Is your sales process slow or fast?
There are valid arguments for both sides.
I will state that fast will result in closing more deals, but slow will result in closing bigger deals.
Most salespeople subscribe to one style or another, and I believe the best approach is to subscribe to both and know when to use one or the other.
Selling fast works great because it gets you to a state of actually doing business with the client rather than merely talking about it. Down side is the customer can wind up viewing you as a one-trick pony or someone who can only do certain things.
Conversely, the person who closes slow has the opportunity to get the customer to see a bigger picture. In so doing, both the salesperson and the customer likely discover there is more opportunity for the salesperson to help the customer.
The style I’ve come to embrace and am sharing with others is one where we close quick around what I refer to as the “POE” — point of entry.
The POE is something you can get the customer to agree on quickly in the sales process — not necessarily on the first or second sales call, but much shorter than what your historical time has been for closing a deal.
Your POE should be something the customer will value and be one that allows for you to get more time with the customer and learn more about them. An example might be an analysis or testing process. Something like this can be an excellent POE, as it will expose you to more.
Having a POE that offers you more conversation with the customer is exactly what you want. You will learn more about the customer and they will learn more about what you do. This ultimately leads to a sales process that is longer (and in some cases slower), but can result in better sales.
What is your POE?
Develop 2-3 different points of entry you might be able to use with a prospect. Test the idea and see what the results are.
Nearly everyone I’ve trained on this idea has found it works and ultimately leads to not only more sales, but to better and bigger sales.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
