Monday, May 2, 2011

Spring Forward With Sales

Spring is looming on the horizon, flowers are starting to bloom, bee's are buzz... Wait a minute! This is not some How To Guide for planting your spring garden and doing recreational activities outside! No friends this is much more exciting than being outdoors! This is a How To Guide for closing more business!
As the title suggests, let's talk about some elements to successfully closing more sales over the phone. Depending on how slow or how busy you are, we can always use more business. The key is in the asking! As the saying goes "You don't get what you don't ASK for."
So the question remains... "How do I ask for the business?" Here are some pointers for successfully asking for that business:
  • Always, after giving the price ask for the business with a simple closed ended question. For example: "That is going to be $39.95 before tax, can I get that out to you today?" A closed ended question is anything that requires a Yes or No response.
  • We want to avoid giving them a reason to say no, this is where confidence must come into play! You have done enough work to get them to this point now it is up to us to close them!
  • Role-Play! I know I know... "But Kelly... it is soo hard!" When we role-play we are using the skills and getting better each and every time! Do so in your next meeting! Practice makes perfect and helps change old habits!
You are waisting your time and the time of your customer if you do not ask for the business! Statistics show when you ask for the business you close 37.5% more of the business! However, when we fail to do so, that percentage drops to below 15%! I don't know about you, but closing 4 out of 10 calls looks more promising than 1-2 out of 10 calls in any given situation!
As Spring is just around the corner, let's spring forward and maximize all we can by ASKING FOR THE BUSINESS on each and every call, and with each and every customer.
Kelly Wasden
ContactPoint Solutions NGA WDDA

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Makes sense. I wonder how many people do that.