With only two weeks remaining in the financial year, it’s officially crunch time for sales reps. If you’re scrambling to get those final few deals over the line so you can hit or exceed your target, you’re not alone. You’re so close; I bet you can almost taste the bubbles.
But before you get too excited, we wanted to share some tips to help you well and truly smash it out of the park.
So here goes:
1. Try allocating deadlines and incentives to client quotations and proposals that still are in with a chance for sign-off before EOFY. Adding an incentive doesn’t necessarily mean you need to discount your offer; it’s about adding extra value. For example, could you add in an additional service as a bonus? One thing to keep in mind, though, is to make sure your proposal and quotation are clear on the extra value and its limitations. Also, ensure you have the resources to back up your proposed value add. It’s easy for companies to lose credibility when they put something on the table that they simply can’t deliver.
2. For this one, we take our inspiration from McDonald’s. What deals can you ‘add fries too’? Can you add an extra service, product, or bundle to complement the existing proposal and boost sales? For example, can we add a service deal as an optional side if someone’s purchasing your infrastructure? Even if 20% of people were to accept that offer, you’d see a significant increase in sales.
3. Understanding the approval process for each one of your deals is imperative. Typically, we recommend asking the client what the approval process entails? That way, you can set expectations around timeframes and have a greater chance of getting the right signature on the dotted line by June 30.
(It’s not normally this straightforward.)
4. If your deal faces barriers, understand what the next step is and how you can overcome them. Can you provide more information? Can you tweak or refine the proposal to help? Is it something that is within your influence, or is it something that you can coach the client around?
In these situations, always be the Swan. Try to eliminate any glimpse of desperation. There’s nothing more unattractive to customers than sales reps looking desperate. So, on the surface, appear as a Swan would, elegant and in control. Even if below the surface, you’re peddling like mad to keep your head above water.
5. Know when to stop. Persistence is a beautiful thing and an essential trait of any salesperson, but if the deal is not looking like it’s going to close before EOFY, it’s knowing when to stop. Sometimes if you keep pushing, you can damage the relationship with your prospect or client, which is far more costly in the long run.
6. Revisit the low-hanging fruit within your business. It might seem like a long shot with only a few weeks to EOFY, but research shows the probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60% and 70%! So, review your customer base and ask yourself, what would it be if you had to offer them just one more thing?
7. It’s time to play the volume game. In sales, putting all our eggs in one basket tends to end badly, so we need to be having multiple conversations!
We’ve seen great success with the reconnection challenge! It’s simple, you reconnect or follow up on any overdue conversations or catch-ups. Odds would have it; if you reached out to 20 people, out of those 20, you would expect at least three or four to potentially be a new prospect. This depends on your sales cycle, but in some sales cycles where it can be quick to convert, this is a no-brainer for sales reps at this time of year.
8. Finally, one of our favourite topics follow-up. It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s not always common practice. Now is the time to follow up with absolute discipline.
Did you know that 80% of sales require five follow-up calls, whereas 44% of salespeople give up after one call (Hubspot)? The proof is in the pudding. So be religious with your process, following up on any outstanding quotes and proposals, but doing so in a way that adds value (you want to avoid the stalker tag).
We hope these gems will help you with your final push toward the finish line. If you’re interested in staying connected and updated with the latest sales and marketing intel, check out our Inside Scoop here.
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