Been cold calling yet today? Have you got enough people excited about your irresistible offer? Or did your efforts not pay off sufficiently? If so, you are certainly not alone. Many salespeople work very hard, but nevertheless do not score enough new business. That is a pity because the turnover is there for the taking. If you just make the effort to pick it up. It is even possible to take it easy and still exceed your target! How? We will explain this below.
Many sales managers become restless because of the poor results that acquisition delivers. But with the right sales training, something can be done about that. For example, start picking the low-hanging fruit and stop flogging a bunch of horses. Seventy per cent of them turn out to be stone dead anyway. After all, 30 per cent is about the maximum achievable score with cold acquisition. Or is it?
Pick the low-hanging fruit first
Your customers’ customers are their peers. The great thing about peers is that they are often interested in the same subjects. Struggling with the same problems. Didn’t you happen to have a suitable solution for that? So your customers’ peers are the low-hanging fruit. You just have to pluck them to make more impact.
How? Simple. For example, you ask your customer: “Who in your network is struggling with the same challenges as you?” Or: “Who in your network needs the same results that we are achieving together now?” Follow-up question: “Could you put me in touch with him?” Experience shows that this is not always an easy question. So take a moment to think it over and plan for follow-up.
The right sales training: timing is everything
To make sure your referral question has an effect, timing is key. The question “when is the best time to ask for a referral?” is therefore one of the most frequently asked on sales training courses. Again, the answer is simple: the perfect moment is when the customer’s trust is at its peak. That is usually when the customer decides to do business with you./span>
In practice, people sometimes wait until the delivery phase, but then the optimum moment has already passed. Why? Because it still sometimes happens that someone becomes dissatisfied because something is disappointing. Is your product or service so good that the customer’s expectations are exceeded with the delivery? Then the first moment just before the decision is still ideal. And the good thing is: you appear to be so referable that you can feel free to ask for a referral several times afterwards. So do it!
Do you want to know more about how to sell smarter? Then contact us for sales training and education!