[21 Days of Automation] Day 5: Help your customer make their decision

Originally posted by Blogbot on Medium on 30th Jan 2020 

One constant that remains true across any role or industry is that “time kills deals”. I can’t remember where I first heard this but having spent 10 years working in Sales Organisations, it’s something that I know not to be simply an adage (although I’m going to attribute it to Marisa Pensa), but a fact to be taken as seriously as you need food on your table this evening.

This adage (ok, let’s call a spade a spade) has never been truer than in today’s world, where you can identify a problem, research 5 solutions, conduct a thorough business review, and have a request for a proposal out by lunchtime, and it’s up to the vendors to keep up with your schedule.

In a more recent example, I was looking for invoicing software for a project, so I conducted my own research, signed up for some trials, and tried to get started so I could narrow down my options. I was surprised at how important the onboarding automation employed at each prospective vendor was. Companies that were using software like Pendo and Walkme to help guide me through the process, or spent my first 5 days drip-feeding me insights were the ones that I became the most attached to, proficient in, and ultimately decided to buy from.

Timely guides and onboarding emails were critical in helping me learn the basics quickly and building upon that knowledge over the course of several weeks allowed me to become proficient in their solution without even really realising that’s what was happening.

Two weeks later I was contacted by a Sales Development representatives to speak about my needs, which by then I was so embedded with my chosen vendor, this outreach was a waste of everyone’s time.

In the SMB and Mid-Market sectors, especially, time is critical, and if you don’t employ sophisticated user guide software, you at least need to get the potential customer on the phone by the end of the day, and if you haven’t by the end of the week, you can be sure that they’ve probably gone with another solution.

Here’s a little zap that will help you engage your potential customer as quickly as humanly possible. It uses Calendly and good old Gmail.

Copy Zap