Here’s the scenario;
You have put lots of effort into getting an appointment with a prospective client that would be an ideal client for you.
The appointment went really well, so well they asked you to have a conference call with their team. You took the conference call and everyone was really enthusiastic and you were 100% confident that you would get their business.
Well I’m sorry to disappoint you but research shows that 60% of business you expect to close, won’t. (Source; Jill Konrath)
Why? Not because they don’t like you or your product or service but because, as I’ve mentioned many times before, your biggest competitor is the status quo. This means they are prepared to stay with the existing state of affairs rather than face the upheaval of change.
Most people will chase the prospect a few a times with an email or telephone call asking how the decision making process is advancing and at the same time look for new prospects.
The outcome of this is;
- The prospect still doesn’t convert because you haven’t given them a good enough reason to take action
- You end up working too hard and not getting the results you want
- Disappointed because you were sure this one would convert into business
- Lost bonus because that extra business would ensure you would hit your sales target
- Start from scratch with new prospects who will also fall into the 60% of those that don’t convert into business
- The prospective client is left struggling with the same challenges that prevented them from achieving their goals.
Here’s what you can do TODAY;
1. Identify your prospects that haven’t made a decision
2. Help them to make the decision. They were interested, otherwise they wouldn’t have met with you in the first place
3. Go back to the information you gathered at the questioning stage
4. Make a list of all of the challenges they wanted to improve to help them achieve their goals
5. In your email or telephone refer to those benefits and what they will lose if they don’t go ahead. In a non-threatening way, of course!
6. Identify ways that you can make the process easier.
For example
I had a client who went “quiet” on me and I had been certain that I would get the business. One of the challenges for them at the outset was logistics. They were concerned as to how they were going to get all of the delegates for the training course into one area of the country.
In my follow-up email, I referenced all of the benefits we had talked about which would help them achieve their business objectives. There was also a big personal benefit for this decision maker, which was promotion to a very senior post if they managed to achieve their company objectives. So I referenced that too.
I also said that I would be prepared to travel to different areas of the country and work with fewer delegates which meant they didn’t have the hassle of travel and accommodation for those delegates.
The result was an immediate reply, asking me to have a Skype call to talk about next steps.
As soon as you have finished reading this newsletter go and look at all of your business pending and follow the steps above, craft an email and send it to them TODAY.
Let me know if you have any great advice for business that has gone “quiet” and how you dealt with your prospect accepting the “Status Quo”
If you want to increase sales revenue and are struggling to attract, convert and retain more of your ideal clients, arrange a FREE 30 minute “Profit Booster” session with me today CLICK HERE
Find A Way and be the Best You Can Be
Dylis
Email: dylis@dylisguyan.com
