Sophie became my client when she realized that her sales team was converting sales very slowly. They couldn’t get enough appointments on the books and it often took close to a year to finalize and close sales from these appointments. When she saw me present about this very topic, she hired me to help. Here’s what I told her sales team to STOP doing:
1. Stop accepting every meeting
Sophie’s sales team of 3 dedicated, ambitious reps were guilty of this first sin. They took any and every opportunity to meet with prospects. Sometimes the meetings turned out to be with people who had no authority or budget to hire them. Other times, it turned out that they had nothing to offer the prospect because they didn’t sell what was needed. Either way, trying to book too many meetings will hurt your sales. Instead, take a look at what else you should stop doing below.
2. Stop wasting your time on low-value prospects
Continuing from the previous problem of accepting meetings with everyone, this was the number one culprit for non-effective selling: Wasting time on lower Dollar ring prospects. You need to teach your team how to qualify and to get in front of a higher value target. I understand that it’s hard to get to the bigger guys but revamp your marketing strategy and message to ensure that your only meetings are with high value targets.
3. Stop trying to make people like you
I have had many debates with clients and their reps about the true purpose of the first meetings with prospects. Often, they mistakenly believe that it’s to make the prospect like them as a person. On the contrary, it isn’t about if they like you–it’s about if they value you or see you as adding value in some way. Those two things are very different objectives, wouldn’t you say?
4. Start delivering value in every conversation, even if it means saying “no” sometimes
Along the lines of the last point, how can you be adding more value to the conversation? By surprising them and refusing to sell them something they don’t need. Or refusing to sell them something before they’re ready for your solution. When the whole world is in a pitching and selling fever, your value will go up in the buyer’s eyes when you have their best interests as your first priority.
5. Stop pushing for the sale before you’ve established trust with your prospect
Sophie’s team learned that pushing for a sale with the buyer before having the conversation about the cost of their pain and the value of their solution was the key to unlocking faster purchase cycles. Value before price. Always.
If your reps can start and stop doing these 5 things above, you’re likely to have a much bigger 2022!
Want to reposition your messaging to grow your leads? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, watch my Podcast on YouTube or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk.
