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1. Implement a process.

The new approach to sales all starts right here—with a process. Out in the real world, most salespeople are just winging the sales process. (Remember when we talked about the pitfalls of haphazard prospecting?) If you don’t know exactly what you’re going to say when you’re in front of a prospect, then you’re winging your sales process, too—and hurting your chances of closing more sales.

2. Stop pitching.

Most salespeople go right into a hard pitch when talking to a prospect, talking about all the reasons why the prospect should do business with them.

This might be you if you use a PowerPoint slide deck at the beginning of your sales conversations, and the first couple of slides talk about you and your company. If so, you’re pitching. Putting an end to the hard pitch is essential to closing more sales, especially in a down market.

3. No more probing.

If your cold emails and phone calls use phrasing such as, “I'd love to learn more about your business, so that way we can talk about how we can help you” or “I’d love to pick your brain about what keeps you up at night, so that way we can talk about how we can support you”—then you’re probing, and it’s time to stop.

4. Disqualify prospects.

The new approach to selling includes a process for making sure that prospects are a fit for what you sell, while enabling you to demonstrate value at the same time. This is all about disqualifying prospects, and salespeople can use this disqualification process to cut out many years’ worth of selling pain.

5. Don’t present; solve.

The presentation should really be the shortest phase of the sales process. If you’ve done a good job up until this point, then most of the work has already been done in the disqualification phase. The presentation should almost be like a formality.

6. Know your prospecting blueprint.

A prospecting blueprint is simply a plan for generating more sales opportunities—and ultimately closing more sales. We’ve discussed several times how most salespeople do haphazard prospecting. The prospecting blueprint is the antidote to this common problem in sales.

7. Utilize mentorship or coaching.

If the ideas in this article sound useful to you, then the next step is for you to find a way to put it all together and actually implement the strategy in your selling approach. The most effective way to do this is to invest in mentorship and learn a proven process.