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Never Give Up

Guest post by: Bill Boyer

Article Overview: Current times are tough, but seem to be getting better now. It usually takes many contact to make a sale.

Never Give Up

The sales process is very difficult. In discussions with many salespeople, sales consultants have determined that most salespeople give up too soon. In the normal sales process, the salesperson must first qualify the customer by determining that the individual has the authority of make the purchase, that the company has the budget for the purchase, and most importantly that there is a need for their product or service. But where does it go from there?

The Sales and Marketing Executive Club of Los Angeles performed a study and found that:

• Only 2 percent of sales close on the first contact
• 3 percent close on the second contact
• 4 percent close on the third contact
• 10 percent close on the forth contact
• 81 percent of the sales that close, close on or after the fifth contact.

What does this tell you? How important is it to keep up with your prospects?

This statistic is also confirmed by a study by SalesForce at a major trade show. They found that 85% of the companies exhibiting at the trade show did not follow up on the leads SalesForce left at their booths.

Compare these statistics from the Dartnell Corporation (a leading company in sales support) from their studies of small business sales staffs.

• 48 percent quit following up after the first call or contact
• 24 percent quit following up after the second call or contact
• 12 percent quit following up after the third call or contact
• 6 percent quit following up after the forth call or contact
• And 10 percent quit following up after the fifth call or contact.

Please note that these surveys define the call as any contact you will have with the prospect. It should be a least one meeting, but could be emails, letters, newsletters, etc.With the tools given to us by the internet, it is much easier to follow-up, but do not just use the tools from the internet. Quick notes, letters and personal phone calls are still very important.

Failing to close a sale on some of these contacts does not mean that the prospect has no need for your services or product. If there truly is a fit between your product and service (part of the qualification process) then the prospect may buy from you at a later date. There may be very legitimate reasons for not buying at this time. There could be a short term cash constraint; they may need time to evaluate your offering; or there may not be a need for your product or service at the current time. It very possibly could be needed later. You could be offering them something that will improve their company and they may need time to evaluate your offering. By following up, it will give them to opportunity to ask questions about your offering without them having to initiate the contact.

Let us assume that you have a competitor courting the same customer. If you fail to follow up and your competitor does, who will probably get the business? And, do not forget your existing customers. If you do not follow-up they may forget about you and be very open to a competitor's product or service. Do not follow up just to make a sale: you need to continue the relationship and establish credibility.

Is it not easier to follow up with the party that you have had some contact with? Is this not better than cold calling on prospects? Do not defer the needed follow-up with the existing prospect in order to make more purely cold calls. With cold calling you must also remember another marketing fact:the prospect must have heard of your company from 5 to 7 times to even recognize your company's name.

We have all been told in basic sales training to categorize leads as hot, warm, and cold (or just bad leads). Actually determining between hot and warm is very difficult. What if you are wrong? If you spend all your time chasing the hot leads, you are probably ignoring the warm leads, who often may have a short-term reason not to be interested at the current time. Chasing the hot leads is important, but you must also leave time for the others to ensure that you are developing future prospects.

Most of you are probably not familiar with the Rule of 45. It states that 45% of all sales leads will result in sales for someone. Are you that someone?

Consistent and effective follow up is critical to the growth of your business. How well are you doing with your customers and prospects?

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Article Tags: business coaching, business consulting, customers, growth, profits, sales followup, sales leads, Salesmen, Salespersons, Selling



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