The ABCs of Sales: Always Be Closing

The most basic and fundamental principle of any successful sales person is Always Be Closing.

Always be closing are the most cliché 3 words in the sales profession for good reason. At any time in the process from branding your agency to quote follow-ups, a policy may convert to sold.

Some agents have policies that write themselves before they even become prospects. A client comes to them so ready to buy a policy that they’re practically hitting them over the head with their checkbook. I’ve been that customer – haven’t we all. We just want the sales staff to skip their pitch and actually get through the buying part. 

If Always Be Closing is rule number one, then it must extend to email as well if your agency is using email as a sales and marketing tool. 

How do you apply Always Be Closing to email?
The greatest opportunity is to have obvious calls to action in your email so that if someone is ready to buy, you don’t stand in the way.  Mark calls to actions clearly and make sure they are linked properly before sending your email to any prospective client. 

You should also look at your marketing emails as a succession of small closes; closing a sale means getting someone to say yes, plain and simple, right?

• Your readers say yes by choosing to subscribe to your newsletters and mailings in the first place.
• Mail clients say yes by successfully delivering your message because your email is solid information. Your contact list also includes good data and is up to date.
• Recipients say yes by opening your marketing email because they either recognize you as a trusted agent or the subject line intrigues them enough to open it.
• Your prospects say yes by reading your email because the content is worthwhile and the value of continuing to read is obvious.
• Your future client says yes by clicking on the clearly marked quote button placed in the email because they are comfortable with your expertise, convinced to learn more or they may even choose to buy now.
• Your clients say yes by choosing to have you quote additional policies after reading your cross-sell information.

At every one of these steps, there is an opportunity for your prospects to say no. The challenge you face with email marketing is that unlike a phone call or face to face meeting where you may overcome objections in real time, you do not get the same level of interaction through an email. If someone says no at any given step listed above, they may not advance any further, which means diagnosing where the no’s are happening is crucial to successful email campaigns. 

By testing your metrics to determine where people are saying no the most, you can change how you plan out the next campaign. Send a few email campaigns and track each of the metrics - compare open rates, click-through rates, as well as conversions. Look for significant changes upwards or downwards, and you’ll have a much better idea of who is saying yes or no at each stage. Then, you’ll know exactly what to fix.

Remember Always Be Closing at every opportunity possible in your email campaigns. Start your prospecting momentum with your small email successes and you may find your conversion rates growing thanks to your new outlook on closing sales with email. 

Now it’s your turn: tell us your success stories with email.