Sales Tips & Techniques Blog

Major Account Sales: Always Try To Get An Advance

In major account sales, fewer than 10% of sales calls actually result in either an Order or a categorical No Sale. With neither an outright rejection or a contract in hand, how can you tell if a call is successful?

Our research shows that aside from a sale or a rejection, there are two other possible outcomes for a sales call: An advance and a continuation. Huthwaite defines an "advance" as an agreement from the buyer to take an action that moves the sale forward. Examples of advances include introducing the seller to another stakeholder in the account, agreeing to a product demonstration, or arranging for the technical teams from both organizations to meet. A “continuation” by contrast is where the sale will continue but there is no specific action agreed to by the customer to move it forward. The sale gets bogged down. Typical examples would be calls that end with a customer saying:

• “Thank you for coming. Why don’t you visit us again the next time you’re in the area?”
• “Fantastic presentation, we’re very impressed. Let’s meet again some time.”
• “We liked what we saw and we’ll be in touch if we need to take things further.

On each sales call, aim for the biggest increment of commitment that you can realistically expect. Sales calls go nowhere unless the seller has a specific call objective.

Some common mistakes made in trying to obtain commitment include:

• Failing to propose anything concrete
• Proposing a Continuation
• Proposing an unrealistic Advance
• Not attempting to propose an Alternative Advance if needed
• Holding back on proposing multiple Advances

The great thing with each sales call is to move the sale visibly and certainly forward with the customer’s tacit agreement that the sale is in fact moving forward by taking action.

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How Major Sales are Really Made:

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