By now you would think that there are few if any sales people who do not understand the importance of “next steps” in sales. Whatever you call it, advance, next step, it is crucial to not only moving a sales forward, increasing velocity, and helping you separate buyers from tire kickers and disqualify those who are wasting your time and other resources.
While not all next steps are as good as the next, having one is infinitely more important than not having one. As a result that next step is the most important thing you can get out of any given meeting. Now before you start jumping up and down that the most important thing is meeting the needs of the buyer, ask yourself how many buyers would actually give you a next step if in fact they did not perceive value in what you were offering and continuing the process towards the goal of buying. So yes, the client is number one, and the proof is not in what they say, but the action they are willing to take to make it happen. This why, the next step is the objective of any interaction with a buyer. With the objective set, the question then becomes how do you reach it successfully.
One opportunity to improve one’s ability to achieve next steps is to proactively own and bring about that next step. This is where some in sales who get the importance of next steps, still short change themselves in the way they go about getting that next step from the buyer. By not making it your main objective for each meeting, leaving it as just one of the things you want out of the meeting, you risk achieving the objective. Many reps still wait to the end of the meeting to both develop and present the next step to the buyer.
Instead, they should have planning their next step well in advance of the meeting. In fact they should have a primary next step, a secondary, and where required a tertiary step if need be. This then allows you to formulate your plan and questions that will help surface the issues and opportunities that will engage the buyer, and help him/her understand how your offering will impact their specific situation.
Of course, to know, or anticipate what the issues to pursue are, you will need to review the deals you have been involved in. Not just your wins, but also your losses and those that ended in no decisions, all of which can be captured and catalogued using your deal review process or tool. Having that will give prepare you to not only help the buyer get involved and engaged, but also move the meeting in the direction of the logical next step, as demonstrated by market experience. Knowing your destination going in will help you execute a structured meeting, and deliver value to both the buyer and your company.
Finally, there is no upside to keeping the next step a secret, especially as you are moving through the sales versus a first call. In advance of going to a meeting with a buyer, send in an agenda in advance, and include your proposed next step as part of that agenda. After all, would you rather not know in advance that the buyer will not agree to your proposed step, while you can still make adjustments based on their feedback. By waiting the end of the interaction, you risk cornering yourself and the buyer, and in the process risk or extend the sale.
Next Steps
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