Customer-Centric Sales: How to Listen, Learn, and Close Deals
Turning Feedback into Actionable Insights That Drive Revenue
I’ve talked about customer feedback before in a previous post. But I wanted to dig a little deep here to emphasize how technical founders can use information from their customers to refine their offerings and close more deals. Engaging with customers and using their feedback is a critical process for small businesses. This post will focus on how technical leaders can listen effectively to their customers, adapt their sales approach based on feedback, and use that information to refine their offerings and close more deals. By prioritizing customer needs, you not only build stronger relationships but also turn insights into sustainable revenue growth.
The Power of Active Listening in Sales
70% of sales professionals believe that listening is more important than speaking during sales conversations (source: RAIN Group). Yet when we get in front of a customer we so often focus on pitching our features and benefits. Think about your current sales pitch, how many questions does it have in it? Yes, you need to state the problem and close with your solution to the problem, but you also need to ask questions and listen to your customer. This allows them to know that when they work with you, you will listen and hear their challenges throughout the sales process. This will also ensure that you understand their current challenges the best. What problems do they really have that you can solve? Today or in the future.
Actively listening is also a key to success on the sales side. No one enjoys the sales person that does not know when to stupid up and let the meeting end. Using actively listen and adapt to customer feedback makes you 32% more likely to achieve your sales targets (source: Gartner). So review your sales pitch now and think about the questions you could ask instead of the features you could pitch.
Leave space for silence and let it linger as well. Ask the questions you have and count to 15 or 20 in your head. They may seem like an eternity in the moment, but it will ensure that your future customers have time to process the questions and respond.
If you are still on the fence about actively listening consider this study by Harvard Business Review. It suggests that sales teams that prioritize listening skills improve their closing rates by up to 40% over teams that rely heavily on scripted pitches. It is not all about the information you say, it’s about the information you hear.
Turning Feedback into Closing Strategies
Why ask questions in the first sales pitch verses just stating the problem and our solution. Well consider that 75% of buyers say they’re more likely to purchase from a salesperson who incorporates their feedback into future conversations (source: HubSpot). Customers want to be hear and the best way to show them that you hear them is to ask questions first, listen, and then react to those questions. No one enjoys being asked questions and then getting a sales pitch that does not fit their needs. Consider an intact all or survey. This can allow you to ask questions and get feedback from your customer before you even have the first sales meeting. Also consider just making the first sales meeting more of a discussion. Maybe you only have 3 slides and the vast majority of the time is a guided conversation through the problem. The reason I say guided conversation is you are looking to focus on the problem you solve, but you want a lot of open ended questions to hear the challenges of the customer. Keep in mind that not every customer is the right customer today. Some customers you will want to circle back on and some will just be a straight. “No”, and that’s ok.
Approaching the conversation as a guide, increases your chances of success. After all Salesforce found that, salespeople who tailor their approach to individual customers are 70% more likely to exceed their quota. This is pretty straightforward and very similar to my first point but people want to be heard. They do not want a generic sales script. So scripts are great ways to ensure you hit the key points of your solution, but leave plenty of room for questions and discussion.
A quick side note here. As a technical founder it can be hard to sit in front of the customer and not have all the answer, but that’s ok. Customers do understand that you may need to do some investigation or get some additional information on the ability of your solution to solve a specific problem they have. So remember that saying, “I do not know if we can do that, but let me check and get back to you.” is a fine answer. It is actually better than over promising. A following is just another reason to talk to this customer anyways. Keeping the conversation going helps build the relationship as well.
Research from McKinsey highlights that businesses using customer insights to personalize their offerings see up to 10% higher conversion rates. So ask questions, listen and then tailor your sales pitch for each customer. It will be more work on the front end, but it will lead to more sales on the back end.
Leveraging Customer Feedback to Refine Offerings
How are you going to get better if you never listen to your customers feedback? I do not mean read all the reviews on Google or comments on any digital platform. You may get some value from there, but I’m talking about actually face to face, or over the phone conversations with your customer. Focuing on the problem you are trying to solve and the problem your cusotmer has. You want to make sure these problems are aligned, otherwise your solution is not really a solutions.
You also want to learn about your customers experience interacting with your company. 91% of customers say they’re more likely to do business with a company that listens to their feedback (source: Salesforce). As technical founders we can be focus on the problem and all the great features we have to solve that problem. However, if our company is a challenge to work with then our features and solution mean nothing. Take time every week to get some customer feedback. Why every week you might ask? Companies that use feedback to improve customer experiences see a 15% increase in retention and a 25% increase in revenue (source: Qualtrics). You are building the process and the habit of getting feedback from your customers. One you have that feedback you need to process it. Take it in and thank your customer for share. think of it for a day or two and then implement the right change that will help your current and future customers.
Still on the fence about customer feedback consider the Forbes study showing companies that implement customer feedback into their strategies outperform their competitors by 60% in customer satisfaction metrics. Happy customers give you ceritificates of appreciation with presidents faces on them. I believe that’s a Rabi Daniel Lapin ism.
Action Step
Review your current sales pitch. Are you tailoring it based on feedback, or are you using the same script for every customer? Focus on asking three additional questions in your next three sales calls and incorporate the responses into future interactions.
Additional Reading:
"How Customer Feedback Drives Business Growth" – Qualtrics
"Active Listening for Sales Professionals: The Key to Closing Deals" – Harvard Business Review
"Why Personalization Matters: A Deep Dive into Buyer Preferences" – Salesforce