One of the biggest challenges that sales professionals face is they often move with a sense of urgency that isn’t matched by their customers. Then they pressure customers, and they get labeled as being pushy. This happens when we don’t create enough urgency in the sales process. We want customers to say yes. Let me be crystal clear, I’m a sales person through and through. I want customers to say yes, and I want them to say yes today. But that’s not my customer’s problem. I have to create urgency in that customer so he says yes in the timeframe I want. We have quotas, mortgages, bills, payroll, you name it. If you’re selling something, you’re selling it to make a living. And when someone delays making a decision, it’s frustrating to the sales professional. Today I’ve got two things you can do immediately that will help you create enough urgency so that your customer will make a decision without feeling pressured to do so.
Create urgency from the first interaction
Many sales professionals make the mistake of waiting until the end to create urgency. It usually goes something like this. After spending 35 minutes following their standard sales process, they throw something like this in at the end: ”If you make this decision today, I’ll give you 20% off, but you have to make a decision today.” Throwing that urgency in at the end comes across pushy. To fix that, rather than wait for the end of your sales process, you create urgency from the very first interaction. If your first interaction with your customer is an email, you let them know that you’re looking for people ready to make a move. There are lots of ways to phrase it in your first interactions. “Hey, I’m looking for people who are trying to make a decision today…”; ”We do have this limited time offer.”; ”Just so we’re clear, I’m going to give you some incentives that’ll motivate you to make a decision today.” After I’ve done that, I move on with my fact-finding, my qualifying, my finding the pain points and so on. You move along in your sales process, but you set the agenda that you’re going to ask them to make a decision today. In doing that, you’ve given the customer time to adjust to the idea that you are going to ask them to make a decision. And, let’s be honest here guys, we are closers. Your job is to close business. Your very first close takes place by simply saying I’m going to close you at the end. When I lay it all out at the beginning— that I want a decision today— I can get a preview into the objections I need overcome. “I’m going to give you some incentives to make that decision today. But at the end, if you don’t feel comfortable, I don’t want you to make a decision.” If I have a little trick like that and then my prospect says, “Whoa, Anthony, I like what you’re saying, but I’m not here to make a decision today,” I just found out the number one objection I’m going to have to overcome throughout my sales process. I know this prospect’s not ready to make a decision, and now I tailor my approach to uncover the real reason why. That’s the first solution.
Create a smaller barrier to entry
The second solution to create urgency in your prospect is to give a smaller barrier to entry. Some of the best online marketers, salespeople and organizations in the world create a small barrier to entry. That can be a free call, a free offering, a lower price product, a 14-day, a 30-day money back guarantee. They create a tool that takes the pressure off that allows customers to get started with a product at a lower risk. “If you don’t like it, call me, I’ll pick it up.” Whatever that offering is will help your prospect make a decision today.
This is only the beginning
Going through these two steps, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean all your prospects are going to say yes, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get the most revenue out of that sales appointment. That problem is for a whole new blog. It’s how do you maximize your customer? How do you maximize revenue on your prospect once they’ve said yes? In order to do that, you have to have a well-crafted, detailed offer structure that you know what the next card in the deck will be once someone says yes. If you need help crafting that, reach out to me. In fact, for the first time in nearly a year, I have opened up my appointment books for potential clients to conduct a discovery call with me. I only have limited room on my schedule, and I only have a capacity for a small amount of clients. So if you’re interested in working with me, sign up now for an appointment.
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