Negotiation, closing, CRM and the sales interview

Negotiation

• Know your walk-away point and your customer's priorities before discussing price.
• Trade, don't give: "If you sign an annual plan, I can include onboarding for free."
• Anchor with value before discussing discounts; discount for a reason (volume, commitment, timing), never just because they asked.
• Silence is powerful after stating a price.
• Aim for a win-win: an unhappy customer churns.

Closing techniques

• Summary close: recap the problems, the agreed value and next steps, then ask directly: "Shall we get started on the 1st?"
• Assumptive close: "Which plan works better for you, monthly or annual?"
• Trial close during the conversation: "If we could solve X, would you move forward?"
• Mutual action plan for complex deals: a shared list of steps and dates to signature.

The most common closing mistake is not asking at all.

CRM discipline

A CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, LeadSquared, Freshsales) is the single source of truth: contacts, companies, deals by stage, activities and next steps. Log every interaction the same day, always set a next step with a date, keep deal stages and values honest, and use reports to plan your week. Managers judge reliability largely by CRM hygiene.

Account management and growth

Onboard customers well, check in regularly, track health (usage, satisfaction), solve problems quickly, run quarterly business reviews for big accounts, and find upsell or cross-sell opportunities that genuinely help. Ask happy customers for referrals and testimonials. Keeping a customer is far cheaper than winning a new one.

Resilience and targets

Sales has highs and lows. Successful people control their inputs (activities, preparation, learning), review calls to improve, keep a routine, and don't take rejection personally. Know how incentives work (fixed + variable pay, commission, accelerators) and ask about them in interviews.

The sales interview

Expect:

• "Sell me this pen" (or any object): don't start pitching features. Ask questions first: "When did you last use a pen? What for? What matters to you in one?" Then pitch the benefits that match their answers, handle an objection, and ask for the sale.
• Role-plays: a cold call or discovery call with the interviewer as the customer. Use your structure: opener, questions, value, next step.
• Numbers questions: targets you hit, conversion rates, deal sizes; for freshers, examples like fundraising for a college fest, selling sponsorships, internships, or a small business you ran.
• Behavioural: handling rejection, a time you persuaded someone, how you organise your day.
• Company research: know their product, customers, competitors and pricing model, and prepare a 30-second pitch of their product.

Check yourself

• Practise "sell me this pen" with a friend using questions first.
• What would you trade in exchange for a 10% discount?
• What makes a CRM entry useful to your manager?