18 Nov Where is the Low Hanging Fruit?
Your sales manager is anxious and wants you to close additional sales this month. Perhaps she is worried about meeting her quarterly or annual new business sales quota. She directs you to go find some “low-hanging fruit.” This a metaphor representing the most accessible fruit to reach on a tree, which she assumes will take the shortest amount of time to close. You leave her office wanting to please her but wonder where to find these opportunities.
So, where can you find these “low-hanging fruit “opportunities? Here are a few ideas:
- Current opportunities that you can close within 30 days
Examine your current pipeline and look at all the deals in your sales cycle’s final or next-to-final stages. If you use the Miller Heiman sales methodology, these opportunities are in “Best Few” or “Closed/Won.” The sales manager and sales pro should then determine what it would take to close each opportunity in the next 30 days. It will be impossible for some, and those should not be disturbed. For the others, the tasks the sales pro must complete and, more importantly, what actions the prospect must take to create a path to close the sale must be identified and listed in order of difficulty. I suggest scheduling a conversation with the opportunity’s primary sales contact or coach to discuss these tasks openly. The prospect will inform you if completing them in the desired 30-day timeframe is feasible. Often, they are pessimistic because they fear their company will move too slowly, but I have frequently recommended continuing to try to make the close happen. All tasks should be identified as realistic or challenging to achieve so that we can focus on those that need the greatest attention. One of the stumbling blocks often mentioned by buyers is having a contract approved by their legal department. I then suggest they receive a copy of the standard agreement to review before a formal decision to proceed with the purchase occurs. Other challenges must be identified, and a strategy must be determined to handle each.
Those in the prior stage, “In the Funnel,” are far less likely to close in the next 30 days. However, they should be reviewed to determine if any might be “fast-tracked.” It is unusual, but not impossible, for those in this stage to quickly close.
- Existing customers.
For some companies, selling additional products (“upsell”) and services to existing customers is possible quickly. It is much easier to sell to a satisfied existing customer who knows you and your company than to develop a new business relationship. Sales pros should list the customers in their sales territory and then determine which products or services the customer has not already purchased and is not using a competitive solution. Then, a sales strategy must be developed to approach the customer with a well-prepared proposal.
- Prospects in the “sweet spot.”
I firmly believe in prospecting primarily in the “sweet spot.” These are the prospects where their needs, your value proposition, and your competitive strength intersect. They are in the green area in the diagram below. Selling to prospects outside this area is still possible, but it is more complicated, and they will not be ideal customers and eventual references. Some prospects, such as those in the red area, should be avoided entirely.
(I will discuss selling in the “Sweet Spot” in a future blog post.)
- New marketing campaign—This option is less likely to result in quick sales. Still, I have seen effective year-end marketing email campaigns with offers to buy online or submit an order for some items work effectively. The key is that there must be a compelling value proposition to get the prospect to move quickly. Also, this is more likely to be successful with lower-priced goods and services.
I hope these ideas will assist you in preparing to close more business this year. A periodic review of one’s pipeline to determine what opportunities can be closed quickly is always worthwhile. It is also always valuable to test whether the opportunities can be closed, such as with a trial close, with your contact and coach at several points during your sales cycle. Remember, as Wayne Gretzky’s father, Walter, told him, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”1
1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRKvJMLqOpw