As salespeople, closing deals is just a fact of life. You either do it or you don’t. And it can make or break you.
But it doesn’t have to be as difficult or scary as people make it out to be. In fact, closing deals can be fun, predictable, and rewarding.
If there is one thing we know for sure it’s this: sales is a game of probability.
And the likelihood of closing a deal increases exponentially if you can master one thing: the follow-up.
That’s why we like to say that the “fortune is in the follow-up.”
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But if there is so much money to be made by simply following up, why do most salespeople go a few weak attempts and then give up?
Two reasons:
- People don’t want to feel like a nuisance.
- People run out of valuable things to say.
They say things like this:
“Hey, I was just following up…”
Or worse…
“Hey, I woke up thinking about you…”
Stop doing this.
It’s bad for you as a sales professional, and it’s bad for your business as a whole. You are better than this. Your clients deserve better than this. And deep down inside you know it.
Here’s the thing: sales is a contact sport. That means you have to follow-up with excellence.
Studies show that it takes 5-15 touches to close a deal 80% of the time.
That means you’ve got to toughen up if you want to close more deals (and close them quicker). You’ve got to have the confidence (and protect it).
If you know that you are world-class at what you do, and you know that you can help, then it is your duty and obligation to follow-up and fight to earn the business.
Stop avoiding calling someone you know that you can help. That deal may magically close itself, but that’s not sustainable (or professional). An object will stay at rest unless it is acted on by an outside force. You’ve got to be constantly pushing your potential clients towards a buying decision. You are a must-have vs a nice-to-have.
You have to challenge people. And you have to stay out of the friend zone.
Stop trying to get a “yes” out of your potential clients and go for “no.”
And here’s the truth: you can’t lose something you never had. You’re not going to get a 75-80% close rate. In fact, you’ll likely see a 20% close rate. And that is considered really good.
Some will, some won’t, so what?
