3. Highly Likely

Potential customers in this category have indicated very strongly that you have an excellent chance to win the sale. The probability of this happening is in the range of 85 percent or greater. You have demonstrated your capabilities and benefits to the buyer, and you’ve gotten strong positive signals that this sale is ready to close.

Your focus is indeed just that—what must you do to close this sale and meet this client’s needs? This is not the time to just “wait and see” but rather to be proactive in closing the sale.

Potential customers enter your Sales Funnel at the top as leads, and they exit the bottom as a new sale, dropping into the revenue cup to help fulfill your revenue target. As the probability of obtaining a signed contract or sale increases, the potential customer moves closer to the bottom exit of the funnel.

You know that all of your leads do not result in sales. So, your firm must ensure that it generates enough leads to result in sales that will meet its targets for the year. This is an important part of the overall sales process—generating a sufficient number of leads to meet your sales and revenue targets.

You also know that all the highly likely sales will not, in fact, result in a sale. For various reasons, and your company should understand them, you will lose a few. So, you must train your people on the most effective means for getting customers to actually make the purchase—for closing the sale.