Some of the salespeople reading this article book may be muttering to themselves “face to face selling... I wish! If I could only get more in-person time with my prospects, I wouldn’t need to be reading this article!”

If that’s your situation – that once you’re with a prospect, you’re home free and you do really well from there on out in your sales process – then pay careful attention to what we’re about to share with you.

Your challenge is linkage. You don’t start each phase of your sales process with a clear picture in your mind of what the next step is going to be.

Perhaps you feel that your selling process should be different with each prospect or that if you had a template or a system you use with everyone, that would be insincere or it would somehow ring false when you put different people through that same process.

Let’s turn away from sales for a moment.

Let’s talk about brain surgery. Or dental work. Or flying an airplane. Or doing someone’s tax return.

These processes all have the following characteristics in common:

•  They are executed by a professional
•  He/she has had a good deal of training
•  This professional has had plenty of opportunity to practice under the supervision of someone more knowledgeable and experienced
•  This person is required to continue their professional learning throughout their career
•  This person uses a clearly defined, proven, documented system for making incisions, using anesthetic, take offs and landings, or amortizing expenses
•  Many of these processes are system-atized to the point of using simple checklists, logs, and computer programs to ensure the proper sequence and completeness of steps
•  Any significant variation or omission in these procedures is at the risk of injury, death, lawsuit, bankruptcy, prison time, or all of the above

So... NOW how do you feel about implementing a repeatable, reliable, consistent system of selling?

Again, I don’t believe there is ONE system. The right system is the one that you will USE! And furthermore, people that tell you that there IS one best sales tracking system are probably selling that system!

If you want to start increasing your percentage of closed sales, one simple way to start would be to increase your awareness of linkage – the lockstep sequence of steps that your own particular sales process involves.

Here is an example of what a well-linked sales process might look like:

1. Research industry, company, decision-makers, and current business situation.

2. Send relevant article /tip sheet/ newsletter.

3. Send introductory letter and 2nd info item of value. Mention intention to call.

4. Call to set appointment.

5. First appointment – listen, share, verify and apply research from Step 1.

6. Mention follow-up and next step (another appointment, a free trial, assessment, phone call, etc) and set specific date.

7. Send follow-up item addressing specific issues from appointment learnings/ discoveries or needs assessment. Set meeting to discuss and customize.

8. Compile and send needs assessment findings.

9. Second appointment. Address questions, issues and ask for go/no-go decision.

10. Submit proposal with three options.

11. Third appointment to discuss proposal details, options, pricing, timing

12. Implementation decisions: payment terms, delivery schedule, etc.

The overall idea is to never move off the current step in your process without agreement on the next specific step.

Make sure YOU remain in charge of the process; this is proactive selling.

Get agreement and follow up with a reminder of the agreed-upon steps, meetings, dates, etc. The linkage of “agreement to agreement” also gets the prospect in the mindset of saying YES to you, which during the final agreement [closing] will be important.

Use broad (and thus comfortable, non-confrontational) checkpoint questions such as “Does this make sense?” or “Would this make a difference to your situation?” or simply “What would you like me to do next?”

Once you’ve set up a clearly defined, well-linked sales process, ringing the cash register is as simple as flipping the switch to start the engines on your flight from New York to Paris!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shawn_Doyle