It’s the initial call, your prospect is engaged and you’ve begun your discussion. After your prospect responds to several of your open-ended questions, you begin to discover the prospect may not be a prospect at all (at least not for the next quarter or two).
No money.
No timeline for implementation.
No perceived urgency, no need, or other pressing priorities.
Whatever the reason, you know you should invest your time elsewhere.
You need a clean exit – an exit that’ll allow you to move on without offending the prospect, while also leaving the door open for future contact initiated by them or you.
Invest some time outside the money hours* (on your own or with your team) in creating a couple of solid and polite exit statements for those difficult sales situations where you know you can better serve elsewhere (at least for now).
A professional and courteous exit will help you create good will and plant seeds among people who may one day become qualified prospects. And remember – you reap what you sow.
*money hours: the hours in a sales day where one can talk with prospects and/ or customers… the most valuable hours of the day
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Sample exit statements…
“At the moment, I’m not sure we can provide enough value to you but I’d like to keep in touch should things change. May I keep in touch periodically?”
“That sounds like an exciting project. We may be a little early in our discussions given all of your priorities. May I give you a call in two months?”
“Wow, you really have your hands full at the moment. Perhaps we should talk again in a few months and let you focus on these other priorities. May I add you to our company newsletter?”
(Get these exits with the Qualifying Guide.)
Now go sell something.~>
Tom says:
These exit statements are great! Its very important to build your pipeline & leaving with a good exit statement can get you a possible sale in the future.
23 July 2010
Sales Exits – Just Sell®… it’s all about sales® « The Blog of Gobi Canada says:
[...] Sales Exits – Just Sell®… it’s all about sales®. [...]
9 March 2010
Mark Saxon says:
Excellent advise!, I will be sure to pass it along to my team.
24 October 2009
daviyd says:
…these exit statements are a lot better than when the light comes on in your head telling you the prospect should be placed back in the lead status column. It’s better than blurting out, I’ll get back to you on that…
21 October 2009
Sam Parker says:
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
13 October 2009
DAVIID JOJU says:
If i were a customer, i definitely will be impressed by these statements. They are indeed nice ones.
Regards.
12 October 2009
Imelda says:
Lots of helpful tips and really keeps the focus on the customer
8 October 2009
Marty says:
Our team has worked on this before and it is the thoughest thing for sales people to do. I like these and it helps the client feel like they truly are important and we do understand their situation.
7 October 2009
Andre says:
These are very nice, I will definately be using these exit strategies. Well done!
7 October 2009
Carol says:
I liked the exit statements. I’m in Medicare Supplement sales & there have been a few times I could have used a better exit statement.
Thanks!
7 October 2009