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Do You Know: When the sales process is OVER?
There's Over, and Then There's Over
One of the toughest elements of the Sandler Selling System is making the decision to say, "It's over".
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Traditional selling often means never letting go of a prospect. If your solution is not a fit today, maybe it will be in six months or a year. If you keep the prospect's name in your calling rotation, you'll beef up your prospect list, and your manager will be impressed with how many prospects are in your pipeline.
But the Sandler-trained salesperson knows that if you disqualify a prospect during the sales process, saying, "It's over", is to your advantage. By closing the file on the prospect, you can put your time and effort into finding qualified prospects. You won't allow yourself to be strung along by a prospect who says, "Talk to me in a few months" and then that talk turns into unpaid consulting, and still no sale.
It's true that circumstances can change in a company. If your prospect wants to stay in your pipeline, or you want to keep him or her on your prospect list, make sure you have an explanation of what will be changing in the company. Does the prospect have to wait for the new fiscal year? Is a new vice president going to be on board in three months?
Get an up-front contract from the prospect as to what happens next, and stick to it. If the contract isn't fulfilled, be willing to say, "It's over".
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