How To Know If Your Sales Call Was Successful – How To Self-Assess Your Sales Call

If you’d like to find out how to increase the rate at which you make sales, and how to improve your current sales strategy, and really get more sales without having to do two, three, four calls, with the same customer until you finally get the money, then this video is for you.

I’m going to cover the 7 results that you can achieve in a sales call, that are worth mentioning at least. There are also other results you can achieve, but they aren’t even worth mentioning. I’m going to cover the seven things, which you should get out of every single sales call. If you don’t get these seven things, or one of these several things, then you’re not doing your job right, and you should adjust your sales process, and the way you do sales.

It used to be, that when used to do cold calling, you’d call a company, and once they agreed to buy something from you, you’d have to mail them the contract (the old snail mail), and then you’d hope that they’d mail it back to you. Then they invented fax, and finally you could fax someone your contract, and they could fax you back the contract, so that improved the sales process dramatically, and made it a lot faster.

Finally, where we are now, is that you can mail someone a contract, they can then print it out, sign it, and then send it right back to you. This isn’t the most recent method, but people are still doing it.

The most recent method, to my knowledge is docusign.com. It’s where you can email someone a contract, and they can sign digitally, with their digital signature.

This ties into sales, because to close a sale with a business, you need to get them to sign a contract (unless you don’t want to be legally protected). I assume because you’re in business, that you will want some kind of legal protection, that you will get paid. We all know, that the client has to sign the contract to bind them legally, and to commit to the project.

The first outcome of the sales process, is that let’s say you have a lemonade stand, and you sell lemonade to someone. They agree, they sign the contract for ten glasses of lemonade. They pay you everything up front, they give you the money, and you give them the lemonade. The deal is done, it has been completed (this is what you should prioritize in your sales call).

The second best thing that can happen in a sale, is that you receive a down payment for your glass of lemonade. For example, you receive 50 cents on the dollar, and then once received, he gives you the rest, of how much he owes.

Of course, it’s not as good as getting paid up front, but it’s still ok. You don’t know if he’s actually going to pay you, once you give him the glass of lemonade. He could just pay you, and then runaway, having only paid half.

Of course, it’s better if he pays you up front, then you don’t have to wait, you don’t have to chase him (It’s still better than nothing). Still, getting a down payment is better than nothing, and some would consider it a fairer deal, because you’re more motivated to actually to give them the lemonade (he has the power initially, because he gives you the money first). You could actually run away with the money, without giving him the lemonade.

The third thing that can happen, and this is less good, less beneficial to you, is that you set up a date and time, when he will pay you. This particular close, isn’t really a close, it’s just setting up the next appointment, and he might pay you. There’s no guarantee that he will show up, he could flake, or change his mind. Maybe his brother, sister, Uncle, or whatever, can give him a better deal, or advice than buying lemonade from you. This is an example over a short period of time (3 days), this next appointment should be set over the next three days.

The fourth possible close, is that it’s set, but not within three days, but over a longer period of time. So there’s more time for him to think. The more time he has to think, the less likely he will be to sign a contract, not pay you, etc.

The fifth one, is when you haven’t actually agreed on the sale verbally yet, so you have to actually set up a date and a time, which you’re actually going to continue the sales call, because they need some time to think, and so on.

I don’t like the sixth version of the call – you set up a call, but there’s no deadline. You don’t say: “within the next three days, I need to have this contract signed, I need to finish this up, otherwise I’m just going to other clients, I have other business to attend”. There’s no deadline set, and you’re going to continue your sales call at a different date.

The seventh close, is when he’s completely not interested in your lemonade. He says: “man, I know you can solve my thirst, but I’m just not thirsty, and I can’t afford it right now. There’s no way I’m going to buy right now, there’s zero percent chance. I like you, but I’m not going to buy from you”.

There’s still something you can do here, if you’re absolutely sure he’s not going to buy, you can ask him for a referral. Tell him look: “I’d love to business with you, but if you can’t that’s perfectly fine, you can refer me to a friend, a business Partner, or someone else”. Get him to refer you to someone who does need the lemonade, the service or product that you’re offering. Then you can still get referred to someone, and close a much easier sale, than a cold call, or a random person walking by (in the case of the lemonade stand).

So the deal, is of course to try and go for the instant payment. I’ve gone through the seven steps, in descending order of value (the dollar amount of each of these closes goes down). But if you can’t get one, you may as well go for two, and if you can’t go for two, you may as well go for three, etc.

Try not to leave a sales call, do everything in your power not to leave a sales call, without having gone through one of these seven. Make sure you have an appointment, a specific day you’re going to talk to the guy. You don’t let them walk, without the next appointment, that’s the most important point I’m trying to make here. If you have any questions, comment down below.