Winning the mobile deal

Andy Preston

In the second part of this article, telecoms sales expert, Andy Preston, explains some of the buyer thinking that goes on in prospect’s buying process, that most salespeople aren’t even aware of.

Whenever I’m working with a telecoms company, one of the main reasons they tell me they wanted to work with me specifically, was that they wanted to get more of an insight into the way that buyers think.

A lot of my work is about the buyer mentality and how to tap into that. So why do I say that most telecoms and specifically mobile salespeople are often too late? Here are my reasons.

You’re too late to get back to them

Another big reason that most mobile phone salespeople lose deals is that they take too long to get back to prospects, and some don’t even get back to them at all.

This applies if the prospect asks you to send them an email. It applies if you’ve promised to lend them a handset. It applies if they’ve asked you to find out some specific information for them.

In all of these situations, like it or not, you’re also being judged. Why? Simply because the longer you take to get back to the prospect, the longer the prospect thinks you’ll take to sort out future problems for example.

How likely is it that the prospect will do business with someone that takes ages to get back to them? Not very….

You’re too late to change their minds

This is a huge mistake that most mobile phone salespeople make, and if you can avoid making this in future, you’ll go a long way towards bringing in more business and improving your sales figures.
Most salespeople think that the proposal is the main thing that helps them win or lose the deal. They’re wrong.
Often, often buyers have made their decision on who they’re going to use or at least have a good idea before the proposal stage, and if most of your effort goes into the proposal, then you’ve got a problem.
Managers; have you ever interviewed for an employee, and even though you’re going to a second interview, you’ve already got a favourite or favourites from the first interviews? Of course you have. Exactly the same thing happens in a buying situation as well.
So, in order to increase your chances of winning the deal, focus on the things that happen before the proposal stage, like your questioning, your understanding of their true needs, and their appreciation of you and your solution, and you’ll be much more successful.
Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar! I look forward to hearing how you get on.

Andy Preston is a recognised sales expert who specialises in working with mobile phone companies in particular, helping them generate more appointments, stand out from the competition, and close more deals. You can see and hear more about Andy at http://www.andy-preston.com/.