As a business consultant, I’ve seen first hand how time delays can kill deals. This is a huge and pervasive problem for businesses in a multitude of places in the entire marketing and closing funnel. In fact, according to Hubspot (the online marketing company), all types of conversion rates from contact to lead go up if you respond quicker to customer interest. How exactly do you do that?

Answer Questions Immediately

A new technology called Chat bots are the rage in marketing now. Everything from the Weather Channel to Barbie have Chat bots- computer programs that mimic conversation with people using artificial intelligence. Think Siri, the bot for the Apple iPhone. You ask, she answers. This technology is so life-like that several movies and tv shows have been made about humans falling in love with the bot voice. I don’t know about your love life, but the business implications are huge. Chat Bots ensure that your customer immediately reaches a rep while they’re on your site. Since research shows that most people don’t even remember registering for or downloading a program from yesterday, immediacy causes deals. Even a single day time delay can kill deals.

Don’t Tell, Show

Time Kills Deals when you’re wasting it by telling people that you do something instead of showing it to them. For example, I claim that I help reposition B2B companies to get them more clients. In my Case Studies, I demonstrate exactly how I’ve done that. All my presentations, blogs and webinars are about stories of showing people the before and after of repositioned companies. Don’t waste time by telling people you’re innovative or an industry leader or creative, let your messaging show that you are.

Buyer’s Pre-morse

The last part of when time kills deals has to do with the final close of the sale. You’ve heard of buyers being sorry they bought something afterwards. I call the delay between the sales presentation and the final decision the pre-morse. Statistically, the longer a prospect spends thinking about the purchase, the less likely they are to do so. So when you’re selling, build urgency with limited time offers, or with incentives. Always clarify the cost of delay. Outline the consequence of no change to the pain they’re trying to solve. Head off buyer’s pre-morse or you’ll let their ‘let me think about it’ kill the deal.
In today’s fast world of whirlwind business and life, build structures and practices by using systems and technologies to make sure that time NEVER kills your deals.
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