LinkedIn Sales Blog

The Anatomy of a
Successful Sales Call
What makes for a successful sales
call? Here are four characteristics of
sales discovery calls that move
prospects to the next stage, backed
by research.

Alex Hisaka August 21, 2017

Share Tweet

Share

As we gain access to more and more data,

we can dissect conversations at a very
granular level to determine the specific
elements of an effective sales call. That’s
just what the fine folks at Gong – who
provide a conversation intelligence platform
– do on a regular basis.

Gong’s analysis of over 500,000 discovery

sales calls surfaced insights you can put to
use right away. Read on for four sales call
best practices that separate top sales reps
from their lagging peers.

Balance the Listening-to-Talking Ratio

A primary goal of a discovery call is to start

building rapport with your sales prospect.
Rapport happens naturally when you
engage in a two-way conversation of giving
and taking. If you pepper the prospect with
questions left and right, it’s going to feel
more like an interrogation. According to
researchers at Gong, top sales performers
strike a roughly equal listening-to-talking
ratio. This allows the prospect time to
respond to your questions, and allows the
back-and-forth discussion to carry the call in
a natural way.

Ask Prospect-Specific “Problem

Questions”

The researchers also found that it’s

important to ask an ample amount of
problem-related questions on a discovery
call. In fact, it found top salespeople ask
10.1 "problem questions" per hour, while
average performers only ask 6.3.

We’re not talking about any old question,

like, “How’s the weather out there?” We’re
talking about targeted, relevant questions
specific to the buyer’s business issues,
challenges, goals and concerns. Gong
characterizes this as aiming for “more big
talk, less small talk.”

Limit Your Talking Points to 3 or 4 Issues

It goes without saying that a discovery call

should zero in on the prospect’s concerns,
challenges, and goals, but discuss too many
topics and the call can lose a sense of
structure. Jumping from topic to topic to
topic can leave your buyer feeling
overwhelmed. In fact, the truly major issues
might get lost in the shuffle, causing the
buyer to downgrade their importance and
urgency.

Gong found that the top-performing sales

professionals guide buyers to pinpoint the
three or four most pressing ones. By doing
so, they show value in their ability to help
the prospect gain clarity and focus, which in
turn helps streamline the overall research
and buying process.

Manage Your Time Effectively

While it’s important to hit the right points

during your discovery calls, it’s just as
important that you manage the timing and
cadence. Gong’s researchers discovered
that the most effective discovery call is split
into three parts:

First 25%: building rapport

Middle 50%: thorough discovery of 3-4

business issues

Final 25%: logistics and next steps

Here’s how this breaks down for a 30-

minute call:

7.5 minutes breaking the ice and

establishing a connection

15 minutes focused on discovery

7.5 minutes wrapping up

Whenever possible, schedule your sales

calls for Monday and Wednesday mornings.
Prospects are less likely to show up for the
call on Fridays and afternoons in general.

Checklist for Success

Here’s a handy summary of these

guidelines and suggestions:

Schedule calls for Monday and

Wednesday mornings

Do your homework and be prepared to

ask targeted questions

Aim for a balanced two-way dialogue

Spread your questions evenly

throughout the call

Focus on the top 3 or 4 buyer concerns,

challenges and goals

Break your call up by the 25/50/25 rule

(build rapport/discover issues/wrap up)

Follow these research-backed sales call tips

and you should see your discovery call
success rates rising in no time.

For more best practices that can boost your

win rate, subscribe to the LinkedIn Sales
Solutions blog.

Recent posts

Topics

LinkedIn Corporation © 2019

About

Cookies

Privacy

User Agreement