“Putting your proposals into some kind of a web-based platform, so that you can track the document opens and interactions, and then you’ll be armed with this information. So you know when is the best time to reach out.” – Kyle Racki in today’s Tip 887
Do you know when is the best time to follow up?
Join the conversation below and learn more about Kyle and Proposify!
Kyle Racki on LinkedIn
Proposify
The State of Proposals
Free Proposal Software from Proposify
Free Trials (and Tribulations) Book
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Kyle Racki. Kyle is the CEO and co-founder of Proposify, a SaaS company based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada that helps more than 10,000 sales teams around the world eliminate the frustration caused by the business proposal process. Here he is:
Kyle Racki: The tip I’m offering today is taken from the State of Proposals 2021, which is a free resource that my company Proposify offers up every year with insights taken from the two million-plus proposals put into our software. Now, this tip is related to timing your follow-up after a prospect has viewed your proposal. So when is the best time to follow up and when is there a good indication that you should follow up?
So the way we found this information was actually taken from our own software Proposify where we actually offer the ability for sales reps to be able to view when prospects open their proposals, which sections they view the most. And what we did was we analyzed view trends like the number of times a proposal is opened after it sent, how long prospects spend reading it, just to see what the impact these metrics have on close rates. And what we discovered was surprising and even a little bit counterintuitive. Prospects require less time to consider a proposal they’ll accept. What that means is that on average, winning proposals are viewed two and a half times before they’re signed. But proposals that don’t close are viewed at least three and a half times before the viewer decides not to sign.
It’s a little bit counterintuitive. You would think that the more somebody looking at your proposal, the more interested they are and the more likely they are to buy. But as the data proves, that’s not the case. It actually is that if they’re viewing it more than two times, more than two or three times for sure, they’re probably on the fence about something. There’s they’re confused. That is actually the best time to reach out.
So if you’re not using proposal software, I recommend putting your proposals into some kind of a web-based platform, so that you can track the document opens and interactions, and then you’ll be armed with this information. So you know when is the best time to reach out.
So why is this important?
Well, because viewing metrics offer a forewarning when a proposal isn’t doing so hot. So if potential buyers opening a proposal for a fourth time, something’s not right. And opportune follow-ups aren’t random. They’re informed data-driven decisions. So, sometimes a little clarification at a critical moment is all it takes to get a hesitant prospect over the line.
So that’s the tip. If you’d like more tips like this about your proposals and what insight from two million-plus proposals can tell you, well, just Google, Proposify: State of Proposals, and skip past the ads. Get to the first organic link in Google and you’ll find that’s on our website where you can download this guide for free. It’s called The State of Proposals.
If you’d like to start easily tracking your proposals to get this kind of insight for yourself and for your own proposals, well then just go to proposify.com. That’s PROPOSIFY.com and you can sign up for free.
Scott Ingram: For all of those tips in one convenient place and to connect with Kyle, just click over to DailySales.Tips/887 and we’ll have everything for you there.
Once you’ve done that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!