How to be a leader in your own sale?

Every single one of us knows a sale , whatever B2C or B2B, that really looked it was going to be a success, but at the end…

Of course, this can always happen to any one of us, even if we do everything according to the plan. But there is a way, there I learned throughout the years that will increase your chances of i) avoiding dragging the sale without selling and ii) closing the agreement.

What usually happens, specially in the sector of B2B, but not exclusively, is that you have several meetings with the prospect, you provide all the information, you meet just one person within the company, you send all the information and even do some work for them to show how you will solve their problem, and then, when you think you did everything right, and it is just a matter of shaking hands, the deals never happens.

So, if you did everything right (according you) why did the sale did not move forward? There exist a lot of factors that can play here, and to be honest you can do everything smoothly and still not having the deal. It is an unfair situation, but it is the reality.

But there is a better way to avoid this to happen: taking charge of the process.

Taking charge of the sale, as well as taking charge of a team, it does not mean to giver orders. It is about to show a clear path of actions that will happen and assure that all sides are aligned so we can reach the ultimate goal.

But what this means in practice?

1. Share in advance what are the steps that will occur in the process. By letting them know clearly what to expect, what will be demanded from them, it is a first way to set expectations and to know if we are on the same page.
2. Always have the next meeting planned at the end of one call. This is crucial. If you end up a call without knowing whats next, that is just one of the worst things that can happen, since there is a gap. As leader in your sale, you have to be able to set the next steps and show why are they important for the ultimate goal: help them.
3. Gain little commitments. What happens in most sales is you spend a lot of time and energy going step-by-step, never with any type of commitment throughout the journey, at at the end we ask for the biggest one, and they do not close. It is much easier to gain the big yes, after a lots of small yes. This part of the 6 principles of Cialdini for an efective persuasion. One of them is commitment and consistency, that goes along with the idea that if you increase your chances to persuade someone in to say yes to big things, if you manage them already to say yes to the small ones. An example of this is to ask them to send you more information with regards their CRM. Or to involve other stakeholders in provinding more information and details. If you manage to do this, they are likely to be more commited with the final yes, since they are already putting effort and commitment on it.

But in this case, are not we potentially moving interested people away?

Not really. If they are really interested in buying your product or service, letting them know what to expect from the process, setting new dates and gain little commitments will be in fact the proof number if they are willing or not to move forward. I have been working with a lot os sales people that the vast majority of processes dragged without a closure, and looking back all the signs were there. There was never, at any point commitment.

All these steps only make sense if you always put the customer at the center of your decision, and your main focus is on helping them. But I can promise, if you apply all the good principles of customer service, and you decide from know onwards to be in charge of your sale, your conversions will improve.

By Vasco de Matos Ramos