Out of Time, Not Out of Tact: Ending Sales Calls Gracefully
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Brooke Greening: It's because we didn't really have a great control over the conversation from the beginning.
And even though you and your agenda are very important, again, when we are talking about our sales conversations, we're wanting to try to serve our customers.
You want to be able to help them to know what they can expect, because if they're able to know what they can expect, you're gonna be able to guide that conversation a lot easier.
Thank you so much for meeting with us today. The goal of this whole conversation is for me to be able to understand where you're struggling and what some of the frustrations that you're facing in your business to see if I can be able to help you.
You need to know one, does my potential client know exactly what they need to do next to move forward with me? And then two, you need to know, are they going to do it? If so, when? If not, why?
I have longer sales conversations. However, I have a much shorter sales cycle.
How do you end a conversation gracefully if the prospect continues to keep speaking and you're getting over time in your meeting? That is a great question, and welcome to Sippin' Matcha and Making More Sales. I've got my matcha and I'm ready to help you answer the question. So we've all been there when people are starting to ask questions and we're kind of looking at the time and we're like, okay, we gotta.
Gotta keep things going. You could respond in the way that my dad responded to me. So when I was growing up and I would be in high school and my friends were over, he would just tell them nicely you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here anymore. But that's probably not the answer that you're looking for.
So quickly, I'm gonna tell you what I would say and then what I'm understanding through this question. Is, it seems like what we're actually saying is how can I help actually control my sales conversation? Because that's what's happening when people either overtake the conversation or they're going over on time.
It's because we didn't really have a great control over the conversation from the beginning. So then we're gonna dive into that a little bit. But first of all. Quickly, this is how you would be able to address that. If someone is going over time and you need to go, you have another appointment where it's, or it's time to be done, just graciously say, oh wow, it is 10 30 already.
I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I wanna be sensitive to your time. That's all you have to do. All you're trying to do is help them to be aware of what the time is and be aware that you guys did have a set time for when you were gonna be able to talk. It's much better than to be say, than to say something like, oh man, I've gotta go 'cause I got another call in five minutes.
Then you're making it about you. Then you're making it about your agenda. And even though you and your agenda are very important, again, when we are talking about our sales conversations, we're wanting to try to serve our customers. And so just helping them to be aware of what time it is and that you wanna be sensitive to their time and that we need to continue to keep moving forward.
That's what you wanna be able to do. But now. Let's actually talk about what's going on in that sales conversation, because if it's continued to go, so either one, they've asked you lots of questions and you're just responding back and having to do that, or they've just really felt super comfortable with you and they're just sharing everything.
There's a way that you can still be able to control the conversation, not be doing the talking, but helping to lead that to the conclusion that it needs to. So there are two things. So I actually created a service framework. It's called the service sales Framework, and we're gonna talk about two of those steps to be able to help you today in regards to what to do.
When you're not really able to control the conversation the way you wanted to, the first step is S set expectations. You want to be able to help them to know what they can expect, because if they're able to know what they can expect, you're gonna be able to guide that conversation a lot easier. So something I use all the time, something I coach my clients with is just a simple thing to say.
Thank you so much for meeting with us today. The goal of this whole conversation is for me to be able to understand where you're struggling and what some of the frustrations that you're facing in your business to see if I can be able to help you if I can. Great. We're gonna talk about that investment, and if not, I wanna give you some other resources to help you along the way.
That's just a simple way to set the expectations, and as you continue through that conversation, if you feel like things are going off the rails, we go back to what we talked about. So that's the first piece that's going to help you with being able to handle conversations when they go off the rails.
The second piece is one of the end pieces that we have in our service framework, which is E explain next steps. So no matter where you're at in a conversation, and no matter what happens when you get off the phone or when you turn off the Zoom or when you leave that office, you need to know two things.
You need to know one, does my potential client know exactly what they need to do next to move forward with me? And then two, you need to know, are they going to do it? If so, when? If not, why? So if you do not have those answers, it was not a very successful sales conversation. So just in regards to this, if it's going past the time, we would say, wow, it's already 10 30.
Can't believe how much the time flies. I wanna be sensitive to your time. The next step in regards to being able to work with me would be, and then give them that next step. If I can just give you one other piece of advice as we're talking about being able to handle the sales conversation, being able to control it without being the one talking all the time.
I just want to encourage you that if the conversation is going well. And if you're able to really, truly understand where those problems are and the frustrations they're facing, and you know you have time on the other side, I would continue the conversation. I wouldn't shut it down. I would keep talking with them and understanding where their problems are, to see how we might be able to help them.
The last other little pieces, try not to cram your sales calls, one after the other. Okay. My husband gives me a hard time. People have given me a hard time all my life that I have longer sales conversations. However, I have a much shorter sales cycle. And so give yourself a little bit of time to truly be able to talk with them, to understand if you can help them, if and what's the best way that's gonna look like.
Okay? So don't cram 'em one by one. That usually is gonna be stressful for you and for them. Two. If you can continue that conversation because it seems like it's going in the right direction, continue that. But if you can't, if you've got other people on the other end, just let them know. Graciously help them to be aware of what the time is that you wanna be sensitive to their time and what those next steps are gonna look like.
All right. Thanks so much for your question. Let me know what other questions you have and just remember, everybody needs a little help with their sales.
