5 Tips to Prevent Sales Back-Outs

Sales back-outs are frustrating in the B2B industry. Just because a prospect has agreed to buy a product or service, there's no guarantee that he or she will do so. Some prospects may fail to follow through with the purchase. Instead of providing you with their payment information, they'll back out of the deal. While you can't convince all prospects to follow through with the purchase, there are ways to prevent sales back-outs from occurring.

#1) Ask for an Appointment

Something as simple as asking prospects for an appointment can prevent sales back-outs. Appointments are used to both nurture prospects and pitch products or services. Without an appointment, the prospect may choose a competitor's product or service. After identifying a prospect, ask him or her for an appointment to further discuss the deal.

#2) Convey Value

Conveying the value of a product or service in which a prospect has expressed interest will minimize the risk of a sales back-out. Prospects may neglect to follow through with the purchase if they don't see the value of a product or service that you are selling. Maybe the prospect believes the product or service is too expensive, or perhaps the prospect thinks a competitor's product or service is a better value. Regardless, you can prevent sales back-outs by conveying the value.

#3) Shorten the Sales Cycle

The length of your B2B company's sales cycle will influence the number of sales back-outs it experiences. One study found that software-based B2B companies have an average sales cycle of over 80 days. Whether your B2B company's sales cycle is longer or shorter, you should optimize it. Optimizing your B2B company's sales cycle so that it converts prospects into buyers in the least amount of time will result in fewer sales back-outs.

#4) Ask for a Reason

When you experience a sales back-out, ask the prospect for a reason. Sales back-outs involve a prospect backing out of a deal. If you know the reason why a prospect has backed out of a deal, you can offer a solution.

#5) Offer an Inventive

You can often retain prospects and prevent them from backing out by offering an incentive. An incentive is an unexpected bonus or reward. If you normally charge for product shipping, for example, you can offer prospects free shipping as an incentive. For other products and services, you can offer prospects an exclusive discount as an incentive. Incentives such as these will entice prospects to follow through the with the purchase, thereby reducing the number of sales back-outs you experience.

Finally, have you gone deep enough within the company? Do you have contacts to ensure support for your product or service? If either one of these answers is 'no', then you need a sales tool that can help you get that information. Take a look at salesleads.com. In our platform, you'll find thousands of industrial and office contacts that will get you deep within the organization so you can find the person to champion your solution. This way, nobody will want to back-out of what you have to offer.