Why Your Salespeople Need to Feed Seagulls To Close More Sales
Why do some sales continue to a close while others somehow die just before sales attempt to close them? You have every sign the sale would proceed to close, but something happens? Keep reading if you want to find out how feeding Sea Gulls will help your sales close rate.
Salespeople have a difficult job today. Gartner’s research shared that 33% of buyers no longer wish to speak with a salesperson and would prefer more of a sales self-service model in a digital experience.
It often takes over 20 touches to have a conversation with an ideal targeted customer.
Once we engage, we often find there are 7-10 people involved in the buying decision.
Who is typically involved in buying decisions today?
Influencers
End users
Purchasing
The person searching for a solution
Gatekeepers
The Decision Maker
Executive Sponsor
Quality
Safety
Engineering
Commodity Manager
Controller
CFO
CEO
Depending on the industry you serve and your type of product or service, you need to identify and understand the pain points for each of the above personas.
The one person we did not mention but is critical to identify is your corporate Sea Gull.
Who are corporate Sea Gulls, you might ask?
These are the people who can be in various roles that always lead with no. Their answer to everything is no in hopes that people who offer new products and services will go away.
Why do I refer to them as Sea Gulls, you might ask?
I had one sales mentor who used to ask me before every large sale who the customer Sea Gull was and what I had done to ensure they did not swoop in at the last minute and crap all over the sales I should have won.
At first, I found this to be a difficult task.
Working with current customers is easier since we have built a relationship based on trust and competence. So, I often would ask….
Help me make sure I can deliver this product and help your team please…who are the various influencers in this decision and who on your team has a history of flying in at the last minute and disrupting new purchases?
The burden is on sales to identify and reach out to this known corporate Sea Gulls, feed them the information, data, and answer their questions before you attempt to close the sale.
Does your sales team have a strong relationship matrix at each of your current accounts or just relationships with purchasing?
Would you like to significantly improve your close rate with new business and increase your share of wallet with key accounts?
Has your sales team identified Sea Guls at each of your growth accounts?
Take my advice to feed the Sea Gulls in your accounts and watch your revenue grow.
Let’s schedule a call to discuss my process, training, and coaching to fix this common sales problem.
