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The best structure for highly effective sales conversations

Jun 18, 2022 By Stuart Ayling

It was great to receive this feedback after a recent training program:

Hey Stuart! Just thought I’d send across a quick message and give you an update. Both Andrew and I have used your SOX strategy this morning and we booked a meeting each within 10 minutes. We made sure to really engage with the prospect by asking more relevant questions and we couldn’t be more thankful for your help!

Robert Verdugo

Robert and Andrew were part of a team of Sales Development Reps (SDR’s) who adopted my highly effective yet simple methodology for creating meaningful sales conversations.

As a result they quickly increased their ability to achieve more targeted outcomes from their outbound calls

The secret of creating highly effective sales conversations is to use a logical yet ‘conversational’ format based on asking a series of pre-planned questions.

Asking questions. Sounds simple. You’ve probably heard about this before.

It’s all about how you do it

As I explain in my sales management guide The Assassin Analogy, many sellers create confusion or uncertainty instead of creating forward momentum because they don’t create a logical path for the sales conversation.

As a result they can easily leave the prospect a little bewildered, wondering “What does this all mean?” and “Does this person really understand my needs?”.

These ineffective sellers fall victim what I call the “Pinball Effect”, whereby they ask lots of questions, yet they bounce around topics and create a cloud of fragments. Even though the seller may eventually get to ask the questions they want, in doing so they miss the opportunity to triangulate the prospects answers and to create a smooth-flowing conversation.

Don’t be consultative, be conversational

Even worse is when the seller tries to take a ‘consultative’ approach and ask lots of questions but does it in a way that comes across as more of an interrogation than a professional problem-solving conversation.

Robert and Andrew started using the S.O.X. Question Framework which has been proven to quickly give sellers the right questions and the right structure to confidently hold effective sales conversations that quickly get results.

How to find out more

To find out more about the S.O.X. Question Framework, the Pinball Effect and other factors that contribute to creating highly effective sales conversations download a complimentary copy of The Assassin Analogy report or listen to a live presentation explaining the model.

If you’d like to arrange a complimentary consultation where we can discuss options for future improvement for your team you’re welcome to get in touch.

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Filed Under: Prospecting, SaaS, Sales conversations, Sales training, The Assassin Analogy

About Stuart Ayling

Stuart Ayling is Chief Sales Strategist at Marketing Nous. With many years of sales and marketing experience under his belt he's on a crusade to help expertise-based businesses develop their sales capabilities and achieve their goals. Subscribe to his blog to get the latest resources.

Subscribe to the blog for the latest resources, and get a copy of ‘7 Steps to Create a High Performance Sales Team’

Recommended for Sales Leaders

Watch the presentation full size and download the key point worksheet

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As featured in Sales & Marketing Management magazine cover story

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Overview of client feedback

The week following the 2-day training, the team had already commenced implementing some of the learnings from Stuart’s training.
Camille Johnson, CEO

Sales figures have increased by 20% on last year to date!! The team also continue to pick up new customers.
Sharyn Moran, General Manager

Our sales results have increased since incorporating Stuart’s sessions into our sales conference and this has been during a downturn in the market.
Justin Zakaras, National Sales and Marketing Manager

The content of the sessions was customised to suit our customer interactions, with a lot of preparation on the part of Stuart.
Dr. Sunil Kadri, Head of Sales and Business Development


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Thank you so much for a brilliant session on Thursday. I think the format and content was ideal.
Rennie Colston, Sales Director

We had a very positive result from involving Stuart in our Managers Conference last year.
Russell Varley, Human Resources

The training got us thinking more strategically about how the business is structured. It has really built our capabilities as a management team.
Mia Graham, General Manager


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Stuart was patient, flexible and knowledgeable. He took the time to truly understand our business.
Helen Zwicker, Executive Officer

The best thing is that I now have a road map of specific marketing activities that can be implemented with confidence.
Donna Cazzolato, General Manager Sales and Marketing

The participants immediately felt engaged as Stuart demonstrated his understanding of our needs and challenges.
Frederic Vanhove, Principal Engineer, Pacific Delivery


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With only one day we had a lot of material to cover and Stuart created a positive learning environment for all involved.
Kylie Kinsella, Sales Manager Australia & NZ

Bad ideas are expensive in business however with Stuart Ayling, it was money very well spent.
John B. Lonergan, Sales Manager


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By the next week, sales of this product had doubled from 10% of all new sales to 20%. The extremely cost effective session with Stuart paid for itself within the first week.
Maria Triggs, General Manager

We have already seen a new client on board as a result of the two-day workshop.
Mark Mahoney, Managing Director


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Stuart put the sales training across in a way they could accept as a part of our service offering with out them feeling like “salesmen”.
Gary McDonald, Managing Director

We were impressed by the approach of Stuart and the simplicity of the program without the hype generally associated with these courses.
Dirk Kuiper, General Manager


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Read the latest on the blog

  • The best structure for highly effective sales conversations Jun 18, 2022
  • How to manage sales negotiations – will AI help? Jan 26, 2021
  • How to say ‘No’ to clients and still have them buy May 18, 2020
  • Recruiting a sales person? Stop, until you have done these three things Nov 28, 2019
  • Understanding the emotional experience of clients Aug 1, 2019

About Marketing Nous

Marketing Nous was established in 2000 by Stuart Ayling, Director and Chief Sales Strategist. Stuart works  with expertise-based businesses to develop customised sales training and … Read More >>

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Daisy Hill QLD 4127 Australia

Tel: 0407 588 468

Email: info [at] marketingnous.com.au
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