: Analyze Your Product or Service

Start with a thorough understanding of what you're selling. This means examining every feature and its benefits.

• Detail Product Features: Create a comprehensive list of your product’s features. For each feature, note the benefit it brings to the customer.
• Identify Unique Features: Highlight features that are unique to your product or service, especially those that are not offered by competitors. These unique selling propositions (USPs) are potential key sales points.

Step 2: Understand Your Target Audience

Knowing who you are selling to is just as important as knowing your product. Effective sales points speak directly to the target customer's needs and preferences.

• Customer Research: Conduct detailed market research to understand your customer's needs, challenges, and desires. Use surveys, focus groups, and market data to gather this information.
• Buyer Personas: Develop detailed buyer personas that represent different segments of your target market. Tailor your sales points to match the specific concerns and desires of each persona.

Step 3: Conduct Competitive Analysis

Look at your competitors to see how they are positioning their products and offer resources and which features they are emphasizing.

• Competitive Review: Examine competitors’ products and marketing materials. Note the features they promote and how they communicate their benefits.
• Market Gaps: Identify any needs or desires that competitors are not addressing. Your product’s ability to meet these unfulfilled needs can be a powerful sales point.

Step 4: Leverage Data and Feedback

Use quantitative and qualitative data to identify which features of your product resonate most with customers.

• Sales and Performance Data: Analyze sales data to see which features are most frequently associated with purchases.
• Customer Feedback: Regularly review customer feedback on your product and competitors’. Pay special attention to praises and complaints as they can direct you to your strongest sales points.

Step 5: Integrate Across Marketing Team and Sales Team

Ensure that your identified sales points are consistently used across all marketing and sales channels.

• Marketing Integration: Embed your sales points in all marketing materials, from your website to social media to email campaigns.
• Sales Team Alignment: Train your sales team thoroughly on these sales points. They should be able to confidently discuss these points and tailor their pitch to different customer segments.

Step 6: Continuously Update and Refine

Market conditions and customer preferences can change, so it's important to continually refine your sales points.

• Monitor Industry Trends: Stay updated on trends and changes in your industry that might affect customer preferences.
• Adapt and Evolve: Be prepared to adjust your sales points in response to new competitors, changing market conditions, or feedback from customers.

What is a Customer Touch Point

Customer touch points encompass all the different stages where a customer interacts with a brand, from initial awareness through to post-purchase experiences.

These interactions can happen through various channels such as social media, email, or face-to-face meetings, influencing the customer's journey and perception of the company or brand.

• Awareness and Engagement: Initial touch points might include targeted marketing messages or content on a company's website, aiming to engage the customer with relevant and compelling information.
• Decision Making: During the decision phase, touch points like reading online reviews or detailed product descriptions on e-commerce sites play a crucial role. For instance, 65% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a site that has product comparisons and reviews readily available.
• Post-Purchase: Follow-up emails, customer support calls, and feedback requests are touch points that help in retaining customers and turning them into loyal advocates of the brand.

Understanding the Sales Process: From Awareness to Conversion

The sales process is a crucial number of touches and pathway that begins the moment a potential customer learns about a product or service (awareness) and ends when they make a purchase (conversion).

Each stage of this process utilizes specific sales points to effectively address and guide the next stage of the customer's journey.

1. Awareness Stage

The initial contact stage of the sales process is all about generating awareness. Here, the aim is to reach potential customers where they are most active.

• Marketing Messages: Using compelling marketing messages that resonate with the target audience can significantly increase visibility. For instance, incorporating SEO strategies with keywords like "business to business" or "potential customer" can attract the right demographic.
• Social Media: Engaging content on platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn helps capture the interest of potential customers. Statistically, businesses that actively engage on social media see a 45% increase in customer awareness.

2. Consideration Stage

Once awareness is established, potential customers move into the consideration stage, where they start evaluating the potential provider and offerings against their needs.

• Online Reviews and Lead Nurturing Campaigns: At this point, providing accessible online reviews and nurturing leads through personalized emails can be pivotal. About 70% of potential buyers read online reviews before making a buying decision.
• In-Person Meetings and Demonstrations: Demonstrating product benefits or solutions through in-person meetings or virtual demos helps solidify the product's value, addressing direct queries and concerns effectively.

3. Decision Stage

The decision stage is where sales points are crucial to convert the interested clients and prospects into buyers.

• Sales Teams and Sales Touch Points: Trained sales teams should use strategic sales touch points to communicate the value effectively. Emphasizing unique selling propositions and tailored solutions can make a significant difference.
• Phone Conversations and Face to Face Meetings: During these interactions, specifics such as discounts, customer support, and additional benefits should be highlighted. Statistics show that personalized discussions can boost conversion rates by up to 55%.

4. Post-Purchase

The journey doesn't end at purchase; ensuring customer satisfaction through follow-up and support can lead to more sales, repeat business and referrals.

• Customer Journey and Engagement Rates: Follow-up calls or emails to ensure satisfaction can help in maintaining a high engagement rate post-purchase. Implementing customer feedback loops can lead to a 50% increase in overall customer retention.
• Lead Generation for Future Sales: Keeping the communication lines open with past customers through lead generation tactics ensures they think of your business first for future needs.

How to Convert Customer Touch Points into Sales

Converting customer touch points into sales requires a strategic approach that aligns with the customer and buyer's journey and leverages effective communication channels. Here's how to do it:

Understand the Buying Journey

1. Map the Buying Journey: Identify the various stages of the buying journey, from awareness to purchase, understanding how customers interact with your brand at each stage.
2. Identify Touch Points: Pinpoint where and how customers interact with your brand throughout their buying journey, including online interactions, phone conversations, and in-person engagements.

Utilize Effective Communication Channels

3. Engage Marketing Team: Collaborate closely with your marketing team to ensure consistent messaging across all touch points. Align marketing efforts with sales objectives to create a seamless customer experience.
4. Leverage Phone Conversations: Use phone conversations as an opportunity to provide personalized assistance and address customer questions or concerns. Establish rapport and build trust to move customers further along the buying journey.

Tailor Content to Buyer Personas

5. Create Buyer Personas: Develop detailed buyer personas based on customer demographics, behaviors, and preferences. Use these personas to tailor content and messaging to resonate with specific audience segments.
6. Content Personalization: Customize content and communications based on buyer personas to ensure relevance and effectiveness. Address pain points and offer solutions that align with each persona's needs and preferences.

Measure and Optimize Touch Point Effectiveness

7. Track Touch Points: Monitor and track customer interactions across all touch points to gain insights into their behavior and preferences. Use analytics to identify which touch points are most effective in driving sales.
8. Analyze Touchpoint Data: Analyze data on how many touchpoints are required for conversion. Determine the optimal number of touch points for different buyer personas and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Concluding Thoughts

Mastering effective selling involves skillfully integrating key sales points throughout the customer journey to drive conversions. By articulating compelling value propositions and tailoring messages to resonate with distinct buyer persona, sales teams can captivate their audience and foster meaningful connections.

Leveraging personalized phone conversation, guided by a deep understanding of prospect and buyer personas, is pivotal in nurturing relationships and guiding prospects towards conversion. With a strategic blend of empathy, expertise, and tailored communication, sales professionals can navigate final stage of the sales process with finesse, ultimately achieving success in closing deals and building lasting customer loyalty.