Slow Down the Sales Process So You Can Speed Up the Sale

Everybody wants to sell faster! No matter your industry or product, every organization is in a hurry to close more business. And on the surface, that sounds like a good idea — but it's not.

Too often, we're in such a hurry to close the sale that we rush and make mistakes in the sales process that actually slows down the act of closing.

In our haste, we tend to overlook certain obstacles in our path in an effort to sell quickly. These obstacles often come up as a surprise to the client, which can derail the conversation and cause us to back-track and overcome the objection, which takes more time than if we had discussed it from the beginning.

Eliminate Surprises and Close More Deals 

Unless it's your birthday, surprises are usually a bad thing. And in the context of business, surprises are always an obstacle to getting a deal done. This is why you need to look for ways to remove surprises, so they never have the chance to materialize. 

At The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS), we use a resource called the No-Surprise Proposal — it's a repeatable template that asks a series of questions to help you remove all surprises from the proposal. 

The goal of the No-Surprise Proposal is to help account executives to weave the selling and buying together throughout the sales process.

Too often, we separate the selling and the buying, which can lead to missed opportunities to discuss potential surprises that can turn into major obstacles. Weaving the selling and buying together, we include our prospects in every step of the process, which eliminates any last-minute surprises.   

This process can slow down the sales cycle a little bit, but it will eliminate the long delays after the presentation before your prospect finally makes a decision. 

Here are a few ways that you can eliminate surprises in your next proposal:

• Make sure you are dealing with the Decision Maker — yes, this seems obvious, but this simple mistake can cause big surprises when it's time to close the sale.
  
  
• Is the Consumer Path Clear — does your solution make a clear connection on how you will engage consumers on a clear path to purchase for your prospect? 
  
  
• Prospect's Responsibilities — does the prospect understand what their tasks and responsibilities are in the implementation of your proposal? 
  
  
• Do you ask for the Order — this is another obvious question, but far too often, presentations do not specifically ask for a decision on the proposal. *Bonus: your proposal should directly tie back to how it will achieve the prospect's ROI. 

It's important to involve the prospect at every step of the process — the budget, ROI, expectations, creative from the beginning. This will help you uncover resistance or concerns before it's too late.  

Remember, surprises become obstacles, obstacles become objections, and that derails the sales process.

Have You Removed All Surprises From the Proposal?

A no-surprise proposal is the best way to close deals, so clarifying specific things during the process can eliminate the surprises to the prospect. And when you have no surprises, you'll end up closing your deal faster!