7 Ways to Close Another, Part 2
In the first part of this posting, You can find the first part of the blog at http://shar.es/mcqzy I talked about the first three tips to help you close another deal before the end of the month. Try these today and you will be surprised by the results.
4. Set aside your ego and focus on what it will take to get the deal done. Most of us don’t use our bosses anywhere as effectively as we should. My favorite is getting my boss to do a check in with my client to see how they are feeling about the deal. It’s easy to do, but many of us feel that we are top gun performers and what if we missed a detail that makes the deal close easily? Sometimes we are too close to see it. This also works if you’re in charge of the team. Checking in on a regular basis is good practice to make sure you’re getting all the business you deserve. This assumes that your team trusts you and your intentions. Playing gotcha after a deal typically means no more deals next time. Help the sales person win more and you win more. It’s really that simple.
5. Social media provides a distinct advantage. I know more about my clients’ business and life than I ever did. If you call a client at the end of the month to help them celebrate a major milestone, you might be surprised how easy it is to get the business afterward. How can they say they can’t afford it after they just announced a big deal, merger or acquisition? People don’t care until they know you care about them. I trained my teams to look for opportunities to congratulate their best clients.
6. Call your partners for assistance. Many of my largest partners have provided me the required leverage and price flexibility I needed to make the deal. Most large partners have numbers they need to achieve and are willing to go that extra mile to get the deal done to give their organization a needed revenue boost. I hate to share with you but some of my partners got so used to my end of month calls they would call me first and offer to help me close more business. Build a reputation as be the go to partner for additional revenue and you’ll be surprised what happens the other 27 days a month.
7. Have a sense of humor. Being a sales leader is stressful enough without the pressure of meeting goals, managing a sales team of people half your age, and knowing you have to set the bar high. Find humor where it is. When you call clients on a regular basis, be the first to make them smile. One of my former bosses would call our clients when they were less responsive and leave a voice mail that it would be easier to get the President on the phone than them, please give him a call when they had a chance. He got a lot of call backs with that line. I think it’s how he delivered it. Clients would laugh, apologize, or just chuckle. He would go along and he would ask for their business. It almost always worked. I’ve used it as well. I think you’d be surprised how well people respond.
Take a good look at these seven tips and tell me you can’t do at least a couple of them right now, today. Can you put time on your calendar? Sign up for Linkedin or Twitter? How about getting your team together? Try a couple and let me know how they work for you. I’m looking forward to getting your feedback!
Tripp Braden is a marketing consultant who specializes in developing seven figure partnerships. Discover how to grow your company through extraordinary partnerships by visiting http://www.HighGrowthBusiness.com where you can find resources and products to increase your success.