The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Once you present a solution to a prospective buyer or client, two things happen.

It becomes either Close Won or Close Lost. Close Won is obviously the ideal or desired scenario, but what happens when your pending deal is Close Lost? Is ALL lost? Maybe not. 

Ask yourself these three questions to determine if you can change a Close Lost scenario into a Close Won.

Whether a sales reps is out in the field answering prospects' questions or within the office conversing about company initiatives, inefficient communication can take a significant toll on your company's success.

When communicating with prospects, quick access to the right information at the right time is essential for selling the product or service.

Having better communication skills will increase your chances of closing the deal. Here are a few simple steps for salespeople to help take their communication with prospects to the next level.

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.

"4 out of 5 Sales Managers admit appointments, whether in-person or virtual, are more challenging to secure than five years ago."

This nugget of information came from The Center for Sales Strategy 2020 Media Report.  

My initial response to this new data was...DUH!

I'd like to speak with the one manager who thinks getting a first time appointment is "easier" than 5-years ago. They must know something that I don't know!

I don't care who you're or what you're selling, but getting a first-time meeting is tough! Now, I realize there are a ton of legitimate reasons why that is true, but NO ONE CARES! Excuses won't help you get to your sales goals, get you a promotion, or pay your rent.  

What you need is a solution to help you get that all-important first-time business appointment. What you need is a Valid Business Reason.

Recently, Borrell and Associates, a leading media research firm, conducted their annual survey among those people who buy advertising for their businesses and asked them what traits they seek from media salespeople. 

Here are the top four results.

The prospecting challenge is real.

Sellers face it every day when making the choice to go after prospects that appear to be low-hanging fruit or quick sales — or pursue prospects with greater spending potential that will take longer to close.

You've met with a prospect several times — and this person also happens to be the CEO of the business. Score!

You've built a great rapport, they've shared challenges with you, and you've developed the perfect solution. You're really getting excited about the opportunities that are unfolding!

It's all going perfect, until you hear...

Have you ever come back to your office after a solid Needs Analysis meeting and shared the exciting news with your manager?

As you sit down to recap, your manager starts to ask you questions about the prospect, and you realize you can’t answer them.

Critical information that you need was never even discussed. The assignment that you uncovered and thought was strong is actually vague, and you begin to understand clearly that you're missing key pieces of information.

You start to deflate as you realize this meeting wasn’t as good as you thought after all.

1-on-1 meetings play a large role on your team’s sales performance.

In this episode, Stephanie Downs, VP and Senior Consultant, discusses how sales leaders can make an impact on their sales process with 1-on-1 meetings, or what we call the IFM. Plus, she covers the fundamentals of IFMs and how you can turn this dreaded weekly task into productive meeting.

Tune in now to hear the Live broadcast or keep reading for a brief overview.