A friend of mine was telling me this morning, “You know, Ramez, it’s taking more time to close deals these days.” I asked her why, and she said, “Well, it feels like customers now have access to more suppliers, which is making it harder for us to work.” Does that sound familiar to you?
Here are two simple ideas you can do to reverse this trend.
1. Talk With the Right People
The first thing you’ve got to do to accelerate the buying process is talk with the people who have the authority and ability to influence the buying decision. When you get contacted by a potential customer, you might end up dealing with lower-level staff who act like a gatekeeper — they can take you on a ride that leads nowhere.
What you’ve got to do is find a way to engage at the higher level. When they ask, “Can you give us a price, can you give an idea about the price?” you can answer: “We have different types of prices available. Before I can give you a quotation or proposal, I need to better understand your business scenario and needs. Who besides yourself would I need to be speaking with to better understand things, so I can prepare you the right quotation?” Either they agree to meet with you, or they don’t — if not, spend less time on that opportunity.
2. Eliminate Fear to Reduce Urgency Gaps
Once you have the right visibility with the right people, the next thing you can do to avoid delays has to do with the level of urgency customers perceive for your proposal. Every opportunity has three types of competition: the customer decides to do nothing (a recent study shows more than 60% of proposals buyers receive, they do nothing with), the customer decides to do it themselves, or they go with your competitor.
The underlying reason for all three options is fear. Fear holds most customers back — they're afraid to make the wrong decision.
If you eliminate fear, you help your customer make a quicker decision. To do so: share case studies or video testimonials of previous customers, use white papers that help educate your customers and build your credibility, or invite them to test your product or service, which gives them confidence that it works.
If you’ve enjoyed this tip, go ahead and share it with others. Until next time.
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