How to Increase Your Sales and Closing Percentage

Adi Klevit is the Founder and CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, an organization that provides businesses with the infrastructure, processes, and systems they need to thrive. Adi and her team help companies scale up, transfer knowledge, and prepare for succession. Adi has over 25 years of experience as a trained industrial engineer, management consultant, and business executive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XylfpHj5gQQ

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Adi Klevit shares the steps she takes to document the sales process for B2B organizations
The importance of creating a smooth system for transferring and onboarding new clients
Why a lack of systems for the lead intake and sales processes can be a company’s biggest downfall
How to effectively systematize and document your lead intake process
Adi’s ideal clients and her tips for qualifying a lead
The different routes you can take during the consultation stage of the sales process
Adi discusses the proposal and follow-up stages and why it’s crucial to document them
How to successfully finalize a close

In this episode:

Do you have trouble finalizing deals and onboarding new clients? Do you wish there was a step-by-step formula for creating a foolproof sales process? If so, you’re in luck.

As the Founder and CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, Adi Klevit helps companies grow and scale by systematizing their processes. She’s perfected a step-by-step formula to help B2B organizations document their sales process — from lead intake to onboarding. With Adi’s help, you’ll have the tools and strategies you need to create smooth systems that help you increase your sales and closing percentage.

On this exciting episode of the Systems Simplified podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Adi Klevit, the Founder and CEO of Business Success Consulting Group, about how she helps organizations systemize their sales processes. Adi shares her tips for documenting the lead intake process, her favorite tools and CRMs, and the key to nailing a proposal. Stay tuned!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Sponsor for this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Business Success Consulting Group.

At Business Success Consulting Group, we create custom processes and tailor-made management systems so businesses can thrive.

Businesses simply can’t survive without workable systems and well-documented processes. That’s why our team of experienced professionals takes care of it for you.

We provide business owners, entrepreneurs, and key executives with strategic implementation, process improvement and documentation, and long-lasting systems necessary to support business expansion.

So, what are you waiting for? Do yourself a favor, and cut the chaos out of your business.

Visit bizsuccesscg.com today or email info@bizsuccesscg.com to schedule a free consultation.

Transcription:

Adi: [00:00:00] Adi Klevit here, the host of the system simplified podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, CEOs, and thought leaders on how to systematize businesses. And today I have Dr. Jeremy Weisz, who has interviewed thousands of CEOs, and we're going to flip the script and he's going to interview me. Hi Jeremy.

Jeremy: [00:00:21] Thanks for having me. I'm always excited to chat with you. And if you don't know Adi I refer Adi to everyone. Because everyone needs to systematize their business. And this episode, before we get into this is how to increase your sales and closing percentage who doesn't. Do you want to increase. Their sales and closing percentage in a business.

Of course everyone.

Adi: [00:00:42] So unless they don't want the business to grow and they fare better.

Jeremy: [00:00:46] There a point that's a good point. So if you want your business to grow so this episode, before we get into that, this episode is brought to you by business success consultant group, and what a Diener team do. They create custom processes and tailor-made management systems.

So your business can thrive. Adi we both know businesses simply cannot survive without workable systems and well-documented processes. They survive for a little bit, but then it gets out of control. Right? And you take care of all that for people, your clients sometimes say, now I can sleep at night. I can expand.

I can even sell my business because I have these documented systems to hand off to someone else. So if you have questions in your business, like, yeah, I need this. Visit biz success, cg.com or email them at info at biz success, cg.com today, they will do a free consultation to see what your needs are. So a D let's get into how to increase your sales and closing percentage.

And this particular situation we're going to walk through. Step-by-step a large ticket B2B. Type of a scenario and let's start off with the categories that you look at when you're starting to document the process, the sales process.

Adi: [00:01:58] Absolutely. So, first of all, just right off the bat, you know, this is not, I'm not, I don't do sales consulting.

Right. So I don't consult them on what to say or, you know, techniques of selling. That's definitely, that is the, those are the sales consultants that are referred to what we do is we document the sales process. So. There is consistency. There can be accountability. There is increased efficiency. You know, the knowledge is not lost because this is like, this is what makes the organization goal, right.

Is to be able to sell. And you have to make sure that you have a good process documented. So, so to answer your question, that different parts of the sales process, you know, we start with the lead intake. So the upper part of the funnel. So we have the lead intake. Then we have qualifying the lead. Then we're talking about how do you schedule, like what's your bid or estimate, or if you're a professional service, you know, the frequent siltation and then adds to another consultation or whatever you do in order to actually gather data and find out what the prospect needs.

So then you can continue with the selling. So we have that process of basically of the Needs assessment and figuring out the solution. And from there we have in, we go into presenting the proposal or the bid or the estimate, whatever it is. So there is depends on if it's a construction company and manufacturing, you're selling a product, you're selling a service, you know, there are different ways to call it, but it's basically the presentation itself.

And then we have The follow-up, which is really important as we all know. And if you ever work with the sales consultant, if you ever read any literature on sales, you know, you read books, you took an online course, whatever it is, you know, that the follow-up is super important and you have to have a process for the follow-up.

So if you have a step-by-step process for follow-up, your sales ratio will increase. I love it. And then of course also, I mean, I always like to end the process with the follow-up. I mean, there was the follow-up to the close, so then there was the close part, right? So it depends on the business and depends on the contract.

You know, it's basically signing the contract, finalizing everything. So all the way up to the point where we're ready to onboard a client, no, that's where the sales process goes. But one of the things that are also very important is the past, you know, it's the past to the next level. The internal staff in order to actually take care of the client or the customer or the patient or whatever it is.

So that experience is very, very important that there is a smooth path between those two. And yeah,

Jeremy: [00:04:46] so that's that, that could be the most important, I mean, one of the most important steps of the whole client journey, because at that point, you know, everyone's excited and you don't want to botch. The onboarding process.

Adi: [00:05:02] Right. And what happened also is that, you know, and I have experienced to that. I manage, I was a sales manager. I know, I know how to work with sales teams. And one of the things is that You know, when you sell somebody, let's say I'm selling you on my consulting, you know, so you're talking to me and you feel like, okay, I want to work with a D.

So it's kind of like, we have that communication line. And what happens is that, then it becomes. You're passing them to somebody else. So that trust that communication, you know, that knowing that person it gets passed to somebody else and then you're losing that connection. So it's very important. It's very smooth.

And that in the correct way, Yeah. You know, and I really want to give a shout out to you and to rise 25 I'm. I work with you on my podcast. You know, you raise 25 is responsible for me having a podcast in terms of like they do everything behind the scenes to make it happen. And. Your onboarding is so small because you know, I, I talk to you, but then you introduce me to your team.

And even when your team communicates to me at the beginning, the always CCU you are involved, the communication is with you and with your team and you have that. Like when we did the onboarding call, you were there, but you also had your team, so you actually passed it to the team very carefully. So I then learned to know your team and I can see that you trust them.

So I trust them as well. So that is an, that is like an example of a really good onboarding, but the past from sales to the actual client to be, yeah.

Jeremy: [00:06:38] Thank you. Yeah. We, we think a lot about these things. I mean, I learned from people like you and. How to best systemize these things and also make sure it is a smooth transition in you, knowledge transfer the most important part of why it is good is because if you knowledge transfer and you have a process for that, so that the other person knows all how to answer all your questions and you feel comfortable with that.

That's key. And maybe we do a separate one on the transition to onboarding and onboarding because I know a lot of people. If that gets missed, then the client that all the excitement gets diminished at that point. And so do you find a D and I want to just frame this for a second. Let's say someone as a Rainmaker in their company, and all of the knowledge is in that Rainmaker's hat and they're like, What do we do if that Rainmaker leaves or what if they have one or two key salespeople?

Well, you know, people like, well, there's just their personalities, their secret sauce, but really when you document out people's processes like this, you can capture. Some of their, their secret sauce. Maybe they have a certain followup system that everyone else could be doing. Maybe there's other things that people could be doing.

I'm wondering, and we'll walk through the lead intake, qualifying the lead, the estimate, the presenting, the followup, and then the closing finalization part. But is there a piece in this that people tend to drop the ball? Most that you're like, Oh, these are pretty good. But like these two things, when you go into these businesses, there's nothing here.

Do you find that were the biggest mistakes? Where do they lay know?

Adi: [00:08:17] It really depends. It's organization by organization and industry, but industry, I can say, okay, all of them don't do the lead intake. Right. But it's. It's really a matter of system at having it in their heads. Right. That's what you were saying.

It's having that knowledge, that they know what they're doing. They do have a system. And that's what I tell my clients. You have a system because obviously your business is successful. I mean, we work with successful businesses that are growing and scaling, right? So to that point, let's say the business is growing.

You can't be let's. I just give you an example, a story. Okay. So. You'll have, let's say a large, like a B2B, a large ticket company. You know, they sell products and manufactured them and sell them. But the owner is the one who was the Rainmaker. Right. And they basically were able to go and close the big deals, et cetera.

But now there is more demand. So now they have to expand, they have to scale. So the Arno was not able to be the only one who can go and sell, but. He was trying to figure out how can he pass it on? Because he felt like it was his personality. That was whatever he was doing. How can we pass it on to others?

So that is where. I can help in terms of the knowledge transfer, because we asked a lot of questions. My team and I are there observing are asking the questions, you know, and, and figuring out like, what are the common, what is the lowest common denominator and build on that in terms of the activities?

Like, how do you talk, how do you present? You know, and we created the forms, the checklist. So you basically systematize it. You can't. Take the personality out of it. So it's not like becomes this robotic thing that people just go and do. It's very mechanical because that, no, you can't use that in order to sell, but because we documented it, it was very easy to then.

Hire somebody that has the good PR. I mean, you have to have people skills, you have to have communication. You have to have the ability to ask for the money. If you want to be a salesperson, right. You can have somebody who shies away from it, but if you have those skills and then you actually teach them the training methodology, the systems that you develop, you can duplicate yourself, you can clone yourself.

It just taking that time and figuring out what you're doing. And, you know, it's also the culture of the organization. I mean, what kind of sales organization are you? I mean, how do you sell? I mean, are you, do you push, do you, are you aggressive? Are you more transactional? Are you more relationship related?

So that is also very important to document because if you hire somebody that comes from an organization that is very transactional and your organization is built on relationship and just building that relationship and then this. Sale will come then it's not a good match, different process. It is a different process, but.

By capturing the best practices, including how to, not just, what do I say and how do I say it, but also, I mean, that's the how, but also the overall, why do we do that? Why do we help people? Right. I mean, it's all about, you know, when you sell, you want to help somebody achieve some kind of a goal, right? I mean, that's, that's how you view yourself.

Some organization don't necessarily sit. It's more like meeting the quarter. Well, So then you have to really define what kind of company do you have and what is the culture in terms of sales. And that also all comes in terms of the documentation. So we look at every single part of the sales process, and especially if we're working with a sales consultant that is there to teach them the process, then we follow through with the documentation and making sure that it's followed.

Yeah.

Jeremy: [00:12:03] I love what you said a D about people want to clone themselves. Or maybe the Rainmaker and they also want, it's very freeing when you document this and you can see, you can hand it off to someone and it's done the right way. Cause I imagine people come they're stressed or like a D I'm the only one who can do this.

So they ma they have to have a mindset of, okay, I'm ready to like. Hand this off to someone else. Right? Right. Exactly.

Adi: [00:12:26] That's exactly right.

Jeremy: [00:12:29] Talk them off the ledge sometimes. Like, yeah. It's okay. We're going to document all this and someone else will be able to do this or are they,

Adi: [00:12:37] it happens so often because of what I hear very often is when they say, well, you know, This is not a really can be processed if we can put it into a process or I do it differently every single time.

And, you know, it's, it's really my personality or it, you know, it's, it's knowing how to sell. How can I teach that? Right. But obviously, There are people out there that figured out system the system? Is it okay, so let's take, for example, like I like Cardone university, it's a great tool. And, you know, grant Cardone basically figured out how to systematize his sales process and he has like a 15, or I don't know how many steps, but really good steps in terms of the process that he does.

And. You can take that and you can modify to your organization. So it's yours, but you still have those steps that you do. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel, right. Or you have you know, you're in my library of sales. I mean, I have master of sales, you know, I have sales books right here. Those are all people that figured out how to create a system where how to sell.

Right. But those are really. A lot of them, like the books are basically teaching you how to talk to the client, right. Or what to say or how to get them through the different steps where they're at.

Jeremy: [00:13:57] It's more like scripts

Adi: [00:13:59] and also understanding what a client is at and the different type of buyers and how to approach each one, et cetera.

And that's, again, you know, that is building yourselves philosophy and yourselves content, et cetera. But I'm talking about the entire process from beginning to end that you know, where everything is at every single time. Yep.

Jeremy: [00:14:22] So we're going to go through each of these, these pieces. I love how you brought up the objections and people's mind because there is some, a mindset piece where you kind of have to get over.

Well, I'm I can only do this or I'm the best of this, or people can't do it as good as me that has to be you know, to, you know, overcome because then people can actually do it. And the bottom line is if you look at lot, there's lots of organizations that have lots of salespeople. So obviously. It can be system, you know, it can be put into a process,

Adi: [00:14:53] right.

And the, and the most successful one have that have the sales process drilled down. So they know, and part of the process is also having those sales meetings and going over prospects. And I know we're going to talk about a little bit about automation and CRMs, et cetera. So it just, it all helps in terms of the sales process.

Jeremy: [00:15:11] So did we have a large ticket B2B type of sale? It starts with the lead intake. In an example, walk me through a little bit about what happens in this stage. Of the lead intake. Some of the things people should be thinking about when they're, they're trying to document this.

Adi: [00:15:28] Sure. So first of all, like, okay.

So I always ask, what are your sources of affiliates? Where did it come from? So we have to make sure that we capture each and every one of them. And then they come to where, I mean, it's like a funnel, right? Like sales is like funnels. So you have the different leads that go somewhere. What do you do with them?

So we can talk about, I know you mentioned the B2B, the big sales. I mean, if they have a CRM, it's easier. It is, it goes into the CRM, but of course it has to be captured into the CRM and enter into the CRM and not backlog. Right. So, and what fields are being captured, you know, you don't want to overwhelm the new, the prospect with too much information, take too much information out of them, but you also want to capture enough information.

You know, it's kind of like when you call. Let's say you got a rock, hit your windshield and you'll have to call a glass repair shop. And sometimes they ask you like your whole life history before they actually get you into one. You don't necessarily, it's not needed. Right. I mean, you know, it's what is really needed is the the, you just have to define what information is needed.

Jeremy: [00:16:28] Right? Give me your name, give me your phone number. Give me your address. We'll come out and take a look or whatever.

Adi: [00:16:34] So that's one thing also it's like people can actually air on the other side. And they don't collect email addresses. Now we know very well that you have to collect those email addresses because first of all, you need to communicate.

So it will be electronically, you know? So if you send a bid and whatnot, you send it electronically or a cell phone, you know, so you can text, but you have to have a method of communication. The venue can collect. And also, because at some point, if they go through this funnel, they. Do not become a client.

You want to follow up with them, right? You want to enter them into your marketing system unless they don't want to. Of course you will ask permission. I'm not advertising here or promoting, like, just go blast everybody and spam them. But obviously they had some, let's say. I contact Jeremy, you know, and he tells me about how he can help me with grading a podcast.

So helping me with my marketing and I go, Jeremy, you know, this is sounds great, but I have this and this and this going on and I'm not ready for a few months. Well, if you're smart and he is, he would follow up with me, right. Or he would send me emails. I would go into his drip campaign or whatever he's doing, but that would be by collecting that initial email.

So that's important.

Jeremy: [00:17:42] So I want to talk about that. So lead intake, so where you're thinking about what, where the sources come from, and also what data do you collect? What's the system around that part of the lead intake

Adi: [00:17:53] and how do you collect it? What questions do you ask? Because You know, it's again, depends who is doing the lead intake.

You know, we want to make sure that we have enough data for the sales person to actually work with that. But that also leads to the second one, which is qualifying the lead. Right? So this is really important because in this stage is basically you are qualifying who is the lead and are they your, do they fit your client profile?

And that's another thing. If you don't have your ideal client profile, then. There was a problem.

Jeremy: [00:18:29] Yeah. And that has to be, if it's not on the intake form. So you have to somewhat maybe ask questions in the lead intake to qualify them.

Adi: [00:18:37] Absolutely. Yeah. That's, that's what it is. So you have the quality, you know what let's say, you're a contractor, you know, you need to qualify no idea.

When I, first of all, in terms of timeline, I mean, do they want to move on a project right now or do they have time? Cause then you might not be able to Service them, like what budget are they looking at? There was so much, so much that you can do in terms of qualifying, especially also if you have different levels of products or different level of services, right?

They, not, everyone is a good fit for your organization. I mean, if you start taking clients that are not your ideal clients or your clients that, you know Basically does not align with your client profile, then you're going to have, you're going to start having a lot of maybe a lot of clients or customers, but they're not the right clients for you.

So you're not going to be able to build your organization. So qualifying the lead and figuring out how to do that. Also how, like, for instance, you know, if you don't have a CRM or if you have a CRM and you don't have the right. Feels there, or if you are, you know, there is no method of qualifying leads. So then we have to figure out building that form for you to do it.

Jeremy: [00:19:50] Yeah. I imagine the exercise that people go through with you is really eye-opening because you see holes in the system, but sometimes people haven't thought really deeply about this question. They just take what's coming in instead of. You know, figuring out, Oh, like recognizing, Oh, this is ideal and we need to put this on the lead intake form to qualify them.

Right. So I wanna, I wanna, you know, finish up with the lead intake and talk about, I know you geek out on tools and software like CRMs, but if you, so then that will take us to qualifying the lead, but it makes me think of ideal clients. Describe a little bit, have you gone through this? So many companies who is ideal for you?

Adi: [00:20:36] Good question. So for me, I really liked the mind. I mean, my, our ideal client is somebody who is growth oriented. Right. They want to grow their company. They want to expand or. We have two types. So the second type is someone who wants to that one succession, you know, wants to go through some kind of a transition, sell the business, pass it onto somebody else and need that knowledge transfer.

So we have those two, although I already. I mean, I already have. I mean, I've seen also the combination of those two, somebody who thinks, okay, I want to grow my business so I can sell it in five years. But if I grow it correctly, I will be able to make more money when I sell it in five years. So we have that combination in the middle as well.

So those are. Planting plants that have a company like our clients are basically have companies that are growing, that are scaling, that are expanding and they need systems in order to do it correctly. And obviously they don't want to work the 60, 70 hours a week, but they want to do it and they want to extract themselves out of the organization or the company so they can work on the business, not in the business to use the E-Myth which is a great book.

And I love it. Terminology. So.

Jeremy: [00:21:55] Yeah, you taught me this a D actually, because I never really thought of when I qualified people that they'd have to be growth oriented, they want to grow. And when you talk about this, I'm like, that makes perfect sense. Like, you need someone who wants to grow or they want to succeed and not work all those hours.

And, you know, I want to, so for the lead intake, I love to hear CRMs and I basically. Totally D when you're, when you're talking to other companies just pay attention to what their lead intake is. One of the ones I love to call is I, I like to order stuff from Omaha steaks, Omaha steaks. Has like a really amazing just to like, learn how we could do things better.

And this is not the, the documenting side, which is what you do. It's more of the, what do you do? They're really good at taking information. They're really good at following up. They, they send, you know, direct mail pieces, which I will take pictures of. So I encourage find a company that you want to just learn more, have a deep.

You know, actually document it, but then what do you put into that area? Just because some companies that do really well and learn from them, you by buying from them.

Adi: [00:23:10] Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, like I know I mentioned before the example of the glass, you know, the, having to repair your windshield, it just happened to us.

And actually this time we use a company, it was. Amazing experience of onboarding, you know, and, and, and the link intake and, you know, and it was electronically. So everything was done through the phone. You know, I was able to, as we were driving, you know, I was, that happened. So then I was, my husband was driving.

I was looking it up. I. You know, I enter my information, but then they start sending me texts and started sending me reminders. And anybody was good because it was all like getting me to do the, to the appointment on time, getting it done when they were done to let me know, et cetera. So that was, I mean, I thought it was a smooth sales process as opposed to having to call and figure it out.

It just, it was, it was small. So I know it's a small. Yeah, no,

Jeremy: [00:24:05] it's good. Yeah. When you're paying attention to those things, you can, we can improve our own companies, right?

Adi: [00:24:11] Absolutely. It's always pay attention. I think it's a great, great Advice for our listeners, because I always do that. I always look at the intake and what's, how am I being treated?

You know, are they really, you know, just going back to also like in terms of, but that's more of a sales technique, but it's so important. It's like when you call in, or when you approach a new business, are you being treated, do you feel like you are important? You know, that there's the person on the other side really cares about you.

I mean, that's so important, right? That's part of the lead intake.

Jeremy: [00:24:43] So CRM, any CRM recommendations? I know there's a lot out there

Adi: [00:24:48] so many, I mean, you know, my clients use an array of CRMs. I mean, of course all the way from Salesforce to their industry, specific CRM, like housecall pro for instance, is a great one for People that are in the HVC area, you know, housecleaning, carpet cleaning, et cetera.

So that's like very for service providers, also plumbers, there is specific CRS for specific professions. And I like, I use pipe drive. Personally, I really liked pipe drive. I think it's a very simple, easy to use CRM that allows you to have a board view of your pipelines all the way, and you can set it up however you want.

So that's one of the things that we also help our clients is setting up that board. So they know how to move a person from the different. Stages of the sales.

Jeremy: [00:25:42] So lead intake, qualifying the lead, you mentioned a couple things, any specific questions or items, examples for, for qualifying the lead

Adi: [00:25:51] section.

Yeah. So again, it, it really depends what your ideal client is. Right? So for us, for instance, how we qualify a lead. Is we ask them like, what's the purpose? Like, why do they want to understand, like, why do they want to have to document the processes and procedures? You know, what, what they're going for.

Do they have the bandwidth? You know, it's very important because the reason why we are looking for customers, for our clients that are growth oriented and are really motivated is because it takes work. To document the processes and procedures. So they have to be, they have to commit definitely financially, but definitely also in terms of their time.

And you know, this is one thing that I learned actually from Frank Kern. And he mentioned in one of the webinars that I attended, that, you know, if you had a client, you know, if you want to choose your client, choose one, that if you did all the work at the end of the job, when you were done with a project, they will pay you.

Totally and non argue with you at all and actually even want to pay you more. Right. So who would that be? Who would you trust that client to be? And when I looked at it and go, Oh, okay, well, That would be a client that is really dedicated to the purpose, not just wanted to start it and then give up after two weeks.

Right. So somebody who is really in it, because they believe in the cause of documentation of making their staff better of training them, et cetera. So. That is what leads our qualification in terms of, you know, you just tell them it's okay to tell them, you know, it's not going to be easy. It will require work.

Are you committed? And if they say, yes, I go, okay, good. So let's continue. And let me tell you what I can do, but if they say, no, you know, this is not for me right now. It's not, it's not good. It's not a good. Fit. So that's why they will have to figure it out. So again, like when I gave the example of a construction company, so you have to figure out what type of a budget do they have that let's say one of my clients is a high end remodeler.

You know, if, if somebody calls us to say, one of my budget is $10,000 to remodel my bathroom, it's not going to work for them. They can refer them to somebody, to a handyman, but it's not going to work for them. Right. Or They can see the area, the neighborhood, you know, those are the type of houses that they deal with.

If they are in a, in an area of town that you don't work with, or it's not your type of clientele, then have a list of people you can refer. Right. Because there's always more work can be done by somebody, but maybe not by you. So that's how you qualify them.

Jeremy: [00:28:22] Yeah, totally. And so you qualify the leads, so you, you get the intake.

Then you qualify that lead and now let's assume, okay, you pass them off to someone else. It's not a fit. If it is a fit and moves to the next stage, which is kind of the estimate proposal consultation. Talk about that stage.

Adi: [00:28:41] Sure. So that is where you, I mean, first of all, you need to have. A script or a process on how you do your initial consultation.

How, what is it first of all? Is it an initial consultation, free consultation? Do you charge for it? Whatever it is. Obviously, if you're a contractor, you know, then you have your bits, like how do you do a bid? I just documented, we just documented a per sales procedure for a construction company that they basically, we said, okay, all the way from, how do you schedule the bid?

How do you do it? You know, you enter a customer's home. What are the questions that you ask? You know, what are the things you look at, what you take, the pictures, you do this, you do that. So that's it just, you know, something that is very well-documented. It can be the same. Like, you know, I have a client who is a CPA.

We did an onboarding where it's like the initial interview, basically. So when somebody calls in you qualify, you take the ink, you. Do the lead intake, you qualify them. And then they do a little intro to figure out if it's a good fit, a 15 minute call and they ask questions. So they gather some clients need to gather information ahead of time in order to do that consultation.

So it really depends. I mean, we can talk here for hours, but it really depends on the industry and what they do, but there is always a method of preparing for the estimate bid consultation, whatever it is. Prepare preparation is really important because if you do your research and you prepare and you have forums and you have the information from the client ahead of time, it saves you a lot of time.

Jeremy: [00:30:11] Yeah. I mean, I think the littlest things D that's why it's so important to document can make the biggest difference. I remember when we had someone come out to do kind of an estimate and the person. Put on these little booties before they came in. Right. And that's probably part of the process, or maybe, you know, if it's not documented, maybe some people do it, some people don't, but my wife loved that the person had the respect to put on these little booties as they're walking around the house because their shoes are dirty.

And so it's just one of those little things. If it's in the actual document procedure and then every person who goes out. Does that?

Adi: [00:30:45] Absolutely. I love that. And with my con with the construction, when we deal with construction or somebody that has to go into a house, part of the procedure is always like, you're not going to do it, but you have to also step back.

Right? You don't want to be there and somebody opens the door. Right. So step back also, don't park your van in the driveway without asking permission, always drive park on the street. You know, this is not your house. So all those little things, but then if everybody applies it and does it, then it. Then it creates the image that you want.

So it's very true. It's those little things create the image and realize that when you're doing the bid or the estimate, the frequent saltation, that's what people are judging you and seeing if they want, how it is to work with you. Right. So if you're sloppy, if you're not prepared, if you don't have the process down, it reflects and then they will choose somebody else.

Yeah, that's

Jeremy: [00:31:37] a good point. The parking, I remember someone came in, they parked on an angle. In my, like behind my garage, I had to go hunt them down in the house. Like I gotta get outta here so that they kinda kind of know your customers. So you, the estimate proposal consultation has a lot of steps and details involved in that.

So make sure that's documented. The next thing is presenting the proposal.

Adi: [00:31:59] Right. So it again depends on the industry, but you know, a good presentation, a good you know, you might, if you are service industry or work with professionals at PowerPoint, creating that PowerPoint, I worked with a company that it's, they are professional services and they had.

A template for the presentation. So they created, we created it together and we created that part of the process. They had to create a template for the presentation. So obviously each presentation is different. Depends on the whomever they're selling to, but they had a points that they had a good PowerPoint.

They had it professionally designed. It really reflected their, imagine their brands. So that's one way to present it. Again, if you are manufacturing and you are presenting a product, then definitely have a visual of the product and what the product can do, have the process of going over the different steps of the presentation.

If you are a contractor in the construction industry, you know, then you have a presentation again, you present. Whatever, however you present it, but you have to go over it with, obviously you want to have all the decision-makers there, you see all these little things. Like for instance, when the presentation, before you schedule the meeting for the presentation, have a checklist and make sure that you have your, all your decision-makers there other than other, and otherwise you would have to present it twice.

Right? And there will be no decision. Or if you are, for instance, let's say you are an HPAC contractor and you have your estimator go do the estimate. It would be good for them to step away for 15 minutes, write the estimate printed because they have a printer and their truck come back or electronically, send it electronically and then present it to the homeowner who is already there as opposed to having to come back.

Right. So those little things are very important. And again, it has to match the culture of your organization. Are you transactional? Are you relationship based? You know, how do you want to come across, et cetera? So that's very important. But it's really important to have it documented. So everybody follows follows it, and then you don't have to think about it.

Think about how much time it actually saves. First of all, it saves not to have to go back and forth right. To, and we all know that once you have the prospect in front of you, that's when you can communicate, once they go away and have to think about it or come back later, it's hard to, we engage them.

Yeah. The next statement

Jeremy: [00:34:23] is sometimes the highest when you're right there talking to them.

Adi: [00:34:27] Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that all has to be part of the sales process.

Jeremy: [00:34:33] So now you present the proposal now. The

Adi: [00:34:37] up, Oh, by the way, I'm presenting the proposal, you know? Yes. I was just working with a client in that. I had it top of mind.

It's also important to have templates, you know, because if you are writing the same proposal over and over again, have a template that saves you time. Right. So, and use, you can use like, you know, for instance, Jeremy used Panda doc, right? I love Panadol. Yep. Yeah. So, you know, and I, I like DocuSign. I have some templates there, they change, but Panda doc is awesome.

You know, it's kind of like, you know, you just feel in the, the, the different aspects for, but you have blocks that you can.

Jeremy: [00:35:09] Yeah. Yeah. You have blocks. You can customize it, but you have at least the sections there. So you don't have to redo the whole thing over every

Adi: [00:35:15] single time. Right. So it's just very important to spend time and build those templates correctly.

So then you can, you can do that. You can still add, like, when I write a proposal, I like to really like write it almost I'm writing it from scratch, but I do use the different templates that are similar from client to client. But I do want that to be a communication from me to them to really put all the points that were important for them.

So you can have a section for that, but then the things that you do the same for every client. Or if you don't like for us, it's very customized to sometimes, you know, it's not always workable to have that, but if you are, you know, let's say you are a painting contractor and you're painting exterior the interior, you will have like very specific things that you're going to do every single time.

And that's very workable to do with that.

Jeremy: [00:36:05] So the next part is the father

Adi: [00:36:07] follow ups. The follow-up is so important as we all know. And. You know, I was, I was, again, the same client yesterday. We were calculating that if, you know, if he sends out his estimate or is to do, let's say. Four estimates a day and each one of them take about a couple of hours, including the drive time.

So that's eight hours and then they do not follow up. Then you have wasted eight hours as opposed to even sending them to two estimates, four hours following up, and then closing, increasing the closing percentage by probably 25%, 50% of whatever it is. So if like, let's say, you're saying. You send two estimates, even with a 50% close ratio close one, but you only spend a four hours, the eight hours of no, follow-up, it's maybe one close, but it's the, it's the 25%, but it's still, you have the wasted day.

So then you have to hire more estimators and et cetera. So it's really a matter of Having a good followup system and it's follow up is if you ask me from the entire, the entirety of the sales process, the most important thing is to document your followup because that's where you are going to gain the biggest ROI in terms of actually selling.

I mean, of course. You know, if you don't know if you don't, if you can estimate correctly or do the bid or do the consultation. I mean, you know, if you don't provide a good service, et cetera, it's not going to work, but if you don't have up, then you're not going to be, it's

Jeremy: [00:37:42] lost at that point. I mean, you've spent all this time, energy and money through the lean thing, qualifying the PR you know, the estimate, the presenting the proposal.

And then if you drop the ball at this stage, You just wasted all of that energy and time and the person's time too. Are there any specific tools you use for helping remind you or them in this, in this process?

Adi: [00:38:09] No, it's the, it's a CRM. It's the task management software. Like, you know, I personally use a Santa and our clients use Monday, which I love Mondays.

Well, you know, it's whatever task management system you have, sometimes it's combined within your CRM, like in pipe drive, you'll have a task activity. It reminds you of the activities. So I would say. I mean, I use the Sinai internally, but when I, for the sales, I use the activities on pipe drive, which is when an a do integrate.

You can integrate them using Zapier it's it's, it's good. It's a good system. You just have to make sure you use those activities. You use those reminders and you remind yourself that my advice would be know what you're going to do next with that person. You know, if it's a prospect, what is the next step is the next step?

Presenting the bid is the next step or the proposal is the next step. Following up with a proposal is the next step. Like, let's say you presented a proposal. They want to think about it or they want to do want to wait. So what is the next activity? Would it be a text? Would it be a call? Would it be the next meeting?

Would it be an in-person visit? Whatever it is, just make sure that you have a rhythm for it. And you have the activity set up in your CRM and also documented and. Another thing is like automation. You know, if you can automate that, if you can automate the emails that they get, if you automate text and reminders, it's all about staying top of mind and being there.

And at some point when their need arises or they decide to move forward, they will do it.

Jeremy: [00:39:35] Yup. So you follow up the Prince, like yes, a D this is the best thing since sliced bread. I want to grow. I want to see, you know, have succession my company. I want you. What's the next piece is the finalization of the clothes.

Adi: [00:39:48] So then does the close, however, you know, some it's more complex than others, right. But some it's basically you have, you have your system of how do you close? What do you do? I mean, you do send a contract. Do you send, do they sign the code, look for the contract, you know, send them down payment whatever it is.

And then there is the internal systems that have to go into place. So there'll be a smooth transition from the sales. To the delivery, the production, whatever it is, and that the client always has a good, good customer experience, client experience, you know a great company that deals with client experiences, high dive, you know, they, they basically map the customer experience from beginning to end.

So we talked about the internal. But you also have to look at it from the external, in terms of like, what is the customer experience? Why do they feel being taken care of? Do they feel like they are being, you know, it's a smooth transition. They trust the salesperson, but then how do you smoothly transition it to the project manager?

The consultant. The what the production, whatever it is. Right. And you know, a lot of times, I mean, I've seen it many times that, especially in construction, for instance, The gold case. So the salesperson also becomes the project manager and he said, no, no, this is the way it works. And I go like, why, why won't you separate that you have the salesperson and then pass it over to the project manager.

It's because that, you know, that bond is created with the sales managers. So then they're afraid that. You know, it's not going to go all the way through because now we're introducing another person. So we talked about it in the beginning of this podcast, but that introduction, how do you do that in order to build trust?

So you always, when you do, when you make the, like, let's say. We worked together in the same organization. You know, I saw somebody a podcast, I mean, podcasts package. And now you are the one who is going to, you're going to be their accounts manager. Right. So I will always, throughout the sales, I will always mention also, you know, I work with Jeremy and Jeremy is amazing.

You know, he helps so many CEOs, so many companies actually just last week you know, he produces, produced this podcast and that person got booked into their dream speaking engagement, whatever it is. That is true. I mean, obviously you always have to like whatever is happening, but you, you have to build that, build up the other person that they are going to be working with.

So it's not just your. Connection with you. And sometimes it's hard to do if people, if somebody has an ego, like, Oh no, they only have to work with me. Right. But it can happen. So you have to figure out like, what is happening there, but it's really

Jeremy: [00:42:35] the, to Edify the other person like, Hey, this person's been an engineer for 30 years.

They're way more experienced in this piece than anyone in the company. You're going to be working with Jim. And kind of edifying them

Adi: [00:42:48] as the handoff super important. It's part of the process. If you forget to do it, then you come to the end of the process, like jumping off of it's like, Oh, okay. So now I'm not going to work with you.

I'm going to work with somebody else. I don't want to do it.

Jeremy: [00:43:01] Totally. So D I want to for one just. Pointing people towards this is, this has been great laying out from the lead intake to the qualifying, the lead to the estimate proposal, to the presenting proposals of the followup, to the finalize, these six kind of pieces that everyone can can do.

And think about how do you document these and actually getting them documented. Like I said, if you have questions about this, go to biz success, cg.com and check out more and check out more episodes of the podcast. So thank you Adi

Adi: [00:43:32] thank you, Jeremy.