When it Comes to Closing, Timing is Everything

13 Jul When it Comes to Closing, Timing is Everything

In any inside sales position, pitching your product and closing the sale is obviously the number one priority. As sales manager, my job is to not only hit our team goals but also to motivate and coach my team to achieve those goals. However, you can only coach your team to pitch a certain way or be knowledgeable about a product to a certain point. After that, it’s up to the representative to take what they’ve learned and weave it into a “normal” conversation. Which can be hard to do considering you’re usually talking to someone you’ve never met, about a subject that they are not in control of, for a product they’ve never heard of.

Here are 3 tips to spend less time dialing, and more time pitching:

1.       Collect Information

For any prospect, the best way to make the sale is to cater to their needs. You may have 10 different selling points, but depending on the prospect needs, only one or maybe none of the selling points of your product may fit. Always do a simple internet search of your prospect before the call to collect basic information. Even if it just a business address, talking about the weather in their area or the restaurant next door might be enough to get your foot in the door.

2.       Ask the right Questions

Once you’ve done your basic research, you’re ready to make the call. Of course everyone would love to have a one-call close, but odds are you won’t get there on the first outreach. Ask the questions that will make the next call even easier. “Are you the decision maker on this subject? If not, who is?” “Have you worked with a product like this before? What did you like or not like?” And the most important, “When is the best time to follow up with the decision maker?”

3.       Follow up Frequently

No matter how good of a salesperson you are, if you spend 90 percent of your day talking to people who can’t make buying decisions, you are wasting your time. Sure, a couple gatekeepers you speak to may be able to give the message to that buyer but they aren’t knowledgeable and motivated like you are. They may only remember one or two things you said, give inaccurate or wrong information about your product, or just flat out forget to tell them. Following up with the right person frequently is the number one way to increase your pitching time. Don’t call 100 different people, call 30 people 100 times. Of course, you don’t want to be a nuisance to them, but following up frequently and getting a no after a few days is significantly more efficient than someone stringing you along for months with no contact to the person that actually makes decision. If you hit a voicemail, call back in a couple minutes when they may be off the line. If they’re on appointment, call back the next day. But the easiest way to find out when the decision maker can talk: Ask!