By Bill Farquharson, Sales Vault – Read this week’s tip below and sign up for the July Short Attention Span Webinar, “Sales Fatigue, Burnout, and Reset”, July 13th at 11:30 am

Good morning!

See if this doesn’t sound familiar…

You meet with the prospective client. It goes well. Very well. You come up with a great idea to help them meet a business need. You are asked to create a proposal and provide pricing on your solution.

So, you do.

Then….

Crickets.

You call to follow up. Voicemail. You call again the next day. Voicemail. Now, you are confused and frustrated. Should you call again? Will that be annoying? What if you don’t call and they give the order away to somebody who did?

Being ghosted remains at the top of the list of sales challenges reps throughout the graphic arts face. The client that was so welcoming and anxious to work with you has completely disappeared without a trace, leaving you to wonder what to do next. Don’t you wish you all the time machine to go back and ask the questions flying through your head?

Try this…

When you are having that final conversation with the client regarding the job, make sure you ask these 5 questions:

1. When do you expect the purchase decision to be made? This gives you their time frame.
2. Who has the final say? This uncovers the buying authority of your contact.
3. When should I follow up? This sets expectations.
4. How best to follow up? This uncovers their preferred communication method.

   And then, the most important question of all:

5. What should I do if I don’t connect with you? This gives you permission to nag them.

There are no guarantees, of course. But armed with this information, you have the best chance to have that precious follow up conversation and hopefully close the deal.

Otherwise…

Crickets.

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Love Sales? Want to learn sales best practices? Learn what other sales reps are doing. Find out what works and what doesn’t. Join The Sales Vault and unlock sales best practices. Go to SalesVault.pro or call Bill Farquharson at 781-934-7036.  Visit salesvault.pro/partners to get the PGCA member discount on the Sales Vault monthly subscription.