How Can Agencies Close Deals Online?- Deepak Shukla

The beginning of this decade has undoubtedly been a turning point for the world with the year 2020. The world we knew, does not exist anymore. We have all been inside our homes for more than 5 months now and when we go out again, we will certainly put our foot forward into a world which will be the new normal.

We are now left with no choice but to adapt to the changes. Businesses around the world will observe shifts in patterns of operations, demand, consumer behaviour and more.

For agencies, the shift to digitalisation will be a major factor to take into consideration.
Do you want to grab the first mover-advantage?
Do you want to do better than all the other agencies out there?

If you nodded and jumped with the excitement of these possibilities, this blog is the treasure box that holds the answer to ‘how to close sales online’?
Deepak Shukla handed us the key to this treasure chest at Clientjoy Agency Summit.

When you learn how to close sales online, it will help you, not only in adapting to digitalisation but also enable you to cater to work across the globe. If you own an agency in India, pitching to a client in London and winning their account is just a phone call away.

You don’t need to worry anymore about adapting to the digital market place. Check out how you can close sales online and prosper to leaps and bounds:

Before we get into the details, Deepak wants you to remember that “you are selling experiences. Whenever you get into a conversation, you should always influence the experience that your prospective clients walk away with”

But, how do you do that?
The first step to the process for closing sales online is:

Pre-Selling

Your sales process begins way before you actually start selling your products/services. It is very important to pay attention to what your prospects encounter even before they speak to you. Of course, they are going to go through your product page, your company’s website and your LinkedIn profile. But, you need to provide more than that.

And doing it ‘The Deepak Shukla Way’ means starting with a bang!
Deepak compares the selling process with a movie. The pre-selling is similar to the trailer of your movie (your services).

When you see an amazing movie trailer, you can’t hold your excitement and you eagerly look forward to the movie. You talk about it to people around, you check the release dates and as soon as it’s out in the theatres, you buy your tickets and rush to the cinema.

Similarly, your pre-selling should provide a wow factor to your prospects. It should excite them to look forward to what you are offering. Do you remember waiting for the Harry Potter sequels? Yes! We want to create an equally compelling experience for your potential clients. Ah, we couldn’t manage to get into Hogwarts but Deepak Shukla helped us figure out how to create the magic:

A Charming Personal Story:

So, what makes for an amazing trailer?

Is it the music, the animation, the dialogues, the lighting or more? Sure, it is all of that! But, most importantly it is about the characters in it.
What if they made a Harry Potter trailer without Harry, Ron and Hermione in it? Not acceptable! Right?

In order to persuade your buyers, there has to be a central character for your story. This will help the prospects distinguish you from other agencies around. Let them know who they are going to deal with.

Make a difference. Create a story through which your users can get emotionally involved with your journey. Show things that help them respect your work.

Make a video, write a blog post or redirect them to your own personal website and showcase who you are, how you are providing value to them and help them differentiate you from the others out there.

Creating An Experience:

When you provide an experience to your users, Deepak says that “people assume excellence even before they have spoken to you about your services”.

When you build your personal story, do something out of the blue. Create a delightful experience which can help the prospects remember you.

Deepak added that “With your story, you should always leave your prospects to keep wanting more”. After you have spoken about who you are, what you do, why you do it and what brings you to do it, provide social proof with your story.

Do you have examples wherein a client advocated for you? Does your product/ service have noteworthy reviews online? Have you been mentioned in online/offline media?
If yes, that’s great! Grab those things and use them as a part of your story. Social proof will help you build credibility. The social proof will work as a backbone to justify your story.

Deliver a grand experience. Think of what will make your users want to know you better? Leave them so fascinated that they cannot resist to Google you/your company.

Closing Sales-Hard Selling

After you have a full-fledged, fantastic experience ready to delight your prospects, it is now time to get the work done and close more sales.

Let’s start with Deepak Shukla’s words of wisdom: “Remember, do not sell features, sell an experience”.

The First Contact With Your Prospect:

A common mistake that most of us do in order to close sales is that we send across the proposals to our prospects and later get on a call to discuss that.
Wait, what? That’s wrong? You probably thought that is how it is supposed to be. Right?
According to Deepak, that is a big no. Before sending your proposal, let your prospects know that you are interested in getting on a call with them.

When you send a proposal before interacting with them, the prospects most probably end up price shopping. They have certainly received proposals from five or more other agencies and yours will be lost while they do a features and benefits comparison.

You don’t want that to happen. You know what you are offering and you want to convey the same to them.

Initiate and ask your prospects for a call.
What if they refuse?
Let them know that you are interested in making a good custom proposal for them and hence, would like to know more.
If they still refuse, it’s probably for the better. Ask them to get back to you in case anything changes.

Making An Exceptional Proposal:

Your proposal will certainly speak a lot about your services. When you want to close sales, you need to provide something that proves to be of worth for your prospects.

After your first call, you now know more about the company and the person you are going to deal with. Make sure that you indicate the same in your proposal.

When you have spoken to your prospects first, your proposal will leave an impression that you have actually heard them. And, you have offered exactly what your prospect is looking for.

The Flow And Contents Of Your Proposal:

• Get rid of every potential question:
  When you draft your proposal, go into the details. Provide a vivid description of each of the services in your package. Let the receiver know what your offering will do for them, what problem will it solve? How will it do that? And, how much time will it take to do that? Do not leave any gaps for ambiguity. Let your prospect know that you have understood them really well. Go through your draft, think of all the probable questions that may arise and provide answers to all of those.
• Elaborate The Workflow:
  Along with saying what you are offering, layout your action plan. Your prospects would love to get into the details of how you are taking their work ahead. Make specific timelines and draft detailed reports. Provide insights on how many team members will be allocated for that particular client and what each of them will do. Also, talk about the days you will spend doing their work. Give them a breakdown of tasks with a calendar. Let them know what you will do every day.
• Provide Details On Reporting:
  Let your clients know how you will report to them. Attach sample reports and describe the details. This will let them ensure that their work is being taken care of well. They will be able to trust you more because you are showing them how you will prove the results.
• Avoid Including Prices In Your Proposal:
  We often end up misunderstanding that proposals are made to convey your prices and packages to the consumers. Don’t do that. Your proposal should talk only about your work and the way you will go ahead with the client after onboarding them. Your prices will often get lost in a proposal. If you are sending a 30 pages proposal to your client, there is a very high chance that they might miss out on the prices. They will not have the time to dig into your proposals. Mention your packages and pricing separately in the body copy of your email. It will help you grab the attention of your clients.

Now, give your clients enough time to go through the proposal before you decide to talk to them about it.
What next?

The Call That Sells:

Yay! This is the last and final call to close sales. You got to know the prospect and you have sent your proposal. You have conveyed what you have to offer and how it will benefit them. So, with your extraordinary introductory experience, the prospect has been sold on the person. With your detailed proposal, the prospect is now sold on the company too.

You have already wowed the prospect with your onboarding process. When you now get on a call with them, it’s okay to hard sell and conveys that your purpose is to close the sale.

How To Converse In The Final Call:

• Start by asking this question :
  “Which package do you think best suits your needs”?- By doing so, you are already positioning the prospect with a price point. You also made sure that they have gone through your proposal and know about the packages you offer. Plus, this is not a yes or no question, so you are closing the escape route for your client. If you ask them whether they have gone through your proposal, you give them a chance to deny it. Here, you are building on a point to follow the conversation.
• Ask a lot of questions:
  If your prospect seems unsure and unwilling to answer about a particular package, ask them what they intend to achieve through this deal. When you want to close sales, it is important to understand and offer what your client needs. Try to know what is important for them and why it matters to them.
• Offer a solution with your package:
  After listening to their goals and figuring out what matters to your client, provide a solution to them. You can find the most suitable package for them and let them know how it best suits their requirements. This can also help you up-sell and offer a premium package.

Voila! You’re done there. As the saying goes “people may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel”.
This will undoubtedly stand true in all aspects of your life.
We saw how it matters when you want to close sales.

Let’s go through some questions discussed by the audience

How to position yourself in the market and establish a unique identity?

Deepak Shukla suggests that you do simple things that people can remember. Taking examples from his own life, he adopts the following ways:

• Every time he gets on a call, he wears a T-shirt with Pearl Lemon’s branding.
• The Pearl Lemon website is ‘Yellow’- which is a very memorable colour.
• He happens to be quite loud and excited when he gets on phone calls and people tend to remember that.

How to sell your digital marketing services when the client is looking for a full service agency?

Here, Deepak pointed out that the problem lies more with you than your client. It might be the case that you have done the positioning wrongly. If you have correctly positioned your company as aSEO agency, people might rarely come to you, seeking for web development services. But, if they do, there is something clearly wrong with your positioning strategy

Do you want to see how Deepak Shukla amazes his prospects with a brilliant introduction?
Check out the full video of Deepak Shukla’s session at Clientjoy Agency Summit, powered by Scrabin and FindThatLead to witness the experience that he offers: