Are you keeping potential customers engaged?
Earlier this month we talked about the importance of pre-qualifying your sales calls. It’s also important to remember that clients typically need 8-12 “touches” before they’ll make a decision. Phone calls, emails, online or face to face meetings are all things that count as a “touch”.
A few years ago Kevin Kehoe wrote an article in which he stressed the importance of being persistent and creative to keep potential customers engaged with each touch point until a decision is made.
For example, he says, “sending an email asking, ‘Have you made a decision?’ isn’t creative nor does it advance the decision. It’s much better to send an email that states, ‘I’ve thought about our conversations. Let me suggest a way to solve your problem…manage your price concerns…handle your primary concern for communication…Here’s how we do this …’ This is advancement.”
We know that a good sales closing rate is about 20%. With that in mind, providing value with each point of contact will ensure we’re that much closer to a “yes”. The chart Kevin provided is helpful:
Sales Goal Chart
|
My goal is to sell |
$500,000 |
Annualized new contract sales |
|
My close rate is |
20% |
I win 1 for every 4 I lose |
|
My bid requirement is |
$2,500,000 |
Sales goal/close rate |
|
My target job size is |
$30,000 |
This is a $2,500 per month job |
|
My qualification rate is |
50% |
I turn this % of my leads into a bid |
|
I need this many leads/prospects |
167 |
Bids/job size/qualify rate |
|
I need to touch each prospect |
12 |
Times to get an answer (Y or N) |
|
I need this many touches |
2,000 |
Prospect touches |
|
I have |
46 |
“Real” selling weeks to do it |
|
I need to make this many touches |
43 |
I need a plan for every week |
Twelve touches may seem like a lot but it’s not. Advance until you get a decision from the customer. Don’t cheat the process.
Click HERE to read the full article.
