Here's How to Keep Clients Interested in Your Sales Proposal

If you're in sales or account management, then you know how challenging it is to convince your client to buy your services. And is there anything more frustrating than when you think you've navigated all the potential hurdles that could get in the way of your client signing off on your proposal, only to have them say they're not ready to move forward or they're thinking things over? What do you do if your deal stalls? How do you get your client moving forward and get some momentum back into your deal? Well, that's what we're talking about in this episode of the Cam Club Podcast. So sit tight. I'll be right back. Hello heroes, and welcome to the Cam Club Podcast, a show that is on a mission to help busy key account managers get results. I'm your host, Warwick Brown, and together we'll explore tips, tricks and trends to help you grow client revenue, crush customer retention, and build a successful career in key account management. So the question about how to get a client moving forward with your proposal came from listener Ben Patton. Ben asked, you know, what do you have to say? What do you have to do? What do you have to give in order to earn their trust and and the opportunity to deepen the relationship? So firstly, thank you, Ben, for submitting the topic and I shall pop a link to Ben's LinkedIn. Pop a link to Ben's LinkedIn profile in the show Notes in case you'd like to connect. Maybe you have some advice to share. And also you'll find a form where you can submit your own suggestions for the podcast. Both of Those are at tkcpodcast.com 013 all right, back to the matter at hand. How to keep those deals moving. Let's talk about what's involved with selling. How does even the process of selling begin? Well, it starts with a buyer who has a problem, even if they don't know it yet, and a seller who believes they have the solution. And then through a series of discussions, each examines a problem and puts forward arguments and counter arguments on how to solve it. And along the way, you both make compromises until those discussions reach a conclusion. Either the buyer can solve the problem on their own. The buyer will get help, but from a different supplier that is not you to solve the problem or the best case scenario, the buyer. The buyer chooses you to solve the problem with or for them. That's the typical that's sales in a nutshell. The most important rule for negotiation for keeping your deals moving forward is preparation. I'm not just talking about submitting the Proposal. I'm talking about the whole sales cycle. You need to think from the very beginning to the very end. What's your approach, what's your strategy? What are the potential pitfalls and obstacles along the way and how will you address those? So it's quite a big topic to think about how to keep a deal moving right through to getting that ink on the contract. I think if we look at it holistically and we look at the overall objectives from start to finish, this might help you identify areas where you've maybe missed a step or where you could go back and revisit a step because that might be the thing that's caused your client to pause or to not move forward at this time. So let's talk about the overall objectives when you're building out a sales strategy and the steps and the process. And yeah, think about then what might you have missed that you may need to revisit in order to keep that deal moving. Now don't worry about writing notes. Everything is available at the show notes tkcpodcast.com 013 so let's get into it. First you want to make sure you've understood your client's needs and business challenges. Then you want to make sure that you've identified the problem that the client wants solved. Next, develop relevant insights. Then you want to confirm that the client's interested. There's a thing called the thermometer technique which I have described in the show notes but it' essentially it's where you ask your client something like where are you on a scale of 0 to 10 in your readiness to buy? 0 meaning no interest, 10 meaning give me the signature, but a bit more eloquently than that. And I've included an extract from the book, you can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar which explains the thermometer technique in more detail. And that book is by Sandler Selling. So yeah, check it out. So back to the list of steps when you are planning out a deal. We've talked about understanding client needs, identifying the problem they want solved. Developing relevant insights, confirming they're interested using the thermometer technique. Understanding their expectations regarding next steps and timelines. Exploring opportunities and potential solutions. Connecting with key stakeholders and decision makers. Understanding the buying and decision making process and criteria. This one is often very overlooked. We don't really know what happens after we submit a proposal, where it goes, who signs off on it, who's going to discuss it. And those are very important things to be aware of. Anticipating and resolving Potential obstacles. Don't just wait for them to turn up the objections. Think about what they might be. Before you even present your proposal, ask yourself, have you differentiated your value proposition? Does it solve the business challenge? Is it clear that it solves a business challenge and that it achieves the business outcomes? If you're just another cookie cutter solution, why is the client going to be motivated to use you or even to use anybody? Explore risks that the client's concerned about and establish contingencies. So a client's going to have some fear about making a decision. You want to make sure you've addressed those, but also you want to make sure that you're clear about what happens if some of those concerns materialize, that you're prepared and that you can intercept them and address them if those actually become reality. You want to make sure you've got success stories and case studies that demonstrate you can deliver on your promises, show that you've done this before and you can do it again. You want to make sure that you've got agreed metrics that the client will use to evaluate the success of your solution, and does the solution justify the cost? That's how those metrics can actually help you there. Have you evaluated competitors and how do you rank? And have you got talk tracks for any gaps that might be there in your products and services? Have you presented a customized proposal and sought feedback from your client? I've often been guilty of taking shortcuts here. I'm just like, oh, let me send it to you an email. I'll do one slide with a quick cost breakdown. I haven't really given it the attention that it needs, and that can help it be more persuasive. I think that's a really important step. Have you refined your solution scope? If required, you know, based on the feedback? Have you made adjustments to your proposal? Are there any open issues? Perhaps there are things not just related to the deal, but beyond that in the wider service that you know with existing customers, obviously that are preventing your client from really focusing on the current proposal. I've had this before where a client said to me, listen, until you fix the problems we're having with customer service, I'm not interested in talking about anything else. So it's been a real distraction. And have you planned your negotiation strategy? Do you know who you're going to negotiate with? Have you decided your objective? You know, what's your best case scenario and what's your bottom line? Worst case scenario? Ask yourself, what is it going to cost me? What is it worth to my client and what do I want in return? And then have you got a plan for the follow up? Do you know what you're going to say? How are you going to maintain contact and influence? How can you regularly share knowledge and insights and and you can check out episode 12, the one before this, which is the best way to follow up with clients without being a pest. If you want some tips there so there's a long list of things that you may have not fully explored. You may have missed some steps. There might be some things that you can now go back and look at and think, well, did I do these things? Are some of these things glaringly missing from the sales process? And if there are, then go back and address those with your client because that could be the thing that gets that deal moving. One thing that's also really important is that you establish the next commitment. Maybe your clients aren't ready to buy right now. Well, that's fine, that happens. That's life. But don't leave them to their own devices. Here are some great ways to pivot the conversations to your next commitment so that you don't lose momentum. Here are just some simple transition sentences. When should we talk again? What are our next steps? What do you want me to do next? When do you want me to follow up? When are we connecting next? I can call you on Wednesday or Friday. Which do you like? How much time do you need? I'd like to do this work with you. So when can we wrap this up? It's important to me to help you. When do you want me to reach out again? Now, those transition pivot sentences are from the book 5 minutes selling by Alex Goldfeyn. Great book. I mean, I know I always say great book, but that's because I don't recommend bad books to you. Every book I recommend I've read and they're always great. So yeah, apologies for the profusion of great book recommendations in the podcast. But yeah, check that book out. Five Minutes Selling. And again, if you want to check out these lists on planning your deal objectives, establishing your next commitment, and the thermometer technique, check out the show notes tkcpodcast.com 013 Finally, I thought I'd share with you my favorite podcast right now. Actually, it's been a favorite for a long time called how to Succeed Now. This is from Sandler Training and they teach the success principles and interpersonal communication skills that you need to get to the top and stay there. Each episode features an interview with a special guest about how to succeed at sales leadership or personal and professional success. I like this podcast because it's not just about sales. It's a lot about the soft skills that are going to help you succeed. It's not just about sales processes and sales cycles. It's a little bit more holistic and looks at all of the skills that you need to be a successful sales professional. So check that one out. How to Succeed They've got an episode on doing pre mortems which I'll include in the show notes, and that's all about how to plan for the worst case scenario before it happens. Get your win team in a room, product, sales, marketing, account management, operations, whoever it might be and say we've lost this deal. Where do we go wrong? But you're doing it before you've lost the deal, if that makes sense. Anyway, listen to the episode. It explains it much more clearly and articulately than I can. And I think we're at a wrap on this episode of the Cam Club podcast, all about how to get your client to move forward with your proposal. I've been your host, Warwick Brown. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next time. Bye for now.