DOJO
Even though you’ve put a lot of time and effort into a customer interaction and demo calls sometimes closing the deal can feel tricky. It is normal for customers to have second thoughts and to balk at actually putting money on the table. Dive in here to learn more about our strategies to move deals forward to completion. We’ll also touch upon the fear of rejection which can play a role in you putting off closing the deal - it can be tempting to stay within the potentiality of a deal (“they might say yes!”) than to risk hearing an uncomfortable truth (“they said no!”). We encourage you to seek out the close regardless of the outcome. Even if someone does say “no” today, it’s OK, because you can always follow up with them in the future!
This exercise is intended for individual or team sales agents as a way to practice and reinforce learnings. Incorporate this practice into your day and, if possible, into your ongoing sales work. This shouldn’t take you more than 15-20 minutes a day. Keep it simple. Good luck and have fun!
Introduction: In this exercise we are going to assume that you are having a first (or one of the first) interactions with your prospective client. You are going to practice setting the tone right from the start of your interaction so that you together with your client you are aiming for a decision in a specific time frame.
Step 1: Prepare for your call - both mentally and emotionally. You may want to review the video “How to Prepare and Debrief” for this.
Step 2: Identify whether this is an inbound (customer reached out to you) or an outbound scenario (you reached out to the customer).
Step 3: Review the possible types of anchoring questions discussed in this video at 2:58 and onward. Draft one or two questions that you can use for your prospect. Don’t forget to find out from your client: how urgent is the issue?
Step 4: In the case when you are working in a specific industry or with a seasonal business it can also be valuable to research the yearly cycle that your customer likely goes through. Ask her if what you have learned about the seasonality of her business is true for her company. And again, ensure that you find out by when your customer wants a solution to her problem and how urgent her problem really is.
Step 5: Make note of this anchor and the deadline stated by the customer in a visible place in your CRM software or calendar. You can trigger a reminder to send you a note 2 weeks before the deadline so that you know when to reach out to the customer and refer to the anchor that you set together early on in your interaction.
Goal this week:
Tuesday: “Place the anchor” in at least 2 client interactions today
Wednesday: “Place the anchor” in at least 3 client interactions today
Thursday: “Place the anchor” in at least 4 client interactions today