Sale Advance Vs Continuations
Posted by Adam Thorp
When planning a meeting, 'What is the sale advance you are planning to achieve'?
Having been part of the Capturing Clients pilot program you know how important it is to plan sale advances when preparing for a meeting. Identify an advance versus a continuation by using the definitions below and always have a primary advance and an alternative advance before you meet with a client.
Sale Advances:
A sale advance is where an event takes place, either in the call or after it, which moves the sale forwards towards a decision:
Typical sale advances might include:
- A client's agreement to attend an off-site visit
- Clearance which will get you in front of a higher level decision-maker
- Access to parts of the account which were previously inaccessible to you.
All of these represent an agreement with the client, which moves the sale forward towards the ultimate decision. Advances take many forms but invariably they involve an action and that moves the sale forward. Because of that, any call which results in an advance can be considered successful.
Sale Continuations
A continuation is where the sale will continue but no specific action has been agreed with the client to move it forward:
These calls don't result in any agreed action, yet neither do they involve a 'no' from the client.
Typical examples would be calls which end with a client saying:
- Thank you for coming, why don't you visit us again 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
In none of these cases has the client agreed to a specific action, so there's no concrete sign that the call has caused the sale to move forward.
According to the research, continuations are classed as unsuccessful. This may strike you as a little unfair. After all, it seems harsh to say that a call has failed if the client says positive things such as 'We're impressed', or 'That was a great presentation'. Too often clients make positive noises at the end of a call as a polite way to get rid of an unwanted consultant. Success is measured by actions, not by nice noises. That's why advances are classed as successful and continuations as unsuccessful.
Success should be judged by client's actions, not by their words.
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