A phrase that I heard repeatedly when I was selling cars was “Conrey, you need to slow down to speed up.” In my excitement to close a deal I would often make small mistakes – sometimes several of them – which would cause me untold problems down the road. I ended up spending more time solving these issues than if I had just slowed down a little bit and done it right the first time (yes – echos of my dad telling me to do it right the first time as well).
It is easy to let your excitement run a little bit when you’re in the closing stage of any deal. Hell if you’re not excited about closing, you probably should rethink your sales position. But even when you’re not closing you need to be aware of your pace.
- Slow down when you leave voicemail messages – especially when leaving your phone number. There is nothing worse than a voicemail message I have to listen to twice to get a call back number.
- Slow down when prospecting, make sure you’re not missing easy referrals from past clients, or from leads that have emailed or called you. Return every phone call and email – no matter how busy you may be. The next one you return may be the one that makes a deal for you.
- Slow down when the client is telling you about their problem – don’t be preparing your pitch while they are speaking, you need to be sure that you are listening so that you can accurately diagnose and solve their pain.
- Slow down when giving your pitch – watch for the body language cues to see if they are buying in to how you are selling to them or if you need to change tactics. Don’t rush through it, make sure they don’t miss any of the parts that will be important to them.
- Slow down when closing – get a firm commitment from the client and make sure that they know that you are the right one to sell them whatever it is they are buying. Don’t take maybes and assumptions as a real close.
- Slow down when doing the paperwork or contracts to finalize the deal – a missed zero or address error can make a difference in their perception of your quality, professionalism and sets a bad expectation for their future contact with you in post-sale life. Don’t let them think that you are so eager to finish with them and move on to the next sale.
Speed kils your momentum if you can’t react to the right stimuli as they arise. Take a deep breath and slow down before you hurt yourself.
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- Ten Super Lessons from a “Supersalesman” (The Sales Cooke)
- Inside Sales Tips — Getting them to call back (The Sales Cooke)
- The Prospecting Strategy (The Sales Cooke)
