These 3 Simple Things Get in the Way of More Sales
There are only two ways that you can sell more. In fact, this was the premise for my audiobook, When It Goes Sideways.
Spend more time selling
Make sure you are advancing your sales process every chance you get
The first concept is pretty self-explanatory, and I won’t spend much time on it now. It should go without saying (but apparently doesn’t) that if your job requires creating revenue, you need to invest your time there above and beyond anything else.
The second concept, however, is even more significant. There are some of you reading this right now who are spending ample time either in front of customers or trying to get there.
It isn’t that you’re spending the wrong time on the wrong things. It’s that you’re struggling to move people through your sales process. What I have learned by working with clients, particularly recently, is that there are three major obstacles between you and sales success. I’d like to get into them here.
1. You don’t know what success looks like
Before you go into that meeting with your prospect or customer, do you know what you’re trying to achieve? Are you certain that what you were going to talk about is going to help you advance the sales process? Most sellers don’t. That’s a problem.
A lot of people believe that activity is the key to achieving results. I touched upon that a few weeks back. The problem is that activity alone will not lead to success- it has to be the right activity. Sales calls with a predetermined agenda are among those activities proven to be effective.
There must be a purpose to your meeting or it will not be a productive meeting. If you don’t know the purpose of your meeting, don’t have it. If that sounds foolish, then you’d better get to thinking about why the meeting is so necessary, and what success looks like. Oddly enough, when you put it in those terms, things tend to become a little clearer.
2. You don’t know what to ask for
Once you have determined your purpose, then it should be fairly straightforward to know what to ask for in order to achieve it. Sadly, this doesn’t happen very often. If you know your sales process well enough, then you should know what the next several steps look like. Once you have relative command over this sales process, asking for these steps becomes rudimentary.
Still, 80% of professional sellers, and by that I’m primarily referring to people who only get paid when they make a sale, forget or neglect to ask for these next steps. Considering the fact that it’s such a simple act of preparation, I’m consistently shocked by this fact.
Salespeople everywhere will rave at the number of “good conversations” they have with their prospects on a daily basis. Yet startlingly few of those conversations have a defined and scheduled next step. Let me ask you, how can a sales conversation be that good if it doesn’t lead to another one? There’s no such thing as a good sales conversation that doesn’t result in a defined and scheduled next step. Decide what you want to ask for, and then set yourself up during the meeting to ask for it.
3. You don’t know how to ask
If you know what your objective is, and you understand what the next step is, it seems pretty simple then to just ask for it. While it may just be that easy for you, many sellers still over complicate this.
Maybe it’s because you’ve been trained to memorize some wordy closing question or technique. Perhaps it’s because you still feel gross about being perceived as a salesperson. Maybe you just don’t feel able to be vulnerable enough to pop the question. But at some point, we’ve got to move forward.
For years, my favorite closing question was, “So what do we do from here?“ or “What’s the next step?” More recently, in The Perfect Close, my friend James Muir dove much deeper into this concept.
James posited that the closing question can be scripted like this, “Does it make sense to… (enter your next step suggestion here)?” If your prospect responds in the affirmative, then it’s clear what needs to happen next. If your prospect says “no,” then your next question is to ask them what makes sense to do instead.
You’re making it clear that whatever happens next is up to the prospect, but still giving the process the nudge that can only come from you. Complicate this if you wish, but this is all that really needs to happen. The framework is really effective, and it’s easy to use.
At some point it becomes clear that the next step is to agree on terms of service. I’m pretty sure you know what to do from there.
I’ve put this plainly and simply because it’s, well, plain and simple. There is not a lot holding you back or getting in your way. You have the talent to do this, you probably just need to stop and think a little bit before you go out selling for the sake of filling out an activity report or yoru CRM. A little time spent preparing and even workshopping these obstacles will help you make way more sales in the long run.
Need help with this? I know a guy… email me and let’s chat.
Or, jump into my community and share your experience with the rest of us. We learn best when we learn from each other.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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