At the time of concluding an interview that does not close on a purchase or order, after starting a link between a person interested in the products or services offered, many sales operations are negligently lost due to being pinned, kept in a disorganized memory file or in the seller's "recycle bin".
The issue is more serious than it seems since, along with the income not obtained from said unsuccessful sales, all the investment of time dedicated to the attention of each interested party and potential buyer in said interviews is also wasted.
The direct consequence, and which is reflected in no analysis until the end of the exercise of any business, directly affects its profitability due to a bad management practice that this implies.
Consequently, the widespread discontinuity in the development of each link between the potential buyer and the seller produces uncertain and inconsistent periodic results as a contribution to the income required and expected by their managers regarding the performance of their sales team.
At this point of the topic, it is convenient to analyze a little more the different reasons that lead to a sale not closing as well as define what to do about it, in order to capitalize it in favor after considering and improving several key aspects involved.
For what reasons is a purchase decision usually postponed?
As we will see next, an interview can be postponed due to inherent aspects of the interviewee and the seller of any company.
Putting ourselves in the shoes of the potential buyer by analyzing this aspect in depth, we will observe that a postponement of the purchase decision is the result that occurs for different reasons, such as those described below (partial list):
- The value of the product or service The characteristics, complexity and importance of the product or service in question The importance and repercussion of the decision (facilities, reforms, extensions, etc.) The intervention of one or more people who decide together with the interviewee initially The financing conditions and post-sale attention Require comparison with other competitive options on the market Credits pending for your acquisition Failing to clearly visualize how the product or service will provide you with the satisfactions or solutions you are looking for Other reasons more…
Now, putting on the seller's hat, there are other reasons that managerially must be taken into account and can turn several of such circumstances into reality.
Regardless of the generic list above, and from a managerial approach to its management, the important thing is to establish what really happens with each of such cases and what is the true trend of such situations with each seller.
An effective sales manager detects all these factors that usually contribute to "apparently" postponing an interview, when in reality there is no possibility of closure due to the "representative's selling capacity", both due to their profile and / or inefficiency in conduct successful interviews, for reasons such as:
- Lack of a technique that prevents you from establishing the true requirements of each interested party Lack of effective criteria for the actual qualification of each interviewee Little knowledge about the benefits offered by your products or services to efficiently advise each potential buyer through appropriate and effective arguments Lack of Skills to make effective arguments that induce you to prefer your offer over other options Little or nonexistent knowledge about the products and services of your competition, as well as a sales technique, which prevents you from successfully responding to objections Losing closing opportunities due to lack of effective techniquesOther reasons…
The follow up in the sale
Assuming that the reasons for the postponement of the purchase decision correspond exclusively to the potential or interested buyer, it is appropriate to analyze a series of aspects that arise so that the operational negligence does not prevent them from becoming effective results.
Many of these aspects are found in the initial training of each sales representative, who is expected to act in a professional manner, avoiding the slightest possibility of sales in their management.
The key lies in the target information. Said information to be obtained represents the essence and goals of each of the contacts interviewed, to the point that if he is not trained to do so and reinforced during the exercise of his performance by the supervisor until he becomes internalized and becomes an inescapable part of his management, the interview wanders through aspects that do not focus his attention or that of his interlocutor on the sales objective of each meeting he makes.
After obtaining this target information, there is the key aspect for efficient administration: your registration.
According to the established or current method, you can register in your agenda as a draft, in a traditional file or in your PC database in the corresponding program, so that the seller and the supervisor or manager can access it in a way dynamic and effective as to plan its future follow-up actions, successful and prepared to be successful, having exhausted all the instances corresponding to each case, in the appropriate forms and moments, in order to do so.
In professional sales management, “sales development” is the process that could have been started by the seller in a first meeting and that should be continued fluently and efficiently in one or more subsequent interviews, fundamentally based on previously obtained target information, in their access to what is registered in an orderly manner and with the necessary preparation, foreseeing what will surely happen in each of the following meetings.
Conclusions
According to what is analyzed here, it can be seen that the much desired generation of sales results with quality, productivity, consistency and profitability will not occur due to the effect of prayers or fortuitous events, since this depends exclusively on the Effective Management Method applied in each sales team.
The improvement of said effective method, configured "to the measure" of each organization, its products or services and style that transmits its image to the market, must include this fundamental aspect that makes continuity and how to develop all sales management up to achieve its effective closing, in time and in form.
The follow up that is not considered in the management of the sales team and in these terms, let us know that it is leaving on the road a series of loose ends corresponding to initiated but negligently continued ties.
As expressed by the yatchmen (sailors) who participate in interoceanic sailing races, "a loose end is serious because it hinders and slows the advance of the ship towards the finish line".
The important thing is that the helmsmen and captains who lead the sales activity in every organization are aware of this issue and make the decisions and actions to successfully lead their team towards the most ambitious goals in terms of results with quality, productivity, consistency and profitability.
© Copyright 2005, by Martín E. Heller
