My newest book, A Mind For Sales, relates to what we’re dealing with today in the middle of a pandemic. So much of it has to do with our mind. There’s a tremendous amount of business out there; we just have to be flexible and willing to adapt to go find it.

I’m going to share with you 10 steps on how to close sales faster in a pandemic. I encourage you to hit subscribe so you have access to the new content I put out there every week – on my blog and YouTube channel.

1. Keep It Simple for Your Customers

This is not the time to get into a complex sales process. It’s not the time to get into major, major deals that are going to take years to close and involve multiple people. With a lot of people working from home, it’s much harder to get people together. You have to keep everything in your sales process and in what you sell. All of it must be simple in order to help the person or maybe the two people you’re speaking with to make a fast decision.

2. Focus on Your ICP

Now more than ever, you have to stay tight with your ICP – ideal customer profile. Stay focused. It is too easy to chase the shiny object for the sake of trying to find business; however, when you get outside your lane and start dealing with people not within your ICP, it will take you much longer to understand them and for them to understand you. That will just slow down the process. Stay in your lane and stay focused on your ICP.

3. Fast Prospecting

What is fast prospecting all about? It means you need to double down and triple down the speed with which you’re interacting with customers. This is not the time to sit there and say that you’ll slowly continue to reach out to them like every month. No! It’s not the time for that. You have to take whatever your process was, cut the time in half, and double the contacts. Prospecting must be faster than ever. In other words, if you normally reach out to your prospects every two weeks, now it needs to be every week. If you usually reach out every week, reach out every three days. Speed is what it takes. Speed sells!

4. Narrow the Solution

When you talk to a customer and engage them, the solution is not to start throwing out all of these ideas as to what they can do or all these things that they’re going to be able to accomplish. No, it’s not the time to sell world peace. This is not the time to try to find a solution for hunger. Now is the time to narrow the solution and help the customer achieve that one specific outcome that they’re looking to achieve.

5. Shorten the RSI

Remember that customers don’t want to be sold to and really, I don’t even think they want to buy. What they desire is a return on their investment. That is what they truly want, so it’s your job to show your customers how they can quickly receive a return on their investment when they buy from you and invest with you. Therefore, let them know that when they buy “x” service or product from you, they will immediately get value back. I have to do everything possible to shorten the ROIC, because things are just too unstable as we look long-term.

6. Limit the Options

When you get to the point of putting things out on the table, don’t say, “well, hey, why don’t you pick from one of 18 different items?” This is not the time to play buffet. No, no. You must limit the options. Any time you present too many options, you automatically slow down the decision-making process because the customer needs more time to think about it. Don’t put more than three options out on the table.

7. Trust

One of the reasons I am able to only put two or three options on the table is because I’ve earned their trust. Without a doubt, trust is key. Everything in your sales process must be centered around helping the customer understand that they can trust you, because you trust them.

Confidence starts in the listing and the respect. Confidence creates integrity, and integrity is really the sister or brother of trust. The greater the level of trust you have, the faster the customer is willing to make a decision with you.

8. Two-Way Street

Have you ever driven down a two-way street and noticed there are cars on the other side? They’re coming at you from the opposite direction. So, what is a two-way street and how does it relate to sales and prospecting? When it comes to helping you close sales faster, you have to understand that there will be give and take on both sides, but stay in your lane. This does not mean that you give the customer everything he/she wants. No, not at all. You don’t do that. Just understand that there may be wiggles and shakes that you need to be prepared for, and that’s okay.

9. Land and Expand

I want you to put this simple phrase on your computer. Put it on your phone. It’s your objective to make it so simple for your customer to do business with you that you land them as a new customer. Then, once you do, you expand that customer and begin building into and getting them in additional ways. But you have to create that initial sale first.

10. Value your Time

Your time is your most prized resource. It’s not what you sell. It’s not your customer. It is your time. In order to use your time wisely, go back through this list of nine and ask yourself where you need to change things. When you begin to understand the value of your time and that you can’t put a price on it, you’ll be able to close sales faster than ever. Time is priceless.

For more tips on valuing your time, go check out my blog post and video on How to Gain An Extra Three Weeks Every Year.

Copyright 2020, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” Sales Motivation Blog.  Mark Hunter is the author of A Mind for Sales and High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.