Deep sales habits can supercharge your success. According to a LinkedIn study, some of these sales habits include prioritizing high-potential accounts, identifying and building prospect relationships, and uncovering hidden allies. Compared to shallow sellers – those who don’t follow these best practices – deep sellers are nearly twice as likely to exceed their quotas.

Why is this? According to Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo, who contributed a piece to the LinkedIn Sales Blog, it’s because deep sellers are more intentional with whom they reach out to and when. They also conduct deeper research on the people they contact, and they do a better job of building key relationships. As a result, they’re viewed as strategic advisers that prospects want to work with.

How can you encourage more deep selling on your team? Read on. We share expert guidance from Lotardo and McLeod in this issue of PromoPro Daily.

Differentiate between coaching and pipeline meetings. These aren’t the same. In a pipeline meeting, you should ask questions like, “When will you close the deal?” and “How much revenue will it generate?” These questions don’t promote deep sales behaviors because they’re only focused on the immediate transaction. The information matters, but you should also work in a coaching element. McLeod and Lotardo recommend asking questions that focus on customer impact.

Take a longer view on account planning. This can help salespeople become more intentional with their outreach. They can focus on reaching out to prospects that are the best fit for their solution and are also ready to buy. Lotardo and McLeod suggest asking sales reps to self-identify the highest-potential accounts in their book and then identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Lean into intelligence. This means reinforcing in-depth knowledge about prospects and their industry. Regularly ask your sales reps what’s going on in the prospect’s field and what key business issues they are facing. This can help prompt them to think about the overall business landscape and examine issues through the eyes of their prospective clients.

Deep sellers do many things differently than shallow sellers. You can begin to build a team focused on deep selling by implementing the tips above. Work on building essential sales skills rather than chasing immediate revenue opportunities. When you practice deep selling, you can more positively impact the lives and businesses of the people who buy from your promo company.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo contribute to the LinkedIn Sales Blog. Lisa is an author, keynote speaker, coach, executive advisor and HBR contributor. Elizabeth is a consultant, researcher, facilitator, speaker and LinkedIn Learning instructor.