You Can't Make a Sale if You Don’t Ask

When closing a sale, you need to keep three things in mind.

1. They contacted you for a quote. They wanted to hear from you. Do not feel discouraged if they don’t respond to your quote. You’ve already gotten some mini closes from this potential client: they requested a quote; they responded to your qualifying questions; they want to hear from you.
2. Sales are made in the follow up. According to Marketing Donut, 92 percent of sales pros give up after the fourth call [or email], but 80 percent of prospects say no four times before they say yes – even though we know the longer they wait, the price is likely to go up. People are busy. They forget to deposit, and if you’re not staying in touch, they think you’re too busy for them. I use a five-follow up system. Some may think that five is too many; however, research has shown that following up winds up in sales. There’s an art form to it. Your follow-up emails should have direct language of how to move forward and add valuable information about the hotel, destination, etc. so they have context instead of just a payment form.
3. Use direct language in asking for the deposit. Instead of something like, “Let me know what you think,” say, “This is how you place your deposit.” Like I said before, people are busy, and they want to know how to get to the next step.

You will have people who ghost you and don’t respond. That is part of the business. Don’t let those keep you from moving forward. If a person doesn’t respond after five follow ups, I remove them from my system.

“Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” This famous saying from Babe Ruth is just as true for sales as it is with baseball. You’re going to sometimes strike out with people ghosting you or booking on their own. That is part of the business.

Do baseball players get on base every time they’re at bat? No. Does that mean they stop playing? No, they get up and do it again.

And that is what we must do in sales – keep going and remember to be confident, send follow ups and ask for the deposit with clear instructions. Because we’ll get some home runs too.

About the Author

Most people know me as a travel agent and a sales coach. As a travel agent, I worked with over 800 clients and booked over $4.5M in sales over the course of a nine-year career. Now, I teach agents the processes and strategies I used to build that business through my training programs at Guts Grit Goals and in my Facebook group: Sales and Marketing Tips for Travel Agents.