Holla Back...
Tips, tactics, and strategies to help follow up the right way to move deals forward
Hello darkness my old friend -
(is that three/four song titles in 3 weeks? Maybe)
This one goes without saying.
Follow up is key, if not crucial in sales. Yet - many sales people struggle with this simple concept?
Rejection is tough. It’s not fun hounding someone over and over again with little to no response. When do we stop?
According to IRC Sales Solutions, only 2% of sales are made during the first point of contact. This means businesses stand to lose potentially 98% of their sales leads if they do not follow up. The success of any sales rests on how well we seal deals.
In this week’s edition of Stretch Weekly -
Jeffrey Gitomer and Jeff Shore talk about the art of sales, follow up and closing
Charlene Ignites with 5 Things Salespeople Can Say Instead of “I’m just following up”
And don’t sleep on this week’s snippets with more tips, tactics and strategies to help you follow up the right way to move deals forward.
THANKS for reading!!
-Grant
And lastly - as always, if you find this newsletter valuable- subscribe or share it with someone who might as well 👊.
STRETCH SHARES
The Art of Sales, the Follow Up, and Closing
From the archives I found this excellent podcast from the guru Jeffrey Gitomer and Jeff Shore talking about the art of sales, follow up and closing.
Highlights:
The difference between a successful and a non-successful salesperson when it comes to following up. The successful salesperson is creative, thoughtful, and genuinely wants to help their customer.
The unsuccessful salesperson simply wants to earn their check to put a deposit on a BMW.
The challenge any salesperson has is that they are too preoccupied with their quota rather than helping other people and bringing value.
One of the superpowers of salespeople with amazing follow up is speed. Speed is critical in follow up, most salespeople wait too long, and ultimately lose the emotional altitude with the customer.
5 Things Salespeople Can Say Instead of “I’m just following up..”
No matter what, you need a better opening line than any version of, “I’m just following up… .”
Here are five potential alternatives from Charlene Ignites:
"As promised, here is the information you requested so that you can [insert why they need the information and how it will move this forward]..."
"Based on our conversation, it’s clear that you [insert what you know they need, are trying to do, are capable of achieving, or something else about the transformation potential].."
"When we last spoke, you mentioned that [insert something they said that is driving the need for you to follow up; make it about them, not you]..."
"Given your goal of [insert their goal], it’s important that we reconnect before [time frame driven by their goal]..."
"The reason for my professional persistence is [insert something about their situation, need, or goal that is creating urgency for them, not you]..."
STRETCH SNIPPETS
✅ Josh Roth advises to follow up with pleasant persistence. 71% of prospects say the earlier the better - during the information-gathering stage of a new project. “It is also clearly far better to be too early in your follow-up than too late.”
⚡️ Did you know 40% of your customers will change jobs this year, and those job changers close 3X HIGHER?!
📞 Nick Cegelski says voicemails should never ask for a call back. It’s extremely intentional, and feel free to steal his sign off.
🗣 Charles Mulhbauer gives AEs a great tip on recap emails. Ask the prospect: “Before our next call, I'm going to send you an email recapping what you've shared with me today to ensure I didn't misunderstand anything about you. Can you let me know if I missed anything when you receive it?" Asking this last question before your next scheduled call is a big deal
😎 Here’s one of the best, more polite and well thought out “break up email” frameworks I’ve seen. Junior Lartey reminds us there is a right way and wrong way to part ways.
🧠 Mindset
Thanks for reading!
My hope is if you find this valuable, consider sharing it with friends (or signing up if you haven’t already).
— Grant 👋
About stretch vp: confessions, learnings, and insights from sales leaders in SaaS
Compiled and aggregated from a network of sales leaders in SaaS, Stretch VP showcases learnings, insights, and experiences as well as best practices to overcome common hurdles, obstacles, and setbacks in your quest for excellence as a sales leader in SaaS.
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