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Sales Guys: Handling Verbals that go Ice Cold?

by qu4rk
9 replies
Hey guys, over the past year, I've had verbals that have gone ice cold after I've sent the invoice & Agreement over to them. I'm looking to patch holes in my sales funnel, so I figured I come here to start a discussion about this.

How do you guys?

1) Prevent this
2) Handle this after the fact

Thanks!
#cold #guys #handling #ice #sales #verbals
  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    1. "So you agree we should get started now?"

    "Before we get started, is there anything I need to know? Is there any reason you might suddenly not want to do this anymore?"

    2. You can sit with them (or on the phone with them) while they pay the invoice. This kind of babysitting may seem annoying, but "A sale is not a sale until you take the money to the bank"--it could be the most important part of your day.

    3. Call/email the ones who disappear and ask what went wrong and what you can do to help.


    Overall, my suspicion is you're not qualifying hard enough and getting the prospect to dig down and state for themselves the real reason(s) they want to move ahead.
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    • Profile picture of the author qu4rk
      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      2. You can sit with them (or on the phone with them) while they pay the invoice. This kind of babysitting may seem annoying, but "A sale is not a sale until you take the money to the bank"--it could be the most important part of your day.
      Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

      Collect the money in the moment. ie when you are closing them.

      Send the paperwork after you collect payment and that
      problem never happens.
      Great suggestions Jason & Rick. The problem is that some of these deals are $2k - $8k & they want to pay by check. I know there is the whole checks by phone thing. But I don't do it, because my bank said that they don't do it.

      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      3. Call/email the ones who disappear and ask what went wrong and what you can do to help.
      When I say ice cold, I mean, disappears. It's odd, that's why I'm asking here about this.

      Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan View Post

      Overall, my suspicion is you're not qualifying hard enough and getting the prospect to dig down and state for themselves the real reason(s) they want to move ahead.
      These are a mixture of deals. Some I've met with, all I've talked over the phone with multiple times, etc. How much harder do you need to qualify for a person who says, "I like it, I want it, that sounds like exactly what we need, what do we need to do to get started"?

      I'm selling SEO & PPC Mgmt by the way if that helps.
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      • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
        Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

        Great suggestions Jason & Rick. The problem is that some of these deals are $2k - $8k & they want to pay by check. I know there is the whole checks by phone thing. But I don't do it, because my bank said that they don't do it.

        .
        Get a bank that does, you're losing money. Unacceptable.

        They are never hotter and more ready to give you money, then right then and there.
        Waiting - gives them a cool off period, allows other people to interfere with the sale and things just happen.

        Getting the money upfront reduces the chances of interference dramatically.


        btw: I don't know if it's true or not, but I once had a bank teller tell me its illegal to deny them.
        She said some banks don't like to take them and say they wont, but they have to.
        She went on to say "Just bring them to the teller and deposit them as if you do it
        every day and most wont say anything"
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        • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
          Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post


          btw: I don't know if it's true or not, but I once had a bank teller tell me its illegal to deny them.
          She said some banks don't like to take them and say they wont, but they have to.
          She went on to say "Just bring them to the teller and deposit them as if you do it
          every day and most wont say anything"
          Yeah, according to the Uniform Commercial Code, they must accept them unless they suspect fraudulent activity, but they need to have some reason to think that.

          The funds aren't usually available instantly, you have to wait until the check clears, but they definitely do have to take them.
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      • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
        Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

        These are a mixture of deals. Some I've met with, all I've talked over the phone with multiple times, etc. How much harder do you need to qualify for a person who says, "I like it, I want it, that sounds like exactly what we need, what do we need to do to get started"?
        I'm selling SEO & PPC Mgmt by the way if that helps.
        A big gap between that and closing down the sale, if they are saying things like you have said, you need to ( as others have said here ) Close the sale at that point by asking for the payment.

        If you can not get past that line ( and there are people who struggle with closing down the sale ) then more often than not you have control to the other person and you will be for ever running around wiping backsides.

        From what I have seen in these cases people get a little bit scared for some reason when it comes to closing down / asking for the payment as if in some way they think the client will get upset in some way, and they feel like they do not want to upset anyone, so its easier to take a non confronting role if that is a term where they offer to take payment later or they offer to send more information, or go into information overload or say things they do not even need to say and 101 other things, other than closing the sale to avoid that fear of upsetting or loosing the customer.

        Sounds like your on a good track and a little more work and you will closing more sales than you can and will need support staff, so all should be good for you.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
        Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

        How much harder do you need to qualify for a person who says, "I like it, I want it, that sounds like exactly what we need, what do we need to do to get started"?
        So...this is qualifying...and qualifying ain't selling. Qualifying is a part of the sales process, but it's not all that is sufficient and necessary for closing sales.

        See how you could read this in different ways:

        "I like it, I want it, I think I need it, and just out of curiosity, so I can get a free education from you, what do we need to do to get started?"

        And then he goes and asks his cousin Skippy to do it cheap, since you've told him everything he needs to know.

        Or...

        "I like it, I want it, I need it, and I'm not totally certain you're the person to do it; so what do we need to do to get started?"

        And they ask around to four other professionals afterwards, now that they know what to ask about.

        Or...

        "I like it, I think I want it, I think I need it, and so I know how much it costs and understand whether I can afford your help or not, how do we get started?"

        And they find out your price is higher than their budget but don't want to admit it.


        So the SELLING part is finding out what the underlying "question behind the question" is.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Originally Posted by qu4rk View Post

    Hey guys, over the past year, I've had verbals that have gone ice cold after I've sent the invoice & Agreement over to them. I'm looking to patch holes in my sales funnel, so I figured I come here to start a discussion about this.

    How do you guys?

    1) Prevent this
    2) Handle this after the fact

    Thanks!
    Collect the money in the moment. ie when you are closing them.

    Send the paperwork after you collect payment and that
    problem never happens.
    Signature

    Selling Ain't for Sissies!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10532078].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author linda051
    I agree that you should collect money in the moment. Another thing I like to do is make 100% clear that it's OK if they don't want the product as we have best interests aligned. It sounds counterintuitive but when I do this, people are actually MORE willing to buy and my flake rate shoots down to 0%.

    A lot of times when people flake, it's because they talked to someone else or read something and changed their mind. If you're able to make it clear you're willing to have a discussion about it with them, it frames the situation very differently.
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    • Profile picture of the author qu4rk
      Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

      Get a bank that does, you're losing money. Unacceptable.

      They are never hotter and more ready to give you money, then right then and there.
      Waiting - gives them a cool off period, allows other people to interfere with the sale and things just happen.

      Getting the money upfront reduces the chances of interference dramatically.


      btw: I don't know if it's true or not, but I once had a bank teller tell me its illegal to deny them.
      She said some banks don't like to take them and say they wont, but they have to.
      She went on to say "Just bring them to the teller and deposit them as if you do it
      every day and most wont say anything"
      Got it. I guess my problem is that I have a clunky sales process. They are hot & I'm not sealing the deal. I'll go bank shopping at 9 AM.

      Nathan AKA Iamnameless, has been preaching that for years & I guess it's time to get started.

      I'd rather have the kinks ironed out before I go into the bank rather than get there & get a surprise. My bank knew what I was talking about when I asked & they said definitely not. But, I will have to get a new business account to fix may sales system.

      Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post

      A big gap between that and closing down the sale, if they are saying things like you have said, you need to ( as others have said here ) Close the sale at that point by asking for the payment.

      If you can not get past that line ( and there are people who struggle with closing down the sale ) then more often than not you have control to the other person and you will be for ever running around wiping backsides.

      From what I have seen in these cases people get a little bit scared for some reason when it comes to closing down / asking for the payment as if in some way they think the client will get upset in some way, and they feel like they do not want to upset anyone, so its easier to take a non confronting role if that is a term where they offer to take payment later or they offer to send more information, or go into information overload or say things they do not even need to say and 101 other things, other than closing the sale to avoid that fear of upsetting or loosing the customer.

      Sounds like your on a good track and a little more work and you will closing more sales than you can and will need support staff, so all should be good for you.
      It goes back to my above statement. I don't have a problem asking for payment. It's just that I use the payment by phone thing as an excuse, instead of not getting it handled & always taking payment over the phone.

      Yeah thanks! My 2016 goal is to get a front office with sales staff that I train on my system & an assistant.

      Originally Posted by linda051 View Post

      I agree that you should collect money in the moment. Another thing I like to do is make 100% clear that it's OK if they don't want the product as we have best interests aligned. It sounds counterintuitive but when I do this, people are actually MORE willing to buy and my flake rate shoots down to 0%.

      A lot of times when people flake, it's because they talked to someone else or read something and changed their mind. If you're able to make it clear you're willing to have a discussion about it with them, it frames the situation very differently.
      I do this. After reading a sales book, they talk about the anxiety a buy experiences after they commit (give a verbal), so they talk about reassuring the buyer is the job once they commit.

      Yeah, as stated above, I definitely will shorten the gap between the verbal & payment.
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