Let’s face it. Even when your prospect has been BANT-qualified (Budget – Authority – Need – Timing) and even when they’ve said “send me a contract” a deal can disappear faster than you can say “This one’s in the bag!”

Before you know it, you’re left holding the bag and it’s empty.
 
Yes, a deal can go south at any time for any number of reasons and it’s painful – no matter when it happens or why.
 
Time is the biggest deal killer of them all. That’s because of lost momentum. The minute an opportunity’s momentum begins to slow, you’re at a high risk of the prospect abandoning the buying process. No deal is guaranteed until it’s signed. And there are plenty of events that can derail the sale when too much time goes by.
 
Among the deal-killing events that can happen are:
• Sudden change in budget status
• Company or departmental re-organization
• Buyer leaves the company
• Competitor gains traction
• Buyer enthusiasm for “change” diminishes
• Priorities change
 
To lower the chance of an event taking place that stalls the deal, you need to whisk the prospect from one step in the buying process to the next as expeditiously as possible.
 
Steps in a basic buying process:
1. Inquiry
2. Meeting
3. Proposal
4. Decision
5. Signature
 
That’s a minimum of 5 steps. In the real-world, there can be double or triple the number of steps in the buying process – or more. Is it possible to accelerate the process with so many steps? Yes.
 
In fact, accelerating the buying process is the main goal of most sales or marketing software solutions. To help you determine which solutions are right for you, we’re producing buyer’s guides on each of 13 key solutions. The first was the Next Gen CRM buyer’s guide published last month. Next gen CRM systems can accelerate opportunity momentum with new capabilities like; mobile access, marketing automation and social networking.

One of the biggest drains on opportunity momentum occurs during the tedious process of coordinating calendars to schedule interactions with prospects. Fortunately, there are several web-based appointment scheduling applications that change the dynamics of scheduling prospect appointments for the better.
 
Web-based appointment scheduling solutions eliminate the back and forth and make quick work of finding a mutually agreeable time.
 
With Web-based scheduling a prospect can view your availability online and schedule an appointment for a mutually convenient time with ease. You’ll see their newly added appointments appear on your calendar automatically without intervention.]

Web-based scheduling eliminates the hassles of appointment scheduling for every one which results in three things:
 
1. You’re more likely to advance the sale because of timely follow-up
2. You’re likely to fit more calls into your schedule
3. You’re likely to close more sales because a greater volume – of timelier calls – equals more    sales
 
It’s critical to engage a prospect at the height of their interest, eliminate unnecessary sales qualification steps, quickly improve your close rates and shorten your selling cycles.  Web-based scheduling software helps you do that. The proof is in the buyers guide.
 
Everything you need to know about web-based scheduling software is in our FREE Buyer’s guide:
 
Here’s what you’ll find in the Guide:
• Quick and easy ways marketing can get reps more sales meetings
• How hot prospects can bypass the top of the sales funnel and get right on sales reps’ calendars
• How to give your reps at least two hours more selling time per day
• Examples of the different ways reps use this software to get more meetings
• What to look for when choosing a web-based scheduling solution
• A downloadable features check-list to guide your selection of a solution

Download the Guide Now!

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