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Know When to Walk Away - Turn Your Prospects Into Customers
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| Guest post by: Meridith Elliott Powell |
Article Overview: Managing your time is crucial in sales. Knowing who, when and where to spend your time makes all the difference between sales success and sales failure. Understanding when to walk away in the sales process is key to ensuring you meet your ultimate sales goal of turning your prospects into customers.
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Free Download - The Power of Responsibility! By Meridith Elliott Powell |
Know When to Walk Away - Turn Your Prospects Into Customers
The hard truth about sales is very few prospects are going
to tell you no directly. It is human nature, most of us do not like
confrontation and we don't like telling people no. We want people to like us,
and telling people no conflicts with that desire.
Unfortunately,
for sales people this translates into wasted time, effort and money spent on
prospects who never plan to buy. If you want to turn your prospects into
customers, then you have to know when to walk away. In other words, you need to
learn to manage your sales efforts so you focus on those prospects with the
highest probability of buying from you. Not everyone is going to buy from
you.
I work with a large firm in South Carolina, coaching and training their sales
team. When I started two years ago, we had several sales professionals who were
struggling to close deals. John, one of my favorite's there, had one client he
had been working on for over a year. We sat down to talk about why he felt the
prospect wasn't buying and what his options were. When we took the time to
analyze the situation, what we found was John had been selling to a customer
that had little if no probability of ever buying his product. Why? First, his
prospect had been using a competitor's product for years and had had consistent
positive results. Second, his sales representative had been calling on him for
more than 20 years and they not only did business together, they played golf
together on a monthly basis. Third, the prospect had been recognized and
rewarded by the competitor company, being featured in testimonial ads and given
special discounts. When John and I stepped back to look at this, take in all
the information together, it was pretty obvious this prospect should not be on
the top of John's prospect list. Sure this prospect had huge potential in terms
of financial gain. He bought a lot of product and spent a lot of money.
However, John could have called on, developed relationships with, and moved
four or five smaller prospects in the amount of time he spent calling on this
one. In other words, by knowing when to walk away from one prospect, he could
have called on four or five others.
While that example is pretty obvious, it amazes me that many sales people never
step back and really analyze why a prospect is not buying.
Instead they keep trying to convince the prospect to move their business, and
they wind up frustrated, unmotivated and burned out.
So how do you know when to walk away? How do you strike the balance between persistence
and knowing when to walk away? You need to establish your sales criteria,
basically your guidelines of where, when and how you determine the likelihood
this prospect will buy.
While these guidelines need to be developed by you for you. Here are some ideas
and some criteria I use.
1. Does the prospect understand they have a need?
2. How is that need currently being met (or not met) and how solid is that
relationship?
3. Am I calling on the person who has the power to make a decision or what is
the probability I can call on this person?
4. Do I feel my prospect is engaged?
5. How hard is it to get follow-up appointments for second, third or fourth
calls. Does the person seem interested in meeting with me?
6. Does my prospect do what they need to do to move the sales process
forward (i.e. provide me with information, give me access to people I need to
talk with, review information I provide them with, etc.)
7. How often does this prospect change providers? (Too often and I know they
are price sensitive, vs. never, I want to investigate how loyal they are to the
current provider)
7. Are there any obstacles in my way, that are beyond my control? Example,
brother-in-law is currently providing the service, decisions are made at the
corporate level which is based in another country, current service provider is
doing a good job and taking care of the prospect.
Understand, knowing when to walk away does not mean you will never do business
with this prospect, or that you should not continue to stay in contact with
them. It just means, for the little amount of time and energy you have, you
need to move on to work with other prospects that have a higher probability of
buying your product and closing the deal.
If you want to prospects into customers']);"> turn your prospects into customers then learn when to walk away!
Article Tags: business sales success, meeting sales goals, sales strategies, sales time management, walk away from prospects
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About the Author: Meridith Elliott Powell RSS for Meridith's articles - Visit Meridith's website Speaker, Coach and Business Development Expert, Meridith Eliott Powell, has taken her unique approach to business built it into a successful company that supports organizations and businesses in their efforts to drive revenue and develop people. As the founder of MotionFirst, Meridith designed her company on the culmination of her experience, insight and talents. Her expertise is in the areas of networking, sales and service, and her background is in sales, marketing and commercial banking, Meridith learned first hand how finances, marketing and people development must all work together for companies to reach new heights. She has the skills and knowledge to bring the numbers side and the people side together - align goals and serve as the catalyst to get them moving to drive profitability. A certified strategist, coach and human behavior specialist, Meridith is an active member of the National Speakers Association, the Carolina Speakers Association and the American Society for Training and Development. In addition she is gold master certified by the University of San Diego in strategic planning. Known for her passion, high energy and spirited wit, Meridith is entertaining, fast-paced and effective. She specializes in strategies, coaching and training sessions in sales, networking, customer service. Attendees leave her sessions feeling renewed, energized and armed with knowledge and practical tactics for immediate implementation. Meridith is the author of two books 42 Rules for Turning Prospects Into Customers and Mastering The Art of Success. For more information contact us at 888-526-9998 or www.motionfirstnow.com Click here to visit Meridith's website Five Tips To Get Your Sales Strategy Moving You Cant Close The Sale Success 3 Steps To Define Live Own Your Values Stop Cold Calling Turn Your Prospects Into Clients 6 Tips To Turn Workplace Conflict Into A Strategic Asset |
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