Closing a sale can be an intimidating prospect for someone that is new to sales. It can be difficult to know what will be an effective way of improving your close rate and converting more leads into revenue. Well, it may not be as complex as you think.
Closing is just one stage of your sales process. To increase your close rates, work on improving your results at each stage of the sales process. Know what the outcome for each stage should be and focus on getting the prospect there. If you’ve effectively developed your sales process so that it works in alignment with your buyer’s journey, you’ll convert more leads into clients when you focus on one step at a time.
There are two easy methods for increasing your close rates that may sound very basic but are so often overlooked:
- Follow up, follow up, follow up! 48% of all sales people never follow up with a prospect, and 80% of all sales are closed on the fifth to twelfth contact. So, one of the easiest methods for closing more deals is consistent, quality follow up!
- If you’ve moved your prospect through each stage of the sales process, you’ve qualified them, they clearly understand how you can help solve their problem and they have the budget… ask for the business! More deals are lost at the end of the sales process because the salesperson gives the prospect an easy way out of making a decision. Develop a simple question that works for your process and style, like ‘When can we get started?’ By asking that type of question, you’ll usually find out if they plan to move forward or not, or you’ll flush out a hidden objections. Either way that is fine because they give you direction for the next step in the process.
What are your most effective strategies for closing more sales?