I am not a salesman.   In fact, I am hopeless at sales.  But that’s good – I don’t want to be a salesman – I am a technical person who loves what I do.  The problem is that in order to generate revenue from customers, I also have to do some selling.   But that doesn’t mean I have to like it and frankly, I am rubbish at it.   But, I have had a lot of success over the past couple of months using a technique which was suggested to me by a salesman at the end of one of my mentoring groups.

This technique is simply to hold back, and keep some bait for the fishing (this was how it was described to me).   Look at it this way, when we are meeting with a prospect or putting out a proposal, it is far too easy to give all the information, all the recommendations, all the relevant links and all of costs.   This is done on the belief that the more we provide, the better the outcome.   But then, we move into the follow up and chasing phase of the selling process… and then what?!?!   What do you say in those emails?

I have received my own share of emails saying just “Have you had a chance to look at the proposal, are you ready to sign up yet?”    Constant contact with the prospect is important, but the contact needs to add value.

Which is why holding back or 2 or 3 small items gives you the perfect reason for follow up and further conversations.   Much better to email or call the prospect with something along the lines of “By the way, in regard to the proposal, I thought you would like to also know that ….” followed by the extra bait.  But again, 1 item at a time gives reasons for chasing and follow up calls in the future.

I hate selling, I hate the closing even more, but using this technique makes phoning or sending those emails a lot easier, and I can confirm I have made a lot more sales because of it.