The Big Picture: Based on CEB’s research for “The Jolt Effect” 38% of the average salesperson’s deals are lost, not to the competition but to the customer making no decision at all.
Why It Matters: These are prospects who often go through the entire sales process, only to end up doing nothing. That means your sales team has invested, or more accurately wasted, precious time, energy and resources on an opportunity that eventually fizzled out. Ghosted!
Nothing frustrates salespeople and leadership more than a “no answer”.
Zoom In: How do we protect ourselves from the Ghost? The Closed Loop. At the end of each unique stage of the sales process, top performing salespeople do these four things:
This approach keeps your prospect methodically moving through your sales process. And…you’ll never need to send the dreaded “Checking In” or “Following Up” email (which is the ultimate sign that you’ve lost momentum and control).
If your prospect is unwilling to commit to your next step, you now have an opportunity to probe deeper and uncover any potential concerns. Keep in mind, “early objections are your friends and late objections are your enemies.”
One Last Thing: Don’t get lazy. We see salespeople get comfortable with their prospects and lose discipline in securing a late-stage closed loop. It is mind blowing how many open loops we see after the proposal stage…many of which end up as Ghosts!
Close the loop. Close the loop. Close the loop.
Go Deeper:
*If you are a Sales Leader and looking to instill this discipline within your sales team and/or a better way to manage your sales pipeline, take a look at our blog post: “Your Sales Pipeline is Dustier Than an Old Pickup Truck”.
Carver Peterson helps growth-minded leaders and organizations achieve predictable and sustainable revenue growth through a refined strategy, defined process and aligned structure.
We are systematic and process-driven.
We value unique strengths.
We communicate openly and directly.
