MAXIMISE YOUR DECEMBER SALES
In this our last SalesPulse for 2013 we are offering a few practical sugestions as to how you maximise your sales in the last few weeks of the year. While particularly relevant for quarter and year ends most of the these are applicable all year round. Sales time is always at a premium and directors and managers must do everthing they can to ensure that evey sales minute matters over the next three weeks or so.
1. Work on only the deals that you can win; for all those prospects on your list have you thoroughly qualified them? Are they real, if not do you have cover?
2. Do you have a plan for success? Do you know precisely who has to do what, with whom and by when to turn the prospect into a sale?
3. When sales time is short you must ensure that every customer contact has a positive outcome. Now is NOT the time to forget the basics and quality call planning
will strongly contribute to quality outcomes
4. Are you and your sales managers helping or reviewing? The simple mantra is that reviewing takes valuable time, helping adds value.
5. Are your people empowered? Do they know what they are allowed to do in negotiations. Experience shows that when crunch time comes around customers know that suppliers will nearly always give a little bit more.
6. Are there any customer satisfaction issues that might get in the way of closing a piece of business? If so is there a clear well understood plan for resolving these?
7. Is there an issue resolution process that delivers fast results? A point to remember here is “procrastination is the thief of time”.
8. Have your senior managers got a contact plan for your existing customers and prospects? This is obviously important in the context of business this year, but let’s not forget there is a next year too.
9. Everyone will be keen to present a contract or ask for a purchase order. However, when a customer is about to buy they are at their most generous. Before finalising everything it is always worthwhile asking the question, “is there anything else I can sell them”? Remember the waiter/waitress in your favourite eatery who always asks if you want any additional (low cost high margin) side dishes!
10. Put anything to do with customers as numbers one, two and three on your must do list and ensure that your people do the same.
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