You’re Going After a Huge Sale; What’s Required?

Annual results for most sales professionals are either made or broken by the so-called “huge sales.” How does one go about making the most of each opportunity for a huge sale?

Prepare.  Research the company you’re calling on. Research the contact you’re calling on. Try to uncover all the decision makers before your initial appointment. Know your competitive advantages, and how they compare against the current vendor. Know how your advantages and benefits can help your contact and her company reach their goals. Set objectives for each sales activity you conduct.

Execute. Whether you’re building trust and rapport, setting your agenda, presenting your company overview, conducting an analysis, presenting your solutions, closing for the sale, identifying next steps, or overcoming objections, use all of the information you gathered in your preparation and throughout the process. For example, customize your company overview to align with your contact’s values, mission and purpose. When conducting your analysis, target the specific advantages and benefits of your product or service that align with your contact’s buying criteria. This also can help to separate you from your competitors.

Analyze. Without analyzing your progress, you run the risk of having many issues arise. For example, you can get so far into your sales process that you can’t back up and meet with other decision makers. Or you can find yourself losing the sale because of a perception of you and your business that you never had a chance to overcome.

There are countless other techniques that can help win the “huge sales,” such as being the first one in and the last one out, setting the stage for your competitors to lose, finding and effectively working with a “coach” within your prospect, and truly understanding each decision maker’s needs and wants, to name just a few.

I’d be interested in hearing your tips and ideas on this topic.

Dan