Do THIS to 2x your close rate immediately. · Sales Community for Closers

Sep 29 (edited) in 🧠 Mindset

Do THIS to 2x your close rate immediately.

When I first started in sales, I couldn't wrap my head around why I was losing out on so many deals where I KNEW I had the perfect solution for the prospect.

We would have a great initial meeting, they'd be interested in what I was offering, but then when it came to the final decision, they'd just disappear. POOF!

As a result, I found myself having to follow up with endless calls and emails until I FINALLY got a response.

Unfortunately, the response was usually that they had “gone in a different direction.”

This wasn't working, and I ended up having to work twice as hard to make up for the deals I was losing out on. But that all changed when I discovered this one simple trick that 2x’d my close rate.

In sales, there are a few “a-ha” moments when a lightbulb goes off in your head and your selling game is forever changed. For me, it was when I implemented this ONE critical step of the sales process.

This step is the glue that will hold the whole deal together. If you don’t execute on this, then you'll end up wasting a lot of time getting the deal over the finish line, or even worse...losing out on deals altogether.

However, if you NAIL this step, you'll shrink your sales cycle and close at a higher rate. In fact, when done correctly, you’ll never have to “follow up”, “touch base”, or “circle back” with your prospect ever again. You’ll be able to eradicate these 3 god-forsaken phrases from your sales vocabulary all together.

So what is this ONE simple trick I'm talking about?

Let me paint you a picture to illustrate this concept. Think about a time when you ran into a friend that you hadn't seen in awhile. You have a decent chat with them, catch up on the good old days, and then you both part ways with a “We should hang out soon.”

Now when that happened, did you actually see it through and lock-in plans to meet, or was it just one of those empty promises? Chances are you probably didn't follow through. Why? Because there were no clear next steps. There was no timeline. No actions agreed upon by both parties.

The same applies in sales - setting clear next steps with your prospect is of the utmost of importance if you want to close more deals, faster. It forces accountability from your prospects, so instead of playing the “dance game” back and forth with someone for weeks or even months on end, everything is laid out up front in a concise and timely manner.

So how can you put this into practice?

Well, if you want to do this properly then your next steps should be 3 things: clear, meaningful, and mutually agreed upon. Let's take a closer look at each of these.

Let’s say you and your prospect have a great initial meeting. Your prospect has a legitimate problem that you can solve for and they're genuinely bought-in and enthusiastic about what you're offering. The only thing is they need to get approval before moving forward.

Great, this is where you both need to be crystal clear on what the next steps are and when they need to be completed. This means you need to figure out everyone that's gonna be involved in the decision making process AND you need to discuss timelines for when your prospect is gonna be having those internal discussions.

In other words - get very specific with your next steps. You NEED clarity here! The more detailed you can be here, the better chance you have at making sure things move forward in a timely manner.

But getting clear isn't enough. Your next steps also must be meaningful. Meaningful in the sense that your prospect is ACTUALLY bought-in to what you're offering and onboard with discussing the appropriate next steps. If they don't TRULY see the value then in what you're offering then it will slow down or even derail the process altogether. Truth be told, after your meeting is adjourned they'll probably turn into that dreaded ghost and you'll never hear from them again.

So be sure that you're having meaningful conversations with your prospects and qualify the hell out of them. Make sure they're 100% sold on the idea before going any further. It's ok to challenge your prospect here, as long as you are doing so in an empathetic way.

Finally, make sure that the next steps are mutually agreed upon. This means that both parties agree and understand the exact set of actions they need to take in order for the deal to move forward. Again, this prevents any potential confusion down the line and sets up clear expectations for both parties.

One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make at this point of the conversation is failing to lock down a meeting. Let's take a step back for a second. Remember what I said in the beginning of this video.

What I said was, by setting clear, meaningful, and mutually agreed upon next steps you'll never have to "follow up", "circle back", or "touch base" with your prospect ever again.

Why? Because you and your prospect have a mutually agreed upon a timeline and set of actions to move forward. OR, you don’t because after your conversation you've come to find that you're not able to solve a problem or provide a value to the prospect.

Either way - you will always have clarity and that my friend is how you close more deals faster!

So there you have it - the one simple trick that’s helped me close more deals and shrink my sales cycles: setting clear, meaningful, and mutually agreed upon next steps with your prospects.

Once you start implementing this into your process, I think you'll be amazed at how much faster it helps you move prospects through your deal stages.

Do you commit to locking in next steps each and every time you come across a qualified opportunity?

If so, drop a GIF in the comments below👇

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