Any method you use for sales, at some point in your conversations with your prospects you have to ask “for the business”. Where so many of my clients have gone wrong was not stepping out of their comfort zone.
Most people do not know when or how to ask for the business as they have the fear of rejection or believe that closing is frightening. This is the time where you can make your quota, beat your quota, or feel like you have not made enough sales this quarter and might be a target to be moved from your organization.
STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.
Did you waste time with a prospect that never had an intention to buy? Did your gut feeling say that the prospect is just trying to gather information and knowledge with no intention of purchasing? Yes, this does happen in sales and I have done this myself to educate myself on new products on the market.
Don’t shake in your pants you are not going to lose your job after this post.
Here are some tried tested and true tips to help make sure you are ALWAYS CLOSING and not wasting time with your prospects.
1.Gather more information every conversation
Every time you speak to your prospect you must continue to gather more information. If this information is current pain points, or specific measurable, or personal information use this to build on your relationship.
Don’t ask for all the information at once but keep asking the appropriate question to see how far along you are in the sales cycle.2.
2.Position ideas and strategies
As you continue to work with your client and have conversations it is important to identify different strategies, processes, and even timelines that will help you close the sale. Remember, each client is different and it takes time to adjust to makes sure you are hitting the pain points and providing a value add at all times
WARNING: Ask some but not too many personal questions that will upset your client
3.Make your prospect feel confident
A sale is never over. To retain a client the most important part of the sale is after you have received your first payment. Continue to build on your relationship so you can retain the client for years, but also have the opportunity to always upsell with new products or services. If that does not happen, at the end of your 1 year contract your client will start to look at different options to save money. Yes, companies do like to save money.
4.Follow Up and Follow Up………and Follow Up
You have now closed the deal and you need to continue to follow-up. This can be by educating your clients with blogs, sending case studies, providing webinar invites etc. Remember, we are trying to build long term relationships so you got to stay in touch with all of your clients. Customer service is just as important as closing the sale. After he is closed, he can now be a great reference.
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