A sales conversation is a two-way talk between a seller and a prospect about the customer’s problems, goals, and whether you can help solve them. To start more sales conversations, research the person first, open with something that’s only true about them, bring value, and ask one easy question instead of pitching. That’s the pre-hello to the hello.
Our survey of 1,295 B2B sales professionals shows that 69% of sellers say prospecting is the hardest part of the sales cycle (Vengreso Research). Getting the first conversation is harder for them than presenting a solution or even closing the deal. Sales conversations are insanely difficult right now with so much noise hitting our buyers every day.
The fact is that without the first conversation, nothing else happens.
69% of sellers say prospecting is the hardest part of the sales cycle. Without the first conversation, nothing else happens. via @GoVengreso Share on XAnd you can’t get good at first conversations by reading about them. In our trainings, only about 3 of every 100 dials turn into a real conversation, so a rep gets very few chances to practice on live buyers. That’s why I tell reps to rehearse the opener out loud first, in AI Sales Roleplay, against an AI buyer who pushes back like a real one.
If your team is having trouble prospecting and building pipeline because they can’t get a first meeting, this guide is for you. You’ll get openers that work, tips that keep a buyer talking, and copy-ready templates you can save in FlyMSG.
What a Sales Conversation Is
A sales conversation is a conversation between a potential customer and a seller with one goal: understand the customer’s problem well enough to know if you can help, then lead them to buy down the line. The best ones feel like a collaborative dialogue, not a pitch. The seller asks questions and learns the customer’s pain points and goals before talking about a product or service.
Simple, right? But how much thought do you actually put into how your sellers start a conversation with a prospective client? Do they research the prospect before reaching out? Or do they just wing it?
Do you train your reps and share openers that work?
Your sellers need a strategy that prepares them step by step for daily prospecting. Part of that plan should cover how to open in a way that actually goes somewhere. Whether your sellers use cold calling or social selling, they need to be ready to run those calls in a remote selling world.
You don’t only want reps who can call or email hundreds of potential clients a day. You want to train your sellers to find, engage, and connect with prospects.
Why It’s So Hard to Start Sales Conversations
Three reasons. First, your prospect is busy and distracted, and their brain filters out anything that sounds like a pitch. Second, most outreach sounds the same. Just look at your own inbox or InMails. Third, buyers in every market have so many options that your solution can start to look like a commodity. Today’s modern buyer does their own research and often talks to sellers much later in the buying process. Add quota pressure on top, and reps start blasting the same generic message to everyone.
Irrelevant outreach makes it worse. According to Salesforce’s State of Sales statistics (updated 2026), 73% of B2B buyers actively avoid sellers who send irrelevant outreach. A generic message doesn’t just get ignored. It teaches the customer to ignore your name.
The fix isn’t more volume. It’s a better first touch.
How to Start a Successful Sales Conversation
How you start matters, whether it’s a cold call, an email, a LinkedIn message, or a video. Make the first line count, because it may be all they read.
A sales conversation should never start with a pitch. We’ve all received those annoying pitches right after we accept a new connection on LinkedIn. If you’re like most people, you ignored or deleted those messages right away.
Reciting a rehearsed script about your product with a generic call to action doesn’t work anymore. All it does is overwhelm the customer and demand a commitment they aren’t ready to make.
Sellers need to make a real connection with their buyers. They need to prove they’re there to help solve a problem the prospect actually has, not just to push a sale.
But how do you do that? You’re short on time and need to grab the buyer’s attention right away. How do you also focus on making a connection?
Easy. Use the PVC sales methodology: Personalization, Value, and a relevant Call to action. Personalize the message to the person, not just the persona. Give them something of value, like a fresh insight, an article, or an idea. Then close with an easy question they can answer in one line. You can watch how the PVC method works on our YouTube channel.
Mark Bierle, National Channel Manager for Lumen (formerly CenturyLink), used our PVC after our training and told us this:
“I was recently able to connect with two people I have been trying to connect with for years utilizing the concepts learned in this class. One was utilizing the two-step referral method and the other by utilizing the PVC method.”
Examples of Good Sales Conversation Starters
The PVC method is a great way to start them, no matter which channel your sellers use. It also gives sellers a repeatable example they can adapt.
In fact, we recommend omnichannel prospecting. Teach your sellers to seek conversations through social media, text messages, and video, not just the phone.
We don’t lead with cold calls at Vengreso. We prefer to use the phone later in the sales cadence. Some organizations still rely on the phone as their main way to reach out, though. If that’s you, make sure your reps’ cold calling scripts are highly personalized to the individual or the buyer persona. Joe Pici, a guest on the Modern Selling Podcast, shares great tips on personalized cold calling scripts.
Now let’s look at some good openers that open conversation, why they work, and a template for each that you can copy into FlyMSG.
1. “I have done some initial research and noticed that your company…”
This opener shows the seller made an effort to learn about the customer’s business.
It tells the buyer the message will help them somehow and isn’t another rehearsed pitch sent to a dozen other businesses that day. Pay attention to the details you find, but don’t assume you already know what matters most to them. Ask.
In our sales prospecting training, we teach the 3×3: find three things in three minutes about a prospect by looking at their LinkedIn profile. Go to their About section, skim their activity to see what they care about, and check their interests and languages. Then use those insights to personalize the message. It’s a simple process, and it works on any channel.
Show me that you know me. Find three things in three minutes on their LinkedIn profile before you reach out. via @GoVengreso Share on XI have a line in my keynotes: show me that you know me. Reps prospect me all the time, and when the pitch is generic, I let them finish and then I coach them. “Do you know who I am?” “You’re Mario Martinez Jr.” “Right, but who am I?” If they had known I run a business that teaches sellers to do exactly what they were doing, they would have opened differently.
For more expert tips on how to approach your ideal prospect and use personalization and storytelling to create sales engagement, listen to my Modern Selling Podcast episode with Ed Calnan, co-founder of Seismic, or read the episode recap.
Hi NAME, I did some quick research and saw that COMPANY just TRIGGER EVENT. Teams going through that often run into CHALLENGE. Is that on your radar right now?
2. “Can you tell me about some of your company’s plans for the year?”
Once again, you start by showing interest in the customer’s business instead of rushing to push a sale. It’s also a broad, open-ended question, which opens up the discussion and helps uncover the customer’s challenges. Once the customer opens up about their needs and the problems they’re facing, dig deeper. Ask about goals, timing, and what needs to change first. Then you have an opportunity to introduce your product or service as the solution.
Hi NAME, thanks for connecting. I'm curious, what are the biggest plans for your team this year, and what has to go right for you to hit them?
3. “We have worked with similar companies in your industry, and they faced these problems. Have you experienced something similar?”
This opener builds credibility because you bring insight from similar businesses. It shows the potential customer that you speak their language and know their field and the specific challenges they may be facing. The open-ended question also leads them to think about whether they have the same problems and how you might help solve them.
Hi NAME, we've worked with other INDUSTRY teams, and the same two problems keep coming up: PROBLEM ONE and PROBLEM TWO. Have you run into anything similar on your team?
4. “I enjoyed your post about…”
This one is built for LinkedIn. When a prospect shares something, they’re telling you what’s on their mind. Reference it, add your own insight or point of view, and ask a question about it. You’re joining a discussion they already started.
Hi NAME, I enjoyed what you shared about TOPIC, especially your point about POINT. It got me thinking. How are you handling that on your side?
5. “You’re not expecting my call…” (Vengreso’s cold call opener)
On the phone, there’s no post to reference, and you have about 15 seconds to earn the rest of the call. This is how Part 1 of the 4-part cold call script we teach at Vengreso starts: “Hi NAME, this is YOUR NAME with COMPANY. You’re not expecting my call. This is the first time I’ve tried to reach you. Do you mind if I take 30 seconds, or have I caught you at a bad time?”
If they give you the 30 seconds, state your purpose and ask for the meeting before you explain what you do. That feels backward. It works because the buyer usually asks, “Wait, what do you even do?” Now you’re answering their question instead of delivering a pitch. The rest of the script, from the referential statement to the up-front contract, is in our guide to cold calling scripts.
Say it out loud before you dial. When I ran this opener in AI Sales Roleplay during a live training, the AI CRO snapped back, “Hold on! I don’t even know who you are or why you’re calling.” That’s the curiosity the opener is built to spark, and I’d rather hear it in practice than on a live call.
Why Sales Conversations Matter in Social Selling
Social selling is about starting more sales conversations and expanding the relationships you already have. Salespeople use social media to find, engage, and connect with prospects, then turn those connections into conversations. We call it C2C: Connections to Conversations.
In your outreach, stop talking about yourself. Let the prospect’s comments and content guide what you say.
Don’t send your generic pitch in a LinkedIn connection request. Do your homework before you make contact.
Start by following the prospect on LinkedIn and engaging with what they share.
Comment first, connect second. The best way to engage is to leave a comment on a post or blog. Make sure your comment is personal and adds value, and isn’t a generic “good post” kind of comment. A thoughtful comment shows you actually read it, and it puts your name in front of the customer before you ever send a message. A good comment adds a point of view, asks a question, or shares a related example. Comment on two or three more posts over a couple of weeks, and your connection request won’t feel cold.
While you look through the buyer’s social media, you may even spot issues their business is facing. That can open the door to reach out, and those signals give you insight into their priorities before you say hello.
The FlyMSG LinkedIn Comment Generator writes a first-draft comment on the post, and you edit it before you publish. One G2 reviewer describes the result:
“I like how FlyMSG makes it easy for me to engage with other people’s posts on LinkedIn quickly, while still leaving a thoughtful comment.”
- Kathi K., founder, keynote speaker, G2 reviewer
Training can move a whole team, too. Millennium Trust put 28 sellers and managers through a 15-week LinkedIn training and coaching program with us. By the end, 90% of sellers saw more LinkedIn profile views and 76% engaged with buyers or clients on LinkedIn. Read the full Millennium Trust case study.
Tips for Improving Sales Conversations
As a sales manager, you want your reps using strategies that work. Here are tips to improve every call from the moment you contact the prospect. These are skills any rep can learn, whether you use social selling or more traditional strategies.
Prepare for the Conversation
A secret every top sales pro knows: do some homework on the business you’re approaching. Your sellers have to show the buyer why your product or service deserves their time, and the best way to do that is to show the value it brings them.
Make sure your sellers also study the customer’s market and identify pain points they may have. Top performers spot qualifying details early, like budget and who controls the money. That helps them target the areas where your product or service can help and focus on the buyer’s goals.
Salespeople can use many sources to learn about new potential customers, like the business website, industry news, what’s changing in their market, the prospect’s own LinkedIn activity, and the data already in your CRM.
The best salespeople, face to face or on a virtual call, reduce their time talking, sense the truth beneath surface answers, and let the buyer speak. Your job in the first call is to learn, not to present, so focus your questions there.
And don’t forget the most important prep step of all: find the big fish on the wall. When I started selling at 19, my mentor taught me to walk into a customer’s office and look for the big fish on the wall. The mounted fish, the family photo, the trophy. Ask about it, and the talk starts itself. Today we meet on Zoom, so the big fish lives on the buyer’s LinkedIn profile: their contact info, what they’re most proud of, their Experience section, and their activities and interests.
Think of it as your icebreaker. Sellers who fail to build trust at the start of a call usually didn’t prepare for it.
How to Build Rapport
Don’t underestimate the power of small talk, your opening line, or just talking to warm up your new potential partner. Before you deliver any pitch, build rapport by showing real interest in the buyer so they feel understood and ready to trust you. Trust comes first. In LinkedIn’s 2020 State of Sales report, “trustworthy” topped the list of qualities B2B decision makers value in a salesperson, picked by 47% of them. That’s why reps need to stay friendly and upbeat, pay attention to how the person feels while they talk, and respond with their own experiences or insights.
Respect their time, too. A prospect who feels safe sharing a problem will tell you the real one. That kind of safety comes from respect, not from a script. Psychological safety on a call is real, and buyers can feel when it’s missing.
Building rapport also pays off after the sale. A customer who trusts your seller has a reason to come back.
Open the First Meeting With Your PAL
Once you’ve built a little rapport, bring your PAL: Purpose, Agenda, Length. It’s how I open every first meeting, and it’s part of how we teach discovery calls.
- Purpose: One sentence. “The purpose of today is to understand your challenges around TOPIC.”
- Agenda: Share what you’d like to cover, then ask, “Most importantly, what do you want to make sure we address today?” Whatever they say becomes item one.
- Length: “We’re scheduled until 9:30. Are you still available until then?” Then, “Do you have a meeting right after this one, in case we go over?”
Nobody gives a stranger 30 minutes unless they hope to get something out of it. The agenda question finds out what. That’s also why I always ask for 30 minutes for a first meeting, not 15. Real discovery plus rapport takes about that long.
Sales managers: bring your PAL to every first meeting. Purpose, Agenda, Length. via @GoVengreso Share on XClarify the Impact, Value, and Pain Points
Before a customer even considers your products or services, a seller has to make clear the value they’ll bring to the customer’s business. That’s the baseline for every productive call. Even if the salesperson has done the homework and built great rapport, the deal won’t close if the customer can’t see the payoff.
It should be clear what you’re selling and how it will improve the customer’s business. Don’t expect them to ask a lot of questions to figure it out. Your sellers need to explain the value in plain words that connect to the customer’s pain and situation. Tie every point back to a problem they told you about. Lead with an insight about their business, not a feature list, and speak to the impact, not the features. Keep the focus on their goals.
Go past the symptoms. If a prospect says their reps are missing quota, ask what that costs them and what happens if nothing changes. The impact of a problem is what moves a deal, not the problem itself.
Use Questions to Keep Buyer Interest
Sellers shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions during the call or even open with one. The customer needs to feel their thoughts and opinions have value. Questions are also the best way to learn more, build rapport, and surface interest and concerns early. Open-ended questions work best when used correctly, and every answer gives you an insight you can use later. Direct questions also reveal the gap between what a buyer says they want and what they actually do.
When an answer feels thin, dig deeper. “Tell me more about that” and “What happens if that doesn’t get fixed?” get you past surface answers to the truth.
But don’t ask too many questions. There’s a fine line between an engaging conversation and an interrogation. Coach sellers to focus on one problem at a time, ask enough questions to get the information they need, and reach a natural point to share their idea.
Listen More Than You Talk
A call fails when the seller talks too much and doesn’t give the buyer a chance to share their needs. Stop talking, ask the question, and let the silence work. Active listening means you hear the words, notice the tone, and play back what you heard so the buyer feels understood. This skill lets the customer speak freely, and that’s when the real pain points come out.
Be Human
Humanity means personality. Make every business discussion your own. Think of each meeting as if you’re meeting someone for the very first time at an event.
Top performers and the best sales managers know they don’t jump right into technical topics, and they don’t start assessing pain points either. No… they take the time to get to know them. That takes the stress down, keeps the focus on them, and makes the whole call feel more natural.
Remember to show them that you know them. To be interesting, you must be interested.
Before talking, look at mutual connections on LinkedIn. A shared connection is a great first place to begin your sales calls.
End Every Call With a Clear Next Step
A great call that ends with “let’s stay in touch” is a missed chance. Agree on one clear next step before you hang up: a date, a time, and who does what. When I book the next meeting on a call, I finish with the up-front contract from Part 4 of our cold call script: “Is there any reason you won’t be able to make it?” and “If something does come up, can we agree now to work together to reschedule?” Then send a short recap the same day. Call notes can now be summarized by AI, which makes a fast and accurate follow-up email easy. Log them in your CRM, your system of record, so the data stays with the account. Your job is to make it easy to say yes to the next step, and that keeps the buying process moving.
How to Overcome Objections When They Come Up
Objections aren’t a stop sign. They’re the customer telling you what they need to hear before they move forward. Salespeople who overcome objections well treat them as questions, not attacks. Listen for the concern underneath, like risk, timing, or money. Your job isn’t to win the argument. It’s to focus on the concern and solve it.
Here’s a simple way to handle them:
- Listen to the whole objection without jumping in.
- Ask a question to understand the real concerns behind it.
- Answer with an example, insight, or proof that fits the customer’s situation.
- Check that you answered it, then agree on the next step.
The best way to get confident is practice. Say your answers out loud before a live call, not just in your head, so you stay confident when the pushback comes in real time. In AI Sales Roleplay, the buyer raises objections that fit their company’s size and ends the call if you get pushy, so you hear it before a real prospect says it. Our guide to sales objections covers the common ones and how to answer each.
How to Lead Effective Sales Conversations
Sales managers and sales leaders should give reps real training and coaching to build their communication skills. According to Salesforce’s State of Sales statistics (updated 2026), 75% of sales reps say they’re more likely to hit their targets with a coach or mentor. Share insights from your top performers’ best calls with the whole team.
Talking too much kills a call, but so does talking too little. When the seller leaves the customer to keep the discussion going without adding any value or expertise, the buyer checks out.
The best calls focus on real problems in the market and engage customers around those problems. The customer needs to open up about the issues they see so the seller can present the right solution. Sellers shouldn’t rest on surface-level answers. Keep probing for the real issue and the pain behind it.
Remember, it’s not about the seller. It isn’t even about the product or service. It’s all about the customer. A good system helps reps capture what they learned and keep the process consistent. Without these skills, your sales activity won’t turn into sales success.
Also, give your reps more than one type of media to reach prospects, especially your social sellers. A short video for sales outreach is one of the best. Second only to being face to face, video is the best way to humanize communication in the sales process.
Getting more first meetings takes the right mindset and the right execution. I break down both on the Modern Selling Podcast.
How Sales Conversations Increase Revenue
Sellers are on the front line of revenue. They’re the ones who actively look for and talk with potential customers. Used well, sales conversations drive revenue, especially when sellers understand the buyer’s timeline and what needs to happen this week. Used poorly, they cost you deals and waste your best leads.
Stronger sales conversations uncover the real decision criteria before a deal stalls. Many deals are lost during qualification, not at the close. They die early, when the seller never learned the real problem or who owns the budget.
Buyer-centric conversations build rapport. Every one also gives you customer insights about the market that you can share with marketing and product. Pick two of the tips above, use them on your next calls, and check your pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 steps to a conversation in sales?
Here are five steps drawn from this guide. Prepare by doing the 3×3 on the prospect. Open with something personal, like their big fish on the wall. Ask open-ended questions and let them talk. Share an insight tied to the pain points they told you about. Then agree on a clear next step.
What is the 3-3-3 rule in sales?
Trainers use the name for different things, so there’s no single official rule. The one we teach is the 3×3: find three things about your prospect in three minutes on their LinkedIn profile before you reach out. Then use one of them in your opener.
What are the 5 C’s or 7 C’s of sales?
Different trainers use different lists, so there’s no one official answer. Rather than memorize a list, run every first conversation on one framework: PVC, which stands for Personalization, Value, and a Call to action.
Get More Hellos With Sales Prospecting Training
Every tip in this guide is a skill, and skills come from practice. That’s why we built sales prospecting training into FlyMSG, the all-in-one AI productivity and engagement platform. Vengreso has trained 100,000+ sales reps and is a 6-time Gold Stevie Award winner.
Write Smarter. Pitch Better. Win More.
For sales teams: FlyMSG Business Pro Enterprise and Enterprise+ wrap our sales prospecting training and the PVC methodology around FlyMSG for teams of 10 or more. Your reps also get the LinkedIn Profile Makeover for Sales Teams, with up to 90% team adoption, and expanded practice in FlyMSG AI Sales Roleplay and Coaching so they can overcome objections before a live call.
For individual sellers: FlyMSG Business Pro includes FlyLearning, our on-demand sales prospecting training on LinkedIn prospecting, video, and sales messaging, plus 50+ prospecting scripts to build your skills on your own schedule. Save the conversation starters above as FlyCuts with the Auto Text Expander, and use the LinkedIn Comment Generator to write a thoughtful comment on a prospect’s post in seconds. Install FlyMSG free on Chrome or Edge.
Ready to go beyond the free plan? Use code 20PercentYr1 at checkout to get 20% off your first year on an annual paid plan.
