With the end of the year fast approaching, you want to be sure your team is prepared to meet Q4 quotas. Do you have a plan? If not, now’s the time! Get your plans in line to make sure you’re prepared to meet your sales goals. Check out our suggestions for strategies you can implement today!
Persistent follow-up
The question of what to do when you haven’t received a final ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision is inevitable. What’s the best answer? Follow up. And then follow up again.
It could be that your qualified lead didn’t have time to talk or was still contemplating their decision at the time of your last contact. The only way to finalize an answer is to continue to follow up with them.
Many may worry about the concern of annoying the prospect but if they haven’t given you a straight answer, then they’ve willingly left the door open for you. The key here is to be persistent and consistent in a respectful manner.
Utilizing workflows within a CRM makes this process easier on your team. Workflows can be built to automatically follow up with incomplete cases. Implementing workflows will help take this responsibility off of your sales team’s plate.
Slow down the sale
Customers may have the tendency to begin to shut down when they feel pressured to make a purchase from a basic sales call. If they do, then you’re likely left with nothing from the interaction. As an alternative, try to talk about more than just the sale. If they don’t feel pressure to make an immediate purchase they may be more likely to actually slow down and listen to what you’re talking about.
Slowing down the conversation will end up helping your team establish a relationship with the customer. While it may not end up leading to a direct sale, it could help lead to future lead generation, referrals, and insight into who your buyer is. Even if you can’t get a sale out of them, make sure you’re still walking away from the conversation with some value.
This approach certainly isn’t intended for just any client. But can be largely successful with an existing customer that you’ve already begun to develop a relationship with in some way, such as a direct referral. It can also be beneficial to utilize this strategy when the customer has already made it clear that they are not interested in whatever you’re selling.
What will it take?
When all your best go-to sales strategies have failed, that’s when you ask ‘what will it take?’ What terms can you agree on at the moment that they’re willing to commit to? Maybe it’s a slight variation in the price or package of your product or service. Regardless of their reasoning, this opens the door to negotiations.
While this may not be the most ideal sales pitch to utilize, it may be effective as your team approaches the end of the year deadlines. Negotiations may be a better alternative than no sale at all. Worst case scenario, the negotiation process teaches your team about the buying criteria of your target market.
The end of the quarter and the end of the year, bring about an additional level of stress in the sales world to ensure that quotas are met. Team performance becomes a race to the finish line to make it happen. The tips can help make sure that your sales reps are well prepared to make ends meet and crush their year-end stats. For more details and additional advice, reach out to KelNet founder, Kelli Yount, for guidance on sales tactics.
