The number one reason salespeople don’t make more sales is poor follow-up. You can find all the prospects or opportunities in the world, but if you don’t do the appropriate follow-up, they may never know enough about you, your company and product to make a decision.
Your sales pipeline is not a holding tank; it is similar to a production line. Once a prospect makes it into the pipeline, the objective is to move them through the sales process. Think of the process as a production line, where certain things are added and formed; where individual components are added upon and turned into a finished product. The sales pipeline works exactly the same way. You are taking an opportunity or an interested prospect and turning them into a sale. The mere fact that you have found an opportunity does not mean they will eventually become a sale. They need to be processed or manufactured into a sale. That is the difference between an order taker and a salesperson. When someone takes an order, they don’t need to do anything to process or manufacture the opportunity. It is already complete, nothing more needs to be done except filling out the order. Salespeople have the responsibility of finding the opportunity and then turning that opportunity into a sale. The process involves the following steps:
1. Building trust in you and your companyI refer to these five steps as “romancing the sale.” The word romancing has a much deeper meaning than following up. Romancing suggests a sort of personal action, not just showing up. It takes the specific action of romancing to process a prospect from an opportunity to a customer. It is the act of romancing that manufactures the raw opportunity of a prospect into the finished product of a customer. The better you romance, the better the finished product. Think for a moment about the characteristics of your very best customer. What made them your very best customer? There could be several reasons, but I would be willing to wager that building trust in you and your company, understanding their needs, presenting the best solution to their needs, demonstrating that solution and resolving their concerns were all responsible for them becoming your best customers.
2. Understanding the specific needs of the prospect
3. Presenting the best solution for their needs
4. Demonstrating that your solution is exactly what they need
5. Resolving their concerns
Selling doesn’t happen just because you find an opportunity. Selling is the result of processing that opportunity as it travels along the production line of the sales process. With the exception of the prospects that already know what they need, to solve their problems, the salesperson must personally move them through the sales processing pipeline in order to make the sale.
Consider the sales opportunities you have found that never resulted in a sale. Did you move them through your pipeline by applying the five steps of the process, or did you just put them at the beginning of your pipeline and hoped eventually they would come out the other end as a sale? Selling takes effort and it far exceeds the initial activity of finding the opportunity. If you don’t move the prospect through the pipeline by effectively romancing the sale, your success will be limited. Sales success is in direct proportion to your personal effort in preparing your prospect through romancing.
You will know when you are romancing effectively when the prospect:
• Asks questions when you stop by.
• Thanks you for the valuable information you have shared with them.
• Discusses the value of your offering.
• Begins to negotiate.
• Asks how quickly the product can be delivered.
