A business travels through the marketplace at the rate of its sales. If you want your business to grow faster, you have to speed up your sales. If you have salespeople in your organization, or if you are in sales, you have a direct effect on that speed. In my 25-plus years in business and sales, I discovered how to get over these hurdles and close more sales while speeding up the time involved with closing them. The following are some rules you can apply to your sales.
Response Time-People like being responded to. Fast. Calls on same day. Emails by next day. Texts within the hour. If you have an Info@ or Sale@ email address, be sure you monitor and reply when requests are made.
Communication-Do it, a lot. With details. But not too many. There’s a happy balance in what to say and how often. Be sure to include all the participants or stakeholders. If something is being communicated, ask yourself who else would benefit by knowing this. Often it is the customer who’s left out, or one of your peers in another department. Mondays and Fridays are times to “check in” and communicate with all your project contacts.
Calendar-It amazes me how many people don’t use these consistently to stay organized in today’s busy world. The calendar keeps you on task. If you’re not using these daily, multiple times a day, you’re not organized. And your sales will suffer.
Take Notes-I take lots of notes. I keep a note pad by my phone to document calls and conversations. I take notes between all my to-dos and activities. Notes help to not forget important details.
Design-Design sells. If a customer wants a bland graphic in a basic box, do one unique thing to that graphic or box that gives it the pop it needs to stand out over the competition’s design.
Details-Show dimensions, perspective, and explain materials. Know what’s behind the wall, overhead or on the ground. In other words, know and provide answers before questions come up.
Conclusion:
Some of this might just seem like common sense. Yet, I’ve seen first-hand how a lot of this goes unpracticed. Putting these little rules into action takes an effort. However, it’s been my experience that these rules help you to sell more effectively and quickly.
