According to the HubSpot blog, there are more or less three basic reasons why the client wants you to call in January:
- The prospect is interested but genuinely does not have time now before the holidays.
- Due to a systemic feature, the decision cannot be made by the end of the year. A typical situation is that the decision-making boss might be away.
- The prospect simply wants to get rid of you and the end of the year seems like a good pretext.
Ideally, you should detect which of the three above scenarios is the one happening now and act accordingly. Generally, you should try to talk about the offer before the end of the year. If you encounter the second case, i.e. systemic problem, there is not much you can do. But you can talk to the company representative about the priorities of the company so that you are able to prepare a personalised offer together that you will then present to the boss at the beginning of the new year.
Basic techniques
In the first and third cases, you can use one of the following methods that will make the customer talk to you immediately:
- Create a sense of urgency. Temporary offers, preferential Christmas prices or limited numbers of products. All this can be used to create a feeling in the client that they should act without delay.
- Mention the chaos that will come in the new year. Alert the client that they, you and everybody else will be much busier after the holidays. Now, in a calmer period, the prospect has the opportunity to think the whole thing through in depth.
- Ascertain the essence of the prospect's doubts. If the customer still seems unwilling to talk to you, try to find out where the doubts are coming from and deal with them.
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