By Fabienne Fredrickson
Imagine you’ve worked hard to market your services; you’ve attracted a prospective client, set up a “sales conversation” and gone through the whole sales process. Great job, but sometimes, no matter how hard we try, prospects don’t always sign up on the spot.
Sometimes, a prospect needs some time to make the decision on whether or when they’d like to start working with you. What I’ve noticed over the years is that when this happens, most always, the sale never happens, probably because life gets in the way and what’s out of sight is out of mind.
Often, this means you’ve lost them for good. UNLESS you use the proven method to get indecisive prospects to slide right into your practice, instead of slipping through your fingers.
So I’ve come up with a fantastic remedy for this, which again, helps me close the deal 97-98% of the times that I use it.
If they don’t bite on the sales call, use what I call the “bookend” method. Here’s how it works:
When a prospect tells me they need to talk to their spouse or needs some time to decide, or wants to ideally start in 2 months, I schedule a 5 minute “check-in” call with them (next Tuesday at 3pm, for example) so that we can follow up with each other without having to play phone tag or have to follow up with one another.
The great thing about this technique is that it puts a time limit in the prospect’s mind as to when THEY would like to make the decision, and obviously, you let them choose when they’d like to have that 5 minute chat.
I essentially came up with this because I really dislike following up in this situation. It makes me feel like I’m chasing after them and I don’t feel that this is Client Attractive. So instead, we agree that they’ll call me on set date and 90% of the time they do, and out of those times, they don’t feel pressured, have had time to think about what we talked about, and are ready to make a decision to move forward. It’s a great tool!
If for whatever reason they don’t call during the time of your 5 minute check-in appointment, you can then call them or e-mail them asking if anything went wrong. This usually puts the prospect into a mode where they feel obliged to get back you, as they were the one who missed the appointment. Again, this is much more Client Attractive and ends up saving you a lot of time.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
If a client doesn’t sign up on the spot, make sure to bookend another date so you don’t have to follow up on each other for weeks. Use it as a “let’s see where you are in your decision making process then.” It works like a charm.
Having trouble with actually getting the prospect INTO the sales conversation in the first place? You’re definitely not the only one. The good news is, I’ve developed a way to close the sale 97-98% of the time and I share the entire process in my Client Attraction Home Study System™. It’ll help you fill your practice quickly and consistently, Guaranteed. Here’s where you can get your own copy: www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com.
© 2005 Fabienne Fredrickson
Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Mentor, is founder of the Client Attraction System™ and www.ClientAttraction.com, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, make more m’oney being self-employed, while having more time off to enjoy it all. To receive your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and get weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.
