Discover the 4C method to improve your sales

What is the 4C Rule in Sales?

The 4C Sales Method: What Are We Talking About?

In sales or commercial negotiation, the 4C method aims to provide salespeople with a framework for improving their conversion rates during meetings.

The 4C expression is a contraction of the following concepts:

• Contact: Successfully making first contact with a prospect is crucial

• Know: To be relevant in your sales approach, you must understand the client's needs

• Convince: To be persuasive, the salesperson must have the right arguments

• Close: To conclude a commercial meeting, making a good impression throughout is essential

Each word corresponds to a stage in the sales conversation. For example, first, you establish contact with the prospect. You finish at stage 4 with closing the meeting.

While the 4C method is highly effective for successful face-to-face commercial meetings, it can also inspire any exchange on social media or through a website.

We'll detail each stage in the second part of this article.

6C, 7C: Alternative Sales Methods to 4C

The 4C sales method offers salespeople and sales professionals a real guide for conducting their sales interviews. As you'll understand, by following this interview framework, you'll have the best cards in hand to build a quality pitch.

Some sales professionals also talk about the 6C method or even the 7C method. Here, we add two to three additional concepts:

• Consult at stage 0: properly preparing your visit

• Understand needs at stage 3: by reformulating the client's needs

• Leave or Conserve at stage 7: reassuring the client in their choice and maintaining contact with them

The difference is very slight, and we much prefer using the "4C method" expression, which ultimately integrates the elements of 6C or 7C into each of its stages.

Indeed, in the "Contact" part, we obviously include interview preparation. The salesperson must research the company, its decision-makers, its challenges, and recent news before presenting themselves for the first time. This is essential.

Similarly, in the "Know" part, we make sure to ask questions that will help us understand the client's needs well.

Finally, in the "Close" part, we ensure the client has no more questions, we reassure them in their choice, and we potentially schedule a new meeting.

The Advantages of the 4C Sales Approach

For salespeople, a sales interview is probably the most interesting and stressful moment. As sales professionals, we know it will be difficult to differentiate ourselves, and at the same time, we're aware that a single argument can trigger the client's decision!

By using the 4C method, salespeople learn to secure their negotiations. They become more confident and self-assured.

A clear, relevant, well-conducted sales pitch will result in:

• Greater chance of successful commercial meetings with contract signatures or product sales

• Time and money savings for the company: It's better to favor a very refined commercial approach, even if it means spending a lot of time building your sales argument, because the results will be there. This means more sales and less time prospecting for salespeople

• By conducting sales interviews, the sales team will be front and center for clients' questions and hesitations. This is a real asset for better understanding them, being more accurate in communication, and ultimately developing products accordingly

‍How to Apply the 4C Method in Sales

Contact: The First Impression

The first thing to do to better approach your commercial strategy with the 4Cs is to work on your first impression.

Statistics are clear on this subject: when we meet someone for the first time, it takes just one hundred milliseconds to form an opinion about them.

In sales, it's exactly the same thing. Working on first impressions means stacking the odds in your favor when a client contacts your company/brand for the very first time.

In a commercial prospecting approach, for example, succeeding at this first stage involves these common-sense elements:

• Polish your presentation as a salesperson: both visually and in your behavioral approach (politeness, smiling)

• Prepare your commercial pitch considering your audience: You don't address everyone the same way. In B2B, if you're trying to sell a software solution to a company, you'll adapt your message. If you're talking with someone who'll use the software daily, you can discuss its features. Conversely, if you're talking with someone from the management team, you can emphasize productivity benefits

• Know how to manage your commercial meeting by being clear about its duration: Both stakeholders should know when the exchange begins and when it will end. Managing your exchange well also means being able to follow your commercial pitch while being agile enough to answer potential questions from the prospect. Adaptability is paramount

• Be straight to the point by explaining to your client the purpose of the current meeting

• Prepare the ground for the second phase of the interview. You must therefore be able to put the prospect at ease

Know: The Discovery Phase

After implementing a convincing first approach, you enter the discovery phase. This stage means that the salesperson, like the prospect, can take turns asking questions. It's an open stage where everyone has the opportunity to express themselves. Nevertheless, the salesperson must set the rhythm for the exchange.

Indeed, they must take time to ask all necessary questions to get to know their client. Later, they can offer a tailored solution that completely meets their needs.

For the 4C approach to be successful, the knowledge or discovery phase should represent more than 40% of the total exchange.

Here are some tips for succeeding at this moment:

• Alternate between open and general questions like "What solution are you using today?" or "What do you expect from a service provider today?" Then ask closed questions that require a simple answer. For example: "Have you achieved your objectives with the solution you're using today?"

• Make sure to ask questions that cover all essential subjects for getting to know the client well: context, problems, needs and expectations, obstacles encountered, solutions, motivations, company resources, budget, etc.

• Adopt a listening posture: respond when appropriate, stay quiet when the client speaks, be empathetic when they mention their difficulties. In short, practice active listening

Finally, at the end of this stage, it's recommended to reformulate the need expressed by the prospect to start on a good foundation for the next step.

Convince: The Argumentation Stage

In the third stage of the 4C method, the salesperson must propose a solution adapted to the client. The challenge here is to convince.

To convince, there's no secret. You need to know how to bring strong arguments that will resonate with the client. But precisely, how do you convince?

• First, you must identify your client's profile. Some clients need reassurance: you'll need to support your message with reassuring elements (relevant data, certification for example). Others are attracted to novelty; to reach them, emphasize your product or service's originality (example: a unique feature in the market). To learn more about the 7 client profiles, discover our article on the SONCAS method

• Next, for each argument presented, ensure it corresponds to the client and their expectations. Hence the necessity of practicing active listening during the previous stage. Observe the client's body language when you present your arguments (eye movement, posture)

• To argue precisely, you can rely on the CAB method: this involves presenting your arguments logically. First, discuss objective characteristics (example: "human resources management software"). Then, outline advantages (example: "software that enables simple leave and sick time management"). Finally, highlight benefits (example: "increased productivity for your HR teams")

• A good salesperson, at this stage, must also anticipate and tactfully respond to client objections. Because there will very likely be objections (time, budget, functionality...). Knowing how to respond to objections with empathy is an essential quality for finding solutions to client problems

• Don't forget to pay attention to your attitude and appearance - first moments are often decisive in sales! We can't recommend the 4x20 method enough to avoid any false notes

Close: Convincing and Convinced to the End

Finally, to succeed in the sale during this commercial meeting, you should conclude the exchange professionally throughout.

We often talk about first impressions, but last impressions are just as important! Successfully maintaining your initial enthusiasm is therefore crucial.

Moreover, to properly conclude the interview, you must be able to assess whether the client has been convinced. You can then calmly conclude the interview. To ensure this, watch for signs from the client. For example, they might ask for more details: "What will be the service implementation timeline?" or "How can I unsubscribe if we work together?" etc.

After that, the salesperson can proceed to the conclusion phase. They should summarize the exchange and notably reformulate the main arguments that were highlighted during the argumentation phase.

The best way to conclude the exchange is to recap the next actions to be implemented on the client and/or salesperson side. The client might, for example, sign a quote or send elements to the salesperson to specify their quote. The salesperson, for their part, might send client testimonials or documentation to help the client decide.

All things considered, the client must know what they need to do and what the salesperson will do in the coming days/weeks/months. Similarly, don't hesitate to reschedule a meeting if necessary.

To conclude the exchange, whether you've signed a contract/sold a product or not, always leave without rushing. Make sure to leave a good impression until the end.

Summary: How to Succeed in Sales with the 4C Rule?

To conduct a successful sales interview, rely on the 4C rule:

🎯 Stage 1: Contact - The first contact with the client will set the tone for the rest of the interview. You won't get a second chance! We therefore invite you to be serious, professional, and polish your appearance. Be polite and take time to thank your prospect for the time they're giving you. Precisely prepare the first sentences of the interview and respect them by indicating the upcoming interview duration.

🔍 Stage 2: Know - Understanding the client's need is the most important stage. You must properly identify client needs by asking questions. The art of asking good questions is learned. Take time to train: open questions, closed questions. Practice active listening.

💪 Stage 3: Convince - In the third phase, it's your turn to play. You must convince. Argumentation should be done without overly complicated jargon. You need to highlight arguments that will make the difference: emphasize two or three arguments. Be an advisor rather than a salesperson. It's about bringing a real solution to problems mentioned in the second part.

✅ Stage 4: Close - To close the sale, maintain the same posture until signing. If you show signs of doubt, this could tarnish the meeting's outcome. Don't let up! You can reformulate the main arguments mentioned, then ask for signs of commitment from the client (scheduling a new meeting, sending additional documents). For this meeting to be truly instructive, even if the client doesn't want to go further, don't leave with questions in your head. The information you can gather will always serve you for your next interviews.