Dollars
   By
                Design
Tips
December 2005 Tip of the Month

The best-case Web site sale scenario is a one-call-close walkthrough.
Sometimes this is impossible, however, because the prospect needs time to show his/her partner the site, check the budget or comparison shop. If this happens, before your appointment is over, your Web Specialist will schedule a three-way follow-up call with you and your prospect.

The Sooner the Better
It is important to schedule the appointment within a short time after the walkthrough so that your prospect does not lose his/her initial excitement, but still has time to address his/her hesitations – so please be open and flexible.

Earn while you Learn
It is highly recommended that you be present on the three-way follow-up call so that you can learn first-hand how to make a successful call and eventually (when you feel ready) do them on your own. It’s empowering and enriching to be able to close your own deals.

With a little practice, you will soon master your follow-up technique. Eventually, you can use this knowledge to train a successful, dedicated team of Mini WebCenter owners and (using the Base Two/7 Strong Approach) build up your Web Hosting business.
------------------
When things don’t go as planned …
Sometimes the prospect is not available for the scheduled follow-up call. When this happens, there are certain guidelines you can follow to keep your deal on-track and help your Web Specialist best use his/her limited time.

**It is important for you to understand that your Web Specialists have walkthroughs scheduled throughout the day. In between appointments, they concentrate on your follow-up calls. Because of their tight schedule, we ask you to limit the number of messages regarding these calls to a bare minimum.

There’s no need to worry. If you have not heard from your Product Specialist yet, it is usually because of one of the two following reasons:

1. Often times, they have tried several times and have been unable to get in contact with the prospect. Until they do, the status remains unchanged. Rest assured that you will be contacted as soon as there is an update.

2. Other times the Web Specialist has difficulties getting in touch with the WebCenter owner. It’s important that you check your messages periodically. For those of you who do not have voice mail, we recommend that you set it up as soon as possible to prevent missing important business calls.

Another helpful tip is to check your WebCenter periodically to see if there have been any changes in your customer’s status.
 
Take the initiative …
Sometimes the Web Specialist has a demo that runs long. Remember that when the follow-up was scheduled, the prospect was told that we would call sometime within the allotted hour. If you see that it is running close to the deadline, take the initiative and contact your customer to let him/her know that we are running a few minutes behind. Time is money and they will appreciate your professionalism.

When you’re done, call Sales Support and check-in with your Web Specialist to make sure that you are both on the same page regarding the call.

WCO Follow-up Call Guidelines:
The time will come when you will do your own follow-up calls. Here is a list of useful guidelines to help you on your way:

1. Remember to be polite, professional and prepared.

2. Make Sure All Decision Makers are Present
Your chances of closing the deal during the follow-up call are much greater if you have all DM’s involved in the final decision.

3. Create a Sense of Urgency
When scheduling your follow-up calls, always create a sense of urgency.

Example: “I will put a request in to leave the site up for XX amount of days.”

4. Avoid open-ended questions when you are speaking with the DM’s. The following are a few examples of what not to say:

“Are you ready yet?”
“Did you have a chance to talk to your partner?”
“Do you want to get this started?”

Questions worded in this manner give the DM’s the opportunity to answer with a “No” or “Not yet”. Take care not to lose your sale just by phrasing a question wrong.

5. Reiterate the Direct Benefits
We recommend that you review your Sales Calendar notes to reacquaint yourself with your customer’s needs. When you call, talk to him/her in great detail – taking care to reiterate the direct benefits that will best help their business. If possible, have your prospect pull up the Web site, login and review those features first-hand to really drive the point home.

6. Steer the conversation towards “Test Closes”
Test Closes (also referred to as temperature takers) are special questions that help determine if your prospect is ready to move forward in the sales process. Here are some examples:

“Do you see how simple and easy this software is to use?”
“What domain name will you be using for your site? Do you own a dot.com address?”

A more comprehensive list and overview can be found in your WebCenter 411. Check out the “How to do Test Closes when Selling Web sites” article at dbdwc411.com. It can be found in the “Selling Web sites Resource Center” in the “Selling Web sites” section.

Also included in this article is good information on the “Assumptive Close”. Peruse this brief section for good examples designed to help you smoothly and easily hurdle the follow-up call and close the deal.

This Month's Newsletter
May 2007 Monthly Newsletter
Most Outstanding WebCenter Owners of the Month: Suzanne Duffy and William Trabulsie
Newsletter Archives
Tip of the Month
May 2007 Tip of the Month
Tip Archives
Click on the flag of the country to translate this site into that country's native language
EnglishJapaneseKoreanFrenchSpanishSimplified ChineseTraditional Chinese