Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Too many times salespeople fail to close business simply because they didn't muster the courage required in the beginning of the sales cycle - when they were prospecting.  Instead of calling at the top of the organization or as Anthony Parinello describes this person "VITO - Very Important Top Officer" the timid sales person calls somewhere below that level where the only qualifying capabilities of the HR director or Risk Manager is to say ‘no'.

You want to close more business more quickly at higher margins do the following:

1. Always call at the level where the person as the authority to say yes to your proposal. Even if you get shifted down to another level you can always get back to your initial contact
2. In those situations where you do your best to call at the top and can't get there, but the prospect is on your top ten list, then make sure your inside coach will get you to the decision maker before presenting
3. When preparing for your closing meeting make sure you always - ALWAYS - send an ‘as we agreed to letter', follow the letter with a phone call and then, before you present to the decision maker, review everything discussed so far, the purpose of the meeting (make a decision) and close your review by asking, ‘what's changed'.

For more great information on calling on the right people follow this link to Dave Kurlan's blog: sales development blog.