Control Your Sale’s Time Frame
Posted by Susan A. Enns under Sales Skills
Many sales representatives absolutely dread their monthly sales forecasting meetings with their sales manager. Why? Often, it is because they really don’t know what is the next step to close the sale. More importantly, they also don’t know when that step is going to happen. As such, their forecasting accuracy is less than desired, and that makes for some unpleasant meetings!
To eliminate this, as sales professionals, we have to do a better job of controlling the time frame of each potential sale.
After your next sales presentation, try asking the following closing question: “Mr. Prospect, in your opinion, do you feel this is the right solution for your organization?” Let’s assume for the purposes of this newsletter, the prospect answers yes.
The next logical question then becomes “Great, Mr. Prospect, what’s the next step?” Regardless of the answer you receive, you should always respond with clarification as to the time frame of when the next step will be completed.
For example, if the next step is that your contact needs to meet with someone higher in the organization, you should confirm when that meeting is going to take place, as well as what will happen after. “If you are meeting with you boss next Tuesday, I will call you Wednesday morning.”
Sometimes, the customer will respond that they will call you when they are ready. Chances are that that won’t happen, so you must control the time frame. “I can appreciate that you need some time to think things over. When should I expect to hear from you?” If the prospect says, Thursday, you should confirm that if you don’t hear from him by then, you will call him Friday. This way, the sale is always moving forward and more importantly, you know when.
Other ideas to control the time frame of your potential sales include:
- Put an expiry date on every proposal. A thirty day time limit is normally long enough. If you need longer, perhaps you were quoting too early in the sales process in the first place.
- Include an implementation schedule with your proposals. For example, if you know that the customer has to be up and running in 60 days, you can work backwards with operator training times, delivery schedules, and order processing times to know exactly when contracts must be signed.
Before your next sales forecasting meeting with your sales manager, look at your current prospect list. For each prospect, do you know exactly what is the next step to closing the sale? Do you know when that step is going to take place? If you don’t, perhaps you should find out!
In my ebook, Action Plan for Sales Success, I discuss in detail how to keep the sales process moving forward. I include a discussion of one of the most effective sales techniques to flush out the prospect’s true objection, so if the prospect answers “no” to your closing question, you will know what to do. I also list what you should include in every proposal so that you will not only close more sales, you will close them faster.
Remember, your prospect doesn’t control your sale’s time frame, you do!
Aim Higher!
Looking for quick and easy ways to build trust with your prospects? Join us for our free webinar! Check out www.b2bsalesconnections.com/webinars.php for more details.
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Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
www.b2bsalesconnections.com or www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns
Hello Susan,
first of all, great blog with a very interesting content. Indeed managing the time frame is crucial and in most cases the seller has no clue.
I have one remark though. It concerns your example next step: your contact person meeting with someone higher in the organization. I would say: not only try to confirm when that meeting will take place, but offer to go together. Of course you will not always be successful with that, but if you don’t ask……
The reason is that if you can avoid people in your prospect- or customer organization talking about you, your offering, your price and your company without you being present, you should. Nobody is able to defend your offering better than you…..
best regards,
Jacques Spelbrink
Hi Jacques,
Thanks very much for your comments. Glad you like the blog!
In regards to meeting with someone higher in the organization, I whole heartedly agree! Whenever possible, we want to meet with all the decision makers around the same table at the same time. However sometimes that is just not possible. When this is the case, we need to find out what the next step is, and when that next step is going to take place.
Thanks again for your feedback!