You’re out of control of the sales process when the next step is decided by the customer or prospect. When I debrief with a new salesperson I often hear them refer to appointments that end with customer comments like these:
“I will call you next month”
“We will get back with you”
“We’ll take a look at things and let you know”
“We’ll have to see what is in the budget”
“Thanks, we have other proposals to recieve”
To regain control you need to do the following:
Define a more specific follow up point: ex. “Will I be hearing from you in the earlier, middle or latter part of the month?” “So I know how to follow up, when should I check back with you if I don’t hear from you?”
Understand their buying process: ex. “Is there anything else you need from me to help you make a decision?” and “What are the steps you’ll be going through to make your decision?”
Confirm understanding and gain agreement to follow-up: ex. “What I understand is you will need to meet with your management team to discuss proposals and confirm budget. Then you will make your decision and get back with me by the middle of next month. If I don’t hear from you by the 18th, I will give you a call in case you need additional information. Would that be okay?”
When you help a customer define their timeline and process, you are serving them. That is part of Service-Minded Selling. Confirming your understanding and gaining agreement on your follow-up demonstrates your listeing skills and professionalism. Taking the time to ask these questions will help you be more productive, professional and close more deals.
You have probably heard the phrase too much information can be dangerous. It usually happens when a new rep is in training and his knowledge of sales and product is growing at a rapid pace. We are currently training a new sales rep at one of our clients and noticed how misuse of new information pulled down his results.
We teach our reps to focus on scheduling appointments when making prospecting telephone calls, not selling. They are tossing out a broad question to test interest and then asks for an appointment. The first day of calling he stayed focused on his approach and setting appointments. The calls resulted in 3 appointments, one more than we were asking him to do. The second day no appointments, and he mentioned people were a little more guarded.
After a debrief of his calls we discovered that he was applying new found knowledge from his Discovery Appointments training during his calls. He was asking probing questions to people who had not asked for them. The result was resistance and no appointments. He was trying to sell during a time he needed to focus on scheduling an appointment.
When you are calling for appointments you are really in a marketing stage. You are generating leads, finding people who want to learn more. When you meet with someone in a scheduled appointment is when the sales process begins. If you keep your selling out of your marketing you will find that you will have more people to sell to.
One of the sales people I work with shared that she was struggling with a prospect. The prospect was polite, but aside from agreeing to continue the sales process was not sending any clear buying signals. In fact, she seemed a little distant. The sales rep was smart enough to ask, “Do I have a chance of selling you this system?” The prospect honestly answered, “No, my best friend sells for the competition.”
Of course she did not want to hear a no, but it would have been worse to continue along the “sales process” waisting time in a losing cause. She was able to thank the prospect and get to work with people that she did have a chance of selling.
If you want to sell more business in less time be willing to hear no earlier rather than later. If your pipeline is small or you’ve not closed a deal lately you might start pressing and miss the clues the prospect is giving. You’ll be focused on what you need to say to change their mind instead of listening to the no.
Sometimes doing what seems contrary is the exact thing we need to do. Don’t be afraid of hearing no, and especially be willing to hear it earlier than later. A no, might be what you need to hear from a current prospect to help you hit your sales target.
Good people that can sell make great sales people. Good people that can’t sell, don’t. It’s easy to be swayed by someones charisma or charm. Just because you like them and they fit in with the team does not mean people will buy from them. What you need is a crystal ball to hire good sales people, or something like one.
Using a Sales Profile Assessment will increase your average sales per hire and decrease your turnover rate. A resume will tell you about the past, interviews give you a snap shot into the present, and Profiles will help you predict future behaviors (The Crystal Ball). Personalities in people don’t really change. People can learn to manager their personality for different circumstances or jobs for a short while, but it is best to let their personality do what it was meant to do. If you were born to sell, go for it, if not, don’t.
I have come to believe so strongly in Sales Profiles that I simply will not hire someone without one. They cost $129 per candidate, which is nothing compared to how much is invested in recruitment, training and ramp up time. To learn more, check out the Sales Profile article in my web site and if you are currently hiring you might look at the one titled Hiring Process.
If you have a sales team or person it is not a bad idea to have them complete the profile as well. It can be a great coaching tool, helping a manager know if he needs to push a little harder in one area, give more specifics to another person, or simply let them run because that is how they work.