It’s December. So close. Just close. Steer clear of lame excuses, false promises and tall tales; there’s no time for them. December is only a full selling month on paper; in practice, it’s at best three weeks, before the hapless Kenyan loses it to Christmas cheer. And as it is, one week is already gone. So, dispense of, “He’s going to call back”, “I sent an email”, “He’s not picking his calls”, “Planning for a presentation” and any other such, ‘It’s them, not me’ excuses. Quit blaming your customers; take charge and close sales; there’s no more time to play cat and mouse with your manager and targets.
The responsibilities of the sales person
The main duties and responsibilities of a sales person this December is to tie off all loose ends and pick all low hanging fruits. Your role in your organization this last month of 2022 is not to wallow in holiday and World Cup mood; that’s for your customer to do. The importance of a sales person in a company (and that’s you) is to bring the customer back to work mode and close any deals which are quick wins. So, go back to your database, notes and (hopefully genuine) reports. Notice any open sales and pick those that you can easily close this month; these could be things customers waited to do, or you forgot to follow through. And then take charge of your sales; be intentional about following them through.
Example of quick wins in sales
It could be a missing ID here, a pending signature there or a confirmation email that was never responded to. Unless limited by geography, avoid calling and emailing; show up. Time is not your side. “Hi! Imagine it’s only a copy of your ID I needed to submit your application. You had applied for a new one and I’m sure it’s out by now. Here, let me have it and make a copy.”
Indeed, show authority to close. Just as you should about following up on that signatory who was out of the country and on googling you found he was giving a speech last week at some function. Aha! He’s back. So you call the company to confirm he’s still in, because, “We want to send him a congratulatory message on his insightful speech.” And that’s if you must give a reason why you’re asking; otherwise, once the receptionist confirms signatory is in, go get the signature; take charge of your sales and show up!
Other ways to take charge of your sales and close
Now then. Time can work for, not just against you. Use it. For instance: “With the coming year, your car will be older and so fetch less. Let us buy it now.” (That’s would be a car trader who has a buyer ready). Or: “Let’s sign today please. With the improving economy, I cannot guarantee this hugely discounted ‘Corona economy’ prices from next month.“. Or: “This model is being phased out and will be out of stock this month. It was a limited edition and I’d hate for you to miss out given we’ve been discussing it for four months now.”
In addition, you can use these. “The dollar rate has been escalating this year and there’s no indication of it slowing down. Please bank the deposit now to enable us start the importation process. In fact, if you can deposit the full amount now the better; any increases in exchange rate before your car arrives will be borne by us.” Or, “If we don’t close on this now, I’m afraid we cannot proceed with it again because we won’t meet the delivery timelines shared by contractor to install the lift. As it is, we had already inconvenienced him previously and slighted his reputation with the client.”
Take charge of your sales. Sell more of the same
Another way to take charge of and increase your sales this December is to cross sell. For example: “Let’s book your end year party now and I’ll give you 25% off your next training made before June next year. If this is OK with you let me give you the all inclusive amount and you will have made a 25% budget saving. Is this OK?” It needn’t be a discounted cross sell, however; it can be a complementary one. So using permission selling, and because buyers’ mind-set in December tends to be in spend mode, you state: “You said you do training hence the specs of the laptop you’ve bought. You should own this slide presenter too. It’ll make your presentations much easier to give as it’s like a remote control. Is this something you’d like?” Why would he say no?
It’s December. Take charge of your sales and close. Just close.
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