A friction point is an action that you naturally take but that is not aligned with the expectations and behaviors of the modern buyer .
Here are 5 common misconceptions that we encounter that significantly slow down your business development.
1. Underestimating the discovery phase of your prospect
This is my favorite phase in the sales process.
For me, this is where everything comes into play: this is the stage that should allow salespeople to understand everything about a prospect and validate their conversion potential.
To do this, it is best to always have a framework of topics to discuss and questions to ask at hand.
In this logic, you must rely on open questions to “make your prospect talk” and find out everything about their context.
One of the common mistakes during the discovery phase of your prospect is to honduras email list only ask closed questions that necessarily lead to a " yes ", a " no " or an " I don't know ".
These questions are not relevant in a discovery phase.
By asking these questions, you only gather limited information about your prospect's context and this necessarily limits your chances of conversion.
In fact, you will not have enough information to properly personalize your commercial offer.
The other common mistake in the discovery phase is assumption .
You should never respond to a prospect after they respond with: “I guess…”
Example :
The prospect: “We are starting a development phase in the countries of northern Europe ”
Salesman: “Ah. And I suppose the French market is taking a back seat.”
No, no, no. The really good question to ask is:
“I understand that you are focusing your efforts on the northern European countries. What about the development of the French market?”
By asking the wrong questions and assuming things without digging deeper, you will also miss out on important information.
This way, you won't be able to properly meet your prospect's needs.
2. Sending a business proposal too early
Is your prospect ready to buy?
This is an important question to ask yourself before sending a business proposal.
Let's go back in time a little and ask ourselves another question. We'll ask ourselves if the prospect is first of all ready to receive a commercial proposal.
From a commercial conquest perspective, speed should not be confused with haste.
At SLN Web, we have even decided not to send a commercial proposal without having carried out our entire Sales Process.
Indeed, a commercial proposal sent too early can harm your prospect-to-customer conversion rate.
Want to get a first indication of whether the timing is right?
Ask yourself if your contact has enough understanding of your product or service to present your offer to their line manager.
If the answer is not a sure and certain “yes”, it is urgent to wait and implement Lead Nurturing actions .
3. Poorly calibrating your prospect reminders
“Stop!!! You’re boring me!!!”
Without going that far, I have already received emails criticizing me for the number of attempts at contact by telephone and email that were too high on my part.
In summary the contact said the following:
“He called again, and I don’t know what to say.”
Or, a prospect I ended up signing with:
“Yes, I received all your emails. I am interested but it is not the right time right now.
Here, I came close to counterproductive actions. An irritated or even angry prospect reduces the chances of seeing him become a customer.
So how do you follow up with a prospect at the right time?
There are tools here that allow you to track the views of your sent emails and also of your commercial proposals.
With this, you are sure to never again come at the wrong time and become a salesperson adored by your prospects.
It's up to you to use these tools in the best possible way.
4. Minimize the role of the interlocutor
Wanting to move quickly with your prospect is good.
If everything is aligned with a prospect, why not speed things up a bit? After all, everyone wins.
Unfortunately, sometimes a business process gets stuck and the speed of the start of trading becomes a distant memory.
The bad, or even very bad, idea would be to minimize the role of the initial contact in order to escalate it. That is, to go back up the (supposed) decision chain to contact your manager or the CEO of the company.
In principle, talking to the decision-maker is a good thing, but doing so by “ bypassing ” your original contact is totally counterproductive.
Try it and tell me
There is a good chance that during your next appointment, your contact will not be available to speak to you.
5. Not offering a Next Step ?
“It was cool to be able to discuss your project. And thanks for the lunch, it's great! Goodbye and see you next time!”
Be careful, a prospect is not a friend! And even less someone you will meet again on occasion to further your project.
No matter how long your sales cycle is, scheduling a Next Step at the end of each appointment is a must.
