Sales Fear Series – Fear of Asking for the Sale

According to sales statistics shared by Spotio, 48% of sales calls end without an attempt to close the sale and the national sales closing rate is 27%.

Seriously?!? Almost half of all sales calls don’t get the invite to do business!

I know that the topic of this post is about asking for the sale, but I must admit that I am on the fence about it. There are clearly other fear factors that may contribute to this. But let’s park here for a bit.

After spending time crafting numerous emails and making calls to coordinate calendars, you are finally having a meaningful conversation with a prospect. You have researched the prospect’s company to an adequate degree. You’ve even connected with the prospect on LinkedIn. You have been very deliberate at asking the appropriate questions about their business issues and navigated the discovery process successfully. The prospect has engaged well in the verbal exchange and has shown signs of connecting the value of your offering to their needs.

What do you do now?

You should ask them when they’d like to take delivery of your product. Or perhaps you ask them how soon their procurement department can wire the funds to begin the project. There are a lot of possibilities, but they should all lead in one direction. That direction would be to close the sale.

I believe that some salespeople stumble on this step because of their own uneasiness about where they really are in the sales process. I have read the four, five, and even seven steps of the sale. There are probably many more. The reality is though, that if a salesperson isn’t sensitive to the queues the prospect is providing them with, they can easily miss that window of opportunity to ask for the sale and address any remnant reservations that exist.

Another reason for being afraid to ask for the sale is the shadow of the last opportunity that couldn’t be closed. That’s right --- the Ghost of Missed Sales Past shows up and paralyzes the salesperson. The word ‘no’ is not something they want to hear at that moment. And if they don’t ask, they never heard the prospect object. Therefore, the sale process is still flowing.

Finally, some salespeople struggle to ask for the sale because the prospect has implanted doubt. That’s right. The potential customer was better skilled at disrupting the value proposition presented and the salesperson couldn’t recover. In my earlier years in sales, I remember that this last point struck me disturbingly hard because when this occurred to me, I felt like I simply got outplayed.

Sales is like a chess match. But instead of the opponents playing to the quintessential check mate, they are playing to put the other in check. You see, when you reach this point, you have landed in a place of compromise and understanding. The players recognize that they have successfully navigated all the threats and attacks and have defended their position favorably.?

#salestips #businessinsights #salesprotuff