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Sales is the lifeblood of business, and I can affirmatively agree that this is true in my two decades in business. Mastering sales is one of the most challenging aspects of being a business owner, but you can succeed with a simple 4 step process to convert more prospects.
1. Master The Follow-Up
When peewee football players begin playing football, they learn how to block and tackle because blocking and tackling are foundational to success on the football field; the absolute basic level of prospect conversion is a prompt follow-up.
If you were a customer with what you considered an urgent need and the company only responded to you after five days, would you be more or less likely to want to do business with them? According to Invesp, salespeople who contacted a prospect within an hour were 60 times more likely to qualify the lead than those who waited longer than a day.
These statistics drive home an obvious point: if you follow up quickly with a prospect, your chance of converting them drops dramatically slowly. So, create a rule to follow up with your prospect within 1-2 hours on business days.
2. Question Focused
I've observed more than 200 sales calls with my business coaching clients, and what I've seen is that business owners tend to speak more on initial phone calls with prospective customers than when they ask questions.
When you do get your prospect on the phone, try to make a concerted effort to ask questions that dig deeper into why the prospect has their current problem, why they called you to help solve the problem, what they are looking for as a result, and how far they are willing to go to solve the issue.
3. Be The GPS
Now that you have asked all the relevant questions to build a comprehensive profile of your prospect and their needs, now is your time to serve as a guide.
This process is what I call road mapping time. Next is your chance to help your prospective customer understand why you are the answer to their problems. You have heard their challenges and thought about the programs and services or products you offer, and you are in a unique position to guide them through what it will be like to be your customer.
Could you take them through what a day in your customer's life is like and how that will build towards them solving the problem that they called you about?
You still want to avoid being preachy here, but instead, you want to be a sherpa, helping them through the ins and outs of the solution.
4. Make The Recommendation
Some business owners need help with this conversion process, asking for the sale. Sales can be complex, but asking for the sale as a business owner should be effortless; here is how you do it.
Instead of trying to sell a prospect, you should recommend what option they should choose that will be best for solving their problem. You are the professional, and they came to you for help, so instead of thinking of it as asking, think of it in terms of making a professional recommendation for a problem you have the unique ability to solve using your service, program, or product.
Making your recommendation accomplishes two things: you will automatically position yourself as an expert in the eyes of the prospect and define your brand in the marketplace.
By taking this thoughtful customer-centric approach to converting prospects, you can establish an efficient prospect closing system to boost revenue and effectively service your customers.
