I blogged recently about the Power of Habit. Well here are two little habits I’m not seeing often enough.
Firstly let’s be clear, every sales conversation is a negotiation meeting. And negotiation doesn’t start when your proposal hits the prospect’s desk! It starts when your prospect answers the phone, replies to an email, reaches out online. To maximize the return on their time there are two little things that world class sales professionals do better than anyone else:
- They are clear on the questions they want answered
- They are clear on the next steps including timetable at the end of a conversation
Every single online interaction, phone call, face to face meeting gets the same treatment. So if you do nothing else as a sales manager – ensure that all prospect conversations recorded in your CRM system, contain evidence of sales professionals asking questions and recording clear next steps with dates. Simple but a violently efficient way of crushing pipelines.
Write to ian.smith@portfoliopartnership.com
