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As Bankers, or Salespeople, we know that our primary role is to serve our customers (and prospects) and to help them make a buying decision.
Many Bankers and Salespeople diligently apply proven sales processes that are designed to explore their customer’s needs and offer valuable solutions.
We confidently complete and present comprehensive proposals that confirm these solutions and expect the customer to accept and proceed with our offer.
But the deal stalls. We follow up our customer who confirms that they like our proposal … but they fail to make a decision to move forward.
Why?
Of course there are many reasons why a deal may stall and sit in your pipeline. Do not immediately assume price is the reason!
Consider how well you truly understood their needs and decision making process before committing to a proposal.
Firstly, review your sales process and make sure you skillfully executed each step to uncover all of your customer’s needs (including needs they may not be aware of) to provide a compelling solution.
Secondly, consider how well you understand your customer’s decision making process.
There are three things you MUST understand before you agree to commit time and energy to writing a proposal and providing written pricing.
- Who will be directly and indirectly involved in making the decision?
- When will the decision be made?
- What criteria will be used to make the decision?
When was the last time you bravely asked these questions during your sales process? If your prospect is genuinely interested in buying from you, they will happily answer these questions. Otherwise …. they’re just price shopping!
Remember, you get paid to close deals NOT write proposals. Ensure the above questions are incorporated in your sales process before committing to a proposal.
Article written by Joe Micallef – Sales Strategist & Coach – Grow UP Sales. For advice on how to create greater sales confidence please email joe@growupsales.com or visit the webpage www.growupsales.com
If you found the content valuable then please feel free to share this article with your broader network. Let’s help more sales people discover the decision making process of their clients.
