We’ve all heard the phrase, There is no hope. We’ve also heard; hope is not a strategy. Serious sales pros know hope is a brutal strategy for selling. Yet many salespeople eke out a living by quoting and hoping. They do. You may know a few of these salespeople.
If you aren’t committed to using a selling strategy or a selling system, there is a good chance you will revert to the Quote & Hope strategy — a strategy that clearly favors your prospect. If you’re comfortable doing that or you really think “your business is different” stop reading now.
Here are some solid word tracks that you can follow when being asked to quote, delivering the quote and (if applicable) following up on the quote. *The assumption here (and it’s a big assumption) is that the opportunity is completely qualified:
1. Being asked to quote
Thanks for the opportunity to work with you. I will go back and outline everything we have discussed and prepared a ____ page quote for you. This will include ____ and ____ and the pricing we discussed (if applicable). Let’s suppose it’s exactly what you wanted and you loved it. Can you help me understand what happens after that?
2. Delivering (or sending) the quote
Here is the quote we discussed. OR Attached is the quote we discussed. Can you tell me what we should do next? OR Can you tell me what next steps look like?
(if they say anything other than YES, let’s do it now)
OK, thanks, when is the best day and time to call you to follow up on this and determine next steps?
(write down the day and time, put it in your smartphone calendar and call back on that day and time)
3. Following up on the quote
Hi, ____________ here. How are you? I’m calling to determine next steps with the _________________ we quoted on. What should we do?
If this seems simple, if you are saying to yourself, “No kidding Coach, I always do that” you would be surprised at the number of sales organizations that do not do this — ever. They live by the Quote & Hope. It’s a mystery to me too.
