SALES CYCLE CONTINUED>.. PART 2 “3 Tips to Speed Up the Sales Process” By Tiffanie Z. Lyon
February 19, 2009
In the last post, Part 1, I talked about the actual sales cycle—what it is and how to identify your steps of the sale. Once you have these identified and know what needs to happen during each step, then you want to understand how to keep the process flowing.
Ideally we want to speed up the sales process and control it each step of the way. Note that we are NOT trying to control the “prospect”, but instead the “process.”
Below are three tips to speed up this sales process and they should all work seamlessly together.
1) Mutual accountability; Assign homework
During most steps of the sale, there is almost always something that you and the prospect have to research, investigate, check into and pass by others, in order to move forward with the decision-making. If one of you or ideally both of you have this “homework”, then each are taking ownership of the sales process and there is mutual accountability. Try it!
EXAMPLE of “HOMEWORK”: “I will look into our delivery days for your area, keeping in mind your preference of Tuesdays. Meanwhile, you can check your current contract’s end date.”
2) Suggest and confirm next steps at the end of every phone/live call
Being professionally assertive and suggesting the specific next steps and the timing is to your advantage. Make it easy for the prospect. They will chime in (or should) if the timing and next steps are NOT feasible for them. The only time you won’t need to make the suggestion, obviously, is when the prospect is specific about next steps and the timing. Many times though, the prospects are vague, so it’s up to the salesperson to take control of this process.
EXAMPLE of “CONFIRMING/SUGGESTING” next steps (combining with tip#1):
“I’ll give you a call next Wednesday the 10th to learn of your contract end date. At that time, I’ll let you know our delivery days to your area and we can confirm your start date for our service.”
3) Take notes on above and follow up, follow up, follow up
The first two steps are totally moot, if you don’t have a way to track/document what’s suggested and the timing. You can’t follow up if you don’t remember. If you don’t follow up, the sales process D*R**A***G****S on……..
WHAT IS YOUR SYSTEM FOR REMEMBERING AND FOLLOWING UP?– Comment now!
Go to www.LyonSalesInstitute.com for FREE downloadable tip sheets, including these tips on “How to Speed Up The Sales Process,”
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