11 Techniques To Create Urgency in Sales
You know the phrase, “Time kills all deals?”
It’s especially true with sales cycles lengthening and buyers juggling competing priorities now more than ever.
Salespeople must find ways to drive urgency in the sales process to ensure their deals stay on track to close.
By effectively communicating timelines and negotiating trade-offs, salespeople can motivate buyers to act quickly and make a purchase.
However, creating urgency in sales is about not applying pressure or using manipulative tactics.
Instead, it’s about taking a consultative sales approach to understand the buyer’s needs and the right time to buy. It’s about finding ways to genuinely highlight the value and benefits of a product or service and showing how it can solve a pressing problem or meet a critical need for the buyer.
When done correctly, identifying and creating urgency in B2B sales can be a powerful way to drive sales and create value for your customers.
In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of creating urgency in B2B sales and offer a range of techniques and strategies. We’ll also share real-world examples of how to use this technique to close deals and drive sales.
What is the urgency in B2B sales?
Urgency in B2B sales refers to time pressure or importance communicated to buyers to motivate them to purchase.
The most crucial part of urgency in B2B sales is taking a consultative sales approach.
The buyer shouldn’t need a discount or promotion to have urgency to purchase a product or service. Instead, their business problems must be a real challenge for them to understand why it’s mission-critical to buy now rather than later.
By taking a consultative sales approach, you’ll find the buying signals on when a deal will close. With the right questions, you can uncover pain points, timelines, and the urgency driving your buyer to make a purchase decision.
Creating urgency in sales has to be done genuinely and should be mutually beneficial.
Urgency can be created through various techniques, such as highlighting the limited availability of a product or service, offering limited-time discounts or promotions, or demonstrating the popularity of a product through social proof.
When used effectively, urgency can help salespeople close deals faster and increase their success rate in a competitive market.
The benefits of creating urgency
All salespeople know why it’s important to close deals and to close them faster.
Creating a sense of urgency can be an effective way for salespeople to close deals faster and increase their win rate.
Additionally, speeding up a sales process helps ensure the buyer doesn’t prolong the deal, which may kill the deal altogether.
For salespeople looking to encourage buyers into action, communicating the scarcity of a product or service can be an effective way of tipping them over the edge.
Creating urgency can also help them prioritize their decision and maximize the value they get from your product or service. With limited time, people are more likely to be focused on what will satisfy their current needs – meaning you could close deals faster than ever!
However, it’s important to note that creating urgency should not be about applying pressure or using manipulative tactics. It’s about finding ways to genuinely highlight the value and benefits of a product or service and showing how it can solve a critical pain point or meet a pressing need for the buyer.
11 techniques for creating urgency in sales
There is a range of techniques that salespeople can use to create urgency in their sales efforts. Some strategies include:
1. Taking control of the sales process
Creating urgency in sales doesn’t start near the end of the deal.
You can’t drive urgency at the end because it comes off as ingenuine and pestering. Urgency begins at the beginning when you run your first discovery call.
Creating urgency only works when you have complete control of the sales process. For example, at the beginning of each meeting, establish an upfront contract with your buyer to set expectations on what needs to be accomplished.
2. Making trade-offs with your buyer
Making trade-offers with your buyer is vital to ensure you’re not just giving discounts to close the deal.
Remember, a buying process should be mutually beneficial.
If you’re offering a discount to close a deal, ensure you get something in return, such as the deal closing by the end of the month or quarter.
3. Asking questions about the future state
Get your buyers to think about their future state. This applies to the buying process and using your solution.
Ask your buyer what their internal buying process looks like, who you need to speak with and what critical steps. This will help set expectations on how long a deal will take to close and what needs to be accomplished.
Ask your buyer about how they will use your solution. This puts them in a state of solving their pain points, which drives them to act much more quicker.
4. Asking about what’s changed
If deals are stalled, or the buyer has slowed down the buying process, ask them to explain what has changed since your initial conversation.
Having them explain what’s going on will help you reset your expectations.
Of course, as a salesperson, you want the deal to close. But is it mutually beneficial if you force the deal to close at the wrong time?
5. Highlighting the limited availability of a product or service
By communicating that a product or service is in high demand or has limited quantities available, salespeople can create a sense of urgency that motivates buyers to act quickly.
6. Offering limited-time discounts or promotions
By offering a special deal or promotion that is only available for a limited time, salespeople can create urgency in sales to motivate buyers to purchase before the offer expires.
7. Using social proof
By demonstrating a product’s or service’s success through customer testimonials and case studies, salespeople can create a sense of urgency by showing that others are already taking advantage of the offering.
It’s even more powerful when you share social proof from a similar customer, whether it’s a use case, industry, or even a competitor. Social proof creates a strong sense of urgency because companies must compete to grow their market share. And when there’s a competitor already using your solution, your buyer will have a compelling reason to purchase quickly.
8. Demonstrating the value of the product or service
By clearly communicating how a product or service can meet the needs or solve the buyer’s problems, salespeople can create a sense of urgency by highlighting the immediate benefits and value of the offering.
9. Highlight a critical event
Take a consultative approach to identify an important event in the organization to make the most of the event. Identify critical events driving urgency in sales at the business, personal, or global levels.
For example:
- Personal: promotion or new role in the company.
- Business: business problem or pain point.
- Global: upcoming holiday or mandated industry requirement.
10. Asking buyers if they can get a deal done in time
If you’ve established a genuine and transparent relationship with your buyer, you can simply ask, “Is it possible to get this deal done by X?”
Your buyers recognize the importance of implementing a solution immediately. In most cases, their jobs may be dependent on it as well.
By asking this question, you can understand the roadblocks that will prolong the deal and see how you can help your buyer.
11. Partnering with your buyer to present to decision-makers
In most buying situations, buyers must present to key decision-makers. They’ll have to meet and present your solution as well as the benefits.
Instead of having the buyer present alone, recommend partnering with them.
In reality, the lack of a decision-maker in the sales process can prolong and kill a deal. It would help if you got as much face time as possible with key decision-makers.
Additionally, presenting with your buyer can help ensure your solution is shown in the best possible way.
The presentation is also a great way to empower your buyer. Compliment them to their decision makers and manager for their hard work and diligence in finding a solution.
Overall, creating a sense of urgency can be a powerful and ethical way for salespeople to close deals faster and increase their success rate. By effectively communicating the limited availability or expiration of a product or service and highlighting the value and benefits of the offering, salespeople can motivate buyers to act quickly and make a purchase. By following best practices and being transparent and honest, salespeople can use urgency to build trust and credibility with buyers and establish long-term customer relationships.
Use MEDDIC to identify the urgency of each deal
MEDDIC is a sales qualification process that helps salespeople identify the key aspects they need to take to close a deal.
This process helps salespeople uncover necessary information for accurate deal forecasting. MEDDIC will guide salespeople on what questions to ask, such as who needs to be involved to speed up a sales cycle. And what are the steps in the buying process that need to be completed, and by when?
Here’s how MEDDIC can help you drive urgency in sales:
- Identify the names of key decision-makers and bring them into the sales process earlier.
- A clear idea of what the entire buying process is like.
- Metrics that the organization will measure the success of your solution.
Following a process like MEDDIC will help you work on winnable deals and be more accurate with your close dates.
Final thoughts on creating urgency in sales
You can’t falsely create urgency in B2B sales if it never existed, especially if you’re doing it for your interests.
Real urgency is created in the beginning and throughout the sales process. To do so, you must take a consultative sales approach to understand your buyer’s business problems, timelines, and needs. This helps you establish a genuine and transparent relationship with your buyer while understanding what will drive your buyer to act now.
Salespeople can use various techniques to create urgency, including highlighting limited availability, offering limited-time discounts, using social proof, and demonstrating the product’s or service’s value.
By following best practices and building trust with buyers, salespeople can effectively use urgency to close more deals.
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