Sales Delays

by VIKESH DARJI

I am able to identify the prospects, but get dejected when my quotations get delayed from the decision making process.

Answer
Hi Vikesh,
delays in sales are well know to most sales people. I guess much depends on what you define as a delay? Are we talking weeks or years ?

The first thing to check is that you are selling to the decision maker. From your question it seems that you are.

Next point is, are you building value? If they really need the product they will make a decision in a hurry.

Two books of interest I could recommend for you:

SPIN Selling - here they talk about a successful sales call being one where you generate an Advance, which is a commitment form the prospect to take an ACTION that moves the sale forward.

Buying Facilitation by Sharon Drew Morgen. Sharon contends that there are many stakeholders in a business that you are selling to. The way to shorten the sales cycle is to make sure you are liaising with all of them and make the sales process a sort of discovery journey. Well worth a read.

Also, you need to get a time commitment from the buyers and follow up. If they say they'll have an answer in 2 weeks, call em back after two weeks. And POLITELY remind them they told you during your conversation on x/x/2010 that they'd have an answer today. If no answer then get another date from them and follow up on that date.

Finally, ditch the dejection. You won't survive in sales if you can't handle it. Patience and perseverance is what you need to cultivate.

Hope this helps.

All the best, Greg