The 3 Habits Still Getting in the Way of Closing 9 out of 10 Deals

In the video below let's talk about the three things most likely interfering with achieving the standard 90% closing rate for a well-executed complex sale.

First, let's get the definition out of the way. "Complex sale" simply means multiple conversations with multiple people over time, and it's hyper-competitive.

The first habit that interferes with a strong closing rate is this: you may be focusing on the one person who said they were the decision maker when the seller asked, "Who's the decision maker?", which of course is the wrong question.

If you focus on "who" you'll never get "how". But the answers to the "how" question will get you a more complete picture, and will help to crush the stalls they like to use when your deal slows down.

In our experience, 90% of all unnecessary losses happened because the salesperson did not have a complete understanding of HOW this prospect was going to make this decision. It's critical in a complex sale.

Secondly, if closing less than 90%, it may be time to confess that you're still putting proposals in front of unqualified prospects. 

To close 90% of your deals, you need to collect about 9 data points based on your answers to 9 questions. In response to your questions, it's their (the prospect's) job to tell you what has to change in the status quo, what has to be fixed, and whether or not it's sufficiently intense that they're willing to go through the pain of change.

In response to your questions, they'll tell you the ways that their costs have to go down, that their market share needs to go up, that their margins need to be improved. Maybe you can help them with their ability to compete. These are all things you could be doing for them if they had YOUR differentiators. They also, in response to your questions, tell you when things have to change and what they're willing to spend to fix it.

The answers to these questions will keep you from putting offers on the table to unqualified prospects in unwinnable deals, and will protect your margins by saving you a lot of expensive selling time and resources.

The third thing we see suppressing performance and keeping you below the 90% is this: you may be following THEIR process for buying things rather than YOUR process for selling. And when that happens, it tends to end badly, because their process always sees everything as a commodity. So you want to get control of that issue -- and the process -- very early.

(We call that moment, where the salesperson ends up following the prospect's buying system instead of their own selling system, "Wimp Junction(R)", and in fact we recently wrote an entire book about how to avoid that loss!)

You have a right to expect a 90% closing rate.  These three habits may be in the way of that ratio right now, but they're fixable, and you can find yourself closing more opportunities in less time, and at higher margins.

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At Slattery Sales Group, we empower great sellers and companies to win complex sales.

Our clients tell us we help them raise revenues, bolster margins, shorten sales cycles, and compete more effectively in the marketplace. We'd love to help you do that, too.

To expedite your progress:

🔷 Grab our new book HERE and get that important sale moving again.

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If you want to learn more about how we've helped over 2,400 enterprises enhance their sales processes, contact us through phone: 952-832-5436, or email: info@slatterysales.com. We'd love to connect.