Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 2 minutes. The hard close is dead; long live the follow-up. Today, we'll cover
​ When You Win While my wife and I were hunting for our first property, my father-in-law, a former real estate agent, explained: The purchaser of the property isn't our customer. The vendor is. The purchaser is annoying and distracts from signing more vendors. An agent "wins the sale" when the vendor agrees to list with them. Only when they have properties to sell can a real estate business make money. Then, the agent gets paid when the property changes hands (after much back-and-forth, paperwork, and waiting periods). If a purchase doesn't go through for any reason, the agent may never get paid. This lesson is critical for founders; when you win the sale and when you get paid are often entirely different. ​ Lose Fewer Deals Before even speaking to a seller, modern buyers often decide who they will buy from. ​Last week, we covered 3% of your market are active buyers, and 82% of active buyers are pre-influenced in their choice of supplier. Leaving only 1 in 185 buyers who are open to persuasion. The rest are not going to work with you or have already picked you and; "It's yours to lose." This is one of the most dangerous things a buyer can say. That is why I often tell founders it's better to focus on losing fewer deals rather than winning more deals. And there are 100s of ways to lose a deal. One of the simplest ways to lose deals is time. ​ Time John H. Patterson, the founder of the National Cash Register Company (NCR), said it best: "Time Kills All Deals" Elite sellers aim to be fast, never to be a bottleneck in the sales process, and to book follow-up meetings or deadlines as soon as possible. That way, they reduce the risk that time will kill this deal. Fast means:
To achieve the above, elite sellers embrace templates. ​ Demo Follow-Up Template In the follow-up email, focus on buyers who will scan;
When creating your template; more is more. Add as many bullet points as you can under "As Discussed" to cover everything you can on use cases, features, and your competitive differences. Then, when sending the template, remove the points that don't apply. Enjoy modifying the template to suit your business - please send me your template when you're done for some feedback. ​ Hey FIRSTNAME Thanks for your time today. Please find attached:
As discussed:
Next steps are:
Looking forward to welcoming you to BUSINESS NAME. Signature ​ Until next week, ​ PS If you're ready, I have reopened my books for: Sales Tear Downs Is your business closing some deals, but not enough? I work with many sales leaders to do a top to bottom tear down of what is working, what isn't and what to do about it. Sound interesting? ​Book a Call​ ​ PPS Did you like what you read today? Consider forwarding it to a friend, colleague or team member. Did someone forward you this email and it seems like something you want more of: Link to subscribe​ |
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Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition takes less than 2 minutes. TLDR version: I am pausing this newsletter until 2025. Also, read below for the last chance to work together in 2024. Pause (for now) Firstly, thank you for being part of the journey of The Sales Mastermind Newsletter so far. I’ve been publishing more or less weekly since mid-2023, and I hope you have been learning and growing from the tips, tricks, and ideas. I have gotten so much out of the newsletter,...
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. This week we have a longer newsletter that I original wrote for my buddy Nate Ritter over at Founder Labs. Founder Labs Writings is a place for SaaS founders and agency owners. Written by an ex-7-figure agency owner, 3x-exit founder, and SaaS entrepreneur. Sent irregularly, but always with value. Check it out here. Today’s edition takes 8 minutes. This newsletter is for leaders of two types of early-stage SaaS: You have some paying customers, most...
Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here. Today’s edition only takes 1 minutes. Last chance Does this sound familiar: You've booked sales meetings but nothing will close? Maybe I can help - see details below Learn more here. Next time you are feeling down, here are some short clips to get you back in the mood to sell: They can take out lives, but they'll never take our freedom! There is nothing like Mel Gibson leading Scots into battle as William Wallace to get you excited for whatever the...