5 Things You Need To Know
Have you ever had that sales call? That sales call that goes so well. The client is great, and the conversation flows. Their challenges are made for your products and services, and the solutions you offer are just what they need. Budget is no issues, and your timing is impeccable because they say they are ready to buy.
You shake hands, leave the call, then nothing. NOTHING. You call back to sign the deal and no answer. You leave messages, send emails, ever try the test and what do you get – crickets. You rack your brain trying to figure out what you did wrong, where it went off course. You try a few more times, but out of fear you would become annoying you give up. You’re sure that they changed their mind or went with a competitor.
Sure we have all been there, and it seems in today’s challenging economy it happens more and more. Sales cycles are longer, great calls go dark and the more it happens the more you are doubting your sales skills.
In today’s marketing place customers are busy and the fast-pace has everyone perpetually behind. As a sale professional you need to realize it takes more skill than ever to make a sale.
You need to be able to do more than choose the right prospect and ask the right questions, you need to master the art of follow-up. The sale happens in the follow-up, it almost always happens in the follow-up.
What do you think the chances are that you will interact with a prospect at the exact time they are ready to buy? Well I will tell you – slim to none. None of your prospects got up this morning and got down on one knee in hopes that you will call on them. That just didn’t happen.
So after you make a call you need a strategy, and powerful plan to stay top-of-mind and in front of your prospects and customers.
5 Things About Follow-up Every Sales Professional Needs To Know
- The Sale Happens In The Follow-up – more than Eighty-percent of sales require five or more follow-up calls. https://blog.thebrevetgroup.com/21-mind-blowing-sales-stats. That means that if you are not following-up then you are not closing the sale.
- You’re Annoying – If your follow-up strategy is to call the customers and ask if they are ready to do business, then by the third call you have become ridiculously annoying. So annoying that even if they were going to do business with you now they won’t. If you buy them you are annoying, and if you are annoying they don’t like you, and if they don’t like you they won’t buy from you.
- It’s Not About You – Most of the time prospects and customers don’t call you back it is not about you. Listen the moment you hung up the phone or walked out of their office they got busy. Their best customer had a crisis, their top employee left, and their kid got a D on his homework. In other words, life took over. Understand that, give them space, but stay visible.
- Follow-up Is Value – Follow-up is not about asking your customers when they can do something for you, it is about asking what extra value you can provide for them. When a prospect does not call you back that’s a sign. A sign that you are not as high a priority as everything else in their life and business. So your job, with follow-up, is to increase your value so you become a higher priority.
- Why Lose The Sale – You’ve done the hard work. You’ve gotten in the door, had the call, gotten serious interest why throw it away now? Your follow-up strategy, a strong value-add follow-up strategy is what will keep you from closing the sale.
Remember the sale happens in the follow-up. The sales professionals that understands that, the ones that put t muscle into developing their follow-up strategy will succeed no matter what this economy does!
High energy and highly interactive, Business Growth Strategist Meridith Elliott Powell’s keynotes, workshops and innovative coaching programs help leaders and business owners learn the new rules of success today, including how today’s economy has changed, how that has changed today’s customers and employees, and specifically how that impacts your business.
