We’re sharing helpful tips from Kevin Baumgart at Set Sales, which we call “Sales Hacks.”
For this series, Kevin shares tips and strategies that he’s seen work in print shops.
In this installment of Sales Hacks, Kevin talks about mastering customer quotes.
“Let’s Put an End to Quote and Hope”
Instead, quote and follow up effectively!
I see this in shops over and over again. We quote a job. And then we hope the order goes through. Often, this comes with limited to no follow-up or communication to the prospect. So, what do we do here?
The strategy is two-fold:
- Always end quote review conversations by proactively scheduling a follow-up step
- Have a follow-up process in place
Let’s dig into both:
Always end quote review conversations by proactively scheduling a follow-up step:
When reviewing a quote live with a prospect (which you should already be doing!), ensure you prepare the next steps before ending the conversation. This can simply be checking in before moving forward and answering any outstanding questions.
The goal is to get a response from the prospect on the direction they are going. In my opinion, “no” is better than no answer. If you get a no, you can put it to rest and move on.
You can also then dig in to understand why you got a no. It’s hard to uncover this information without having that next step conversation scheduled.
If you are communicating via email and are opposed to scheduling a conversation, schedule some automated emails checking in on the quote and where they stand. You can position these in a supportive and responsive manner to not seem pushy.
Either way, having defined next steps will help avoid getting ghosted.
Have a follow-up process in place:
I’ve worked with shops around defining and creating what a quote follow-up process looks like. I think following a defined approach for every quote we send is essential. This could simply be a succession of 3-4 emails checking in, confirming understanding, asking to answer questions, and asking about status and how you can further support them. Automating this is the most straightforward approach to ensure the touch points are there. You can use an email marketing tool like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact (or, even better, a CRM with built-in email automation).
At the end of the day, we are putting in time and effort to quote jobs. Simply quoting a job and hoping we win is an incredibly inefficient use of our time.
The bottom line is to have a plan to follow up after the quote.
Good Selling,
Kevin
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