Sales

3 Ways To Shorten The Sales Cycle And Get People To Buy

Charlie Cook

How do you establish urgency in your presentation and in your close? My question applies to ‘in person’ presentations and to phone presentations where, I’m either trying to set up an appointment or close right on the phone.”- Mike from Toledo

Ever had a conversation with a prospect who you know could benefit from your services and, just when you are ready to make an appointment to meet them or when you think you should be able to move to the close, they tell you –

“Let me think about it and get back to you.”

What happens next?

Do they call you the next day or the next week?

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, if you’ve reached this impasse, your prospect won’t take the next step on their own. You’ve got yet another qualified prospect that isn’t buying.

Drives you crazy, doesn’t it, knowing you’ve got dozens, if not hundreds of prospects who need your products and services but won’t help themselves by taking the next step?

Whose fault is this, anyway?

True, it’s the prospect that can’t seem to make a decision or doesn’t see the purchase as important, but if you want to sell more of your products and services, it’s your responsibility to avoid this situation. Mike identified a key strategic marketing point; your small business marketing materials and presentations have to ‘establish the urgency’ to buy.

Ready to discover all the secrets to creating a sense of urgency so you can shorten the sales cycle? You’ll find all the details in ‘How to Sell: Eliminating Obstacles to Sales‘.

It gives you the insider tips that will help you get more prospects to buy. Use this link to find out what works to shorten the sales cycle >>

How to Get Your Prospects to Budge – Gaining leverage

Twenty-six summers ago, my wife and I were backpacking in Glacier National Park with another couple, Nancy and Steve (I’ve changed the names to protect the guilty). Periodically Steve would scamper up the trail well ahead of us and we’d soon see and hear a large boulder 2-4 feet in diameter rumbling down the slope below the hiking trail.

Steve had picked up this love of watching large stones gather speed down the side of the mountain while on a summer Geology course with college classmates. While I don’t condone boulder rolling, and I’m sure the park rangers would have been more than upset, it’s similar to moving prospects to the close.

In the Rockies, large boulders are scattered on the slopes, each appearing to sit solidly in place. But as my friend Steve knew, with the right kind of leverage, you can start these seemingly immovable rocks rolling. And once you start the movement downhill, they keep going.

Moving a prospect towards a close is a bit like boulder rolling. Your strategic marketing has to get your prospect going in the right direction. Then they’ll gather momentum and reach the close by themselves.

So what can you do to get your prospects rolling?

1. Market to the people who are eager to buy. It’s much easier to roll a boulder down a mountain than to push it up a hill (remember Sisyphus?). It’s easier to sell someone who is looking for a solution than someone who doesn’t need or want what you’re selling.

2. Earn your prospects’ trust. If you haven’t worked with a prospect, it’s best to assume they don’t know yet that your products and services are the best. Instead of just telling them that you are “America’s Finest” demonstrate your expertise and the value of your products. Use your marketing strategies to help them experience the quality they’ll be getting when they buy from you.

3. Don’t push prospects to buy; get them to pull themselves to the close. While you may be able to come up with a list of valid reasons a prospect should buy from you today, the reasons that matter aren’t yours, but theirs.

Get prospects to tell you why they want your product or service. These reasons are like the lever that will get them rolling towards a purchase.

It’s easier than most people think to create a sense of urgency and get prospects to buy. Just eliminate the obstacles that get in your prospects’ way and create a clear path to a purchase. With a few simple changes to your business marketing and sales strategy, you could easily double or triple your closing rates this year.

Use this link to discover How to Sell by Eliminating Obstacles to Sales >


Small Business Marketing Ideas and Sales Tips

Charlie Cook


Small Business Marketing Strategies for Small Business Owners and Marketing Professionals

Charlie Cook

… More Marketing Ideas & Tips for Marketing Experts >>


Small Business Marketing Ideas to Increase Sales and Profits

Charlie Cook

… More Small Business Marketing Ideas & Tips to Increase Sales >


How To Generate Repeat and Referral Sales

Charlie Cook

What’s the biggest difference between small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and those that have more clients than they can handle?

If you’ve kept up with these articles you’re aware that your marketing strategy and materials can attract people or send them away. But other than marketing, what separates those firms that are just getting by from those that are wildly successful?

Before I tell you the answer, let me tell you a story.

Years ago, my spouse and I hired a local plumber when we were renovating the sole bathroom in the small house we lived in then. We were without tub or shower for the better part of a week, toting towels and shampoo to friends’ houses every day, while the plumber plumbed.

By that Friday mid-afternoon his work was done except for installing the handles on the tub and shower faucets. It was a sunny spring afternoon, and instead of spending the additional 10 minutes needed to finish the job, he left… taking the handles with him.

Where did he go? He was in his back yard working on his boat when I called that afternoon to find out why he had left us (literally) high and dry.

Twenty years later, I still won’t call that guy when I need plumbing repairs. Have you had similar experiences with plumbers, web designers, and other service providers? Did you ever do business with those people again?

A dissatisfied customer is a major obstacle to your business marketing. Not only do you lose a client but you’re stuck with having to attract even more new ones. And as you know, its ten times harder to sell a new prospect than an existing client.

Find out how to attract clients for life who’ll buy from you again and again. When you know how, you’ll have clients than you can handle. Discover how with this link >>

A couple of weeks ago I woke up to discover our 15 year-old water heater had worn out, flooding the utility room. I called a plumber who’d been recommended to me. Within an hour and a half, the plumber and his assistant were at the door with a new water heater.

By lunchtime the new heater was installed, the utility room clean and dry, and I’d been offered a 10% discount to encourage me to become a regular customer. Now that’s unbeatable service, and you better believe I’ll call them again. I’ve also told anyone who would listen about the exemplary service I received.

The same thing is true in any field; high quality service is one of the best marketing tools you can use.

What this plumber and most truly successful businesses understand is this. The first sale isn’t the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next marketing cycle. What you do after you’ve made the first sale determines whether you get the next one or any referrals.

When your clients are so happy with your products and services that they start telling others you’ll get a lot more testimonials you can use and more referrals. Here’s what happened to one web designer I know.

I worked on several projects with a web designer in California who is extremely professional and a pleasure to do business with. I told many others about her, and I know her other clients did the same. She went the extra mile to make sure her designs were exactly what her clients wanted.

I’d tell you her name, but with all the referrals she gets she is now so busy that she’s booked six months in advance. She has all the clients she can handle and then some.

One of my clients is Westy, a self-storage company with facilities in the New York area. They take service as seriously as my web designer does. They provide storage facilities that are as clean and appealing as a corporate headquarters. The benefit? Westy’s customers come back again and again and consistently refer new customers to them.

What do a web designer and a self-storage company have in common? Both are continually using exemplary service to market themselves and be successful.

Ready to become wildly successful and have all the clients you can handle?

Don’t wait to discover how to help prospects and clients get to know you and trust you and buy from you again and again. Why not find out what works so you can grow your business with less wasted effort? Start now >>


How To Melt Your Prospects’ Resistance With Your Small Business Marketing

Charlie Cook

Getting a prospect to buy is like melting ice. To get them to make a purchase you need to get them to give up the status quo, whether it’s their present service provider or lack thereof and make a change. The problem is your prospects are often frozen in their thinking and you need a way to thaw it so they’re purchasing decisions flow in your direction.

It’s not that prospects don’t want your products or services it’s just that they’ve been used to doing without them and now you need to help them make a change. What’s the best way to thaw someone’s thinking and change their mind?

You could try the direct approach. You could tell them how effective your products and services are. You could try to persuade them to buy your products and services. If you’ve done this you know how frustrating it can be.

Its hard, sometimes impossible, to persuade or convince people to do something new. Most of us want to keep doing things the same way we’ve been doing them. You’ve come up against this when you’re talking to a prospect and trying to generate a sale.

If you want to get that prospect to become a buyer, you need to find a way to help them to let go of their past ways of working, change their mind and take the action you want. How do you do this? It turns out that the most successful strategy for marketing has other uses as well.

Discover a small business marketing strategy that works to help prospects take the action you want, buy more from you >>

I was talking with my client Andrea a couple of weeks ago and the conversation strayed from marketing. She mentioned that her computer was so slow that she spent a lot of time waiting for it to load and process information instead of getting her work done.

As one of the younger and newer new employees, she wasn’t comfortable going to her boss and telling her that she wanted a new computer. What could she do?

My advice to Andrea was not to ask for what she wanted. Instead I told her to help her boss understand why she needed it.

To help your prospects – or your boss – let go of the status quo, do what I showed Andrea how to do. Lead the conversation so that they have ownership of the ideas and conclusions. Ask a series of questions that focus their attention where you want it to be and help them make the decision you want them to make.

Obviously, you’ll tailor your questions to the person and the situation. I suggested to Andrea that she ask her boss about:

1. Revenue Objectives

2. The Impact of Sticking with the Status Quo

3. Defining What’s Needed to Reach these Goals

A week after we discussed this approach, Andrea called to tell me the result of her conversation with her boss. She’d gone in hoping to get a new computer and ended up with a better computer and a raise!

Whether you’re marketing yourself or your business, there are simple strategies for achieving your goals. You could keep marketing the way you have been and getting the same results, or you could discover what actually works.

Take a look at your marketing:

1. What are your revenue objectives?

2. Wouldn’t you like to give yourself a raise?

3. What will be the impact of sticking with your current small business marketing strategy?

4. What do you need and want to reach your business goals?

Getting your prospects or your boss to change their mind can be as easy as melting an ice cube in a glass of water. Instead of fighting prospects’ frozen thinking why not find out how to melt their resistance and increase your sales.

Ready to unfreeze your sales? Discover the simple strategies that work to grow your business >>