How To Create Urgency During Your Sales Process

Urgency is like the holy grail of selling. It’s arguably our most important tool; yet it’s also the hardest to master.

Without it, we wander around sales purgatory sending aimless follow-up emails, never knowing if the deal is dead or alive. Are they still interested? Were they ever interested at all?

Unfortunately, the reality is you may never know the answers to these questions. Once you lose a prospect to the abyss, they might be gone forever.

Reality check: we are currently selling live sporting events to fans at a time where fans aren’t allowed at live sporting events. This is an incredibly difficult task, and our inability to build convincing urgency only puts us at a further disadvantage – something we cannot afford to keep doing in the current selling climate.

Yes, we as sales reps need to be better at everything we do during these crazy times. Crisper follow-up. Smarter outreach. Deeper research. But none of those skills matter if we don’t get better at building urgency. It’s the equivalent of being an A+ wide receiver who can’t catch. Blazing speed and quickness are great, and you might stumble into the end-zone a few times. But if you have bricks for hands, you won’t last very long. You feel me?

We’ve all had those sales where we push all the right buttons, the prospect is fully engaged, and a strong sense of urgency leads to a quick signature. We all react the same way: “Man, I wish this happened every time!”

But it doesn’t. It only happens once in a blue moon. The rest of the time we are scratching and clawing for every victory.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. And in our current reality, it can’t be that way. We have to be better.

Fortunately, while building urgency is likely the most difficult part of our job, it offers a lot of room for improvement. Even the slightest tweak could have a drastic effect on your success rate.

While there’s no “silver bullet” so to speak, here are a few techniques I’d recommend brushing up on when it comes to building urgency. Every little bit helps.

Plant the seed

There is a common misconception that urgency is something you only use at the end of the process. It’s as if you are supposed to do all this work, and then magically sprinkle some sort of “urgency” dust on a CEO’s bald head to get a quick decision.

That could not be further from the truth. In fact, I’d argue that our biggest misstep as sales reps is waiting until the end of the process to try and use urgency to our advantage. It’s the equivalent of chasing someone off the used car lot in your plaid suit and yelling “What if I chopped off another 5%!?”

Stop it. You’re grossing us all out.

The most effective way to create urgency is to build it right from the beginning. Period. It will help everything else you say feel that much more organic and put you in a great position to leverage your follow-up later on.

There are two ways I like to do this:

* Be compelling. The best way to have urgency at the end of a sales process is by having it at the beginning. Urgency to meet with you compounded by urgency to talk again often results in urgency to close a deal. It’s as simple as that.

Make sure you are offering timely value on the initial call. Then, add to that during your process with engaging business conversation and gripping reasons why your product will fix their problem. The easiest deals occur when all these boxes are checked at every stage, and closing is simply the next logical step.

* Use powerful language from the start. This is often overlooked by reps, as we get so used to going through the motions with pitches. But our words are a lot more powerful than we think.

Put it this way: if you only mention how limited Delta Club inventory is at the end of your pitch, it is super obvious to a prospect that you’re full of crap. But if you mention it in your initial outreach, during your pitch, and then again during your follow-up – it starts to feel real.

I’m not saying you need to overstress how limited certain areas are or go into Billy Mays “BUY NOW!” mode – but just be mindful of the language you’re using.

“This club is probably one of our most popular areas because…”

“There just isn’t much left in this section…”

“We’ve seen a lot of success in this area for (insert industry) companies because…”

Subtle lines like that can really start to help shift the subconscious battle with a prospect. I can’t stress this enough: the more often you mention limited inventory, popular areas and attractive amenities, the more real it seems.

But it has to actually be real. If you lay it on too strong it might come off cheesy, and you’ll hamstring your process. Be careful and tactical with your verbiage. 

Watch how much more engaged prospects become. Watch how much more real your follow-up becomes. All of a sudden “Hey Robert – we just sold four more seats in that section you liked” isn’t just an annoying follow-up email. It means something to him.

Plant the seed. Water it throughout your process. And then reap the rewards when it’s time.

Confidence is Key

It’s impossible to build urgency if you don’t believe in what you’re selling. Simple as that. And I’m not talking about “believing that all-inclusive club seats are nice.” Everyone believes that.

I’m talking about believing that your product is the right fit for a customer and that they will see a tangible benefit from purchasing it. And right now – not four months from now.

This can be very difficult to do because prospects aren’t dumb – and neither are you. You cannot fake this type of confidence, even to yourself. And if you are trying to convince a prospect to purchase something that you’re not even sure is the right fit, it will be very obvious, come off as ingenuine, and you’ll lose them.

This real, tangible confidence only comes from doing great research on a prospect, being a good listener, and finding the best fit for them. You have to trust your abilities. If you strongly feel like a product is a good fit, act like it. There’s something to be said for believing in your product and having conviction in your pitch.

That belief is the foundation for creating urgency. And it has to be more than “OMG I love my team! Go Braves!” You have to actually believe your product works for whichever reason you are currently pitching it.

Before they know it, the prospect will start believing it too.

Make Things Personal

The best sales reps I know are also the best listeners.

Urgency is an amoeba: it is going to be different for every prospect. Using lines like “this area is very popular” are great for creating a baseline of urgency early on – but what really pushes the deal over the edge is when you make it personal.

Often times I see sales reps get stuck at this plateau – they have the prospect about 30-40% of the way there, the initial call went well, they are able to set a second meeting – and that’s as far as they get. The pitch falls flat, and they never hear from a prospect again.

The final 60-70% of the sale – the real urgency – is absolutely crucial, and it comes from using what prospects say against them.

Put it this way – people used to buy sports tickets because they were cool. But now, they are more educated than ever. They are more price conscious. They have access to incredible market research about seats and entertainment value. And thanks to an ever-improving at-home experience, fewer people need our product than ever.

Everyone wants great seats to see your team play. But only people who need them end up giving you a credit card.

So how can we take them from want to need?

If you’ve done a good job in your discovery phase, you should have a lot of useful ammo. What types of clients they will be entertaining. What parts of the stadium they enjoy. What type of experience is important to them. How they really like to sit on the aisle because they hate walking up stairs to the bathroom.

Whatever it is – these pain points will likely be different for every prospect. The better you are at picking up on them, the better you are at using them to your advantage. It’s your job to make sure you attack each and every one of those with your product suggestions and discussions. Really make the prospect feel like their pain points will be addressed, and that your product solves a problem. After all, if your product fits all their criteria, why wouldn’t they buy it? Closing simply becomes the next logical step.

Another tip that I’ve seen a lot of success with: put your prospect in the space and tell a story. I’ve found that prospects purchase for many different reasons – but 99% of them fall into two buckets: emotional and tangible. By addressing pain points, you’re checking the “tangible” box.

But when you can walk a prospect through their experience from the moment they are dropped off at valet to the time they sit down in their seats, it really helps play that personal piece too. All of a sudden you’re hitting both sides of the brain, and you’re really in business.

You don’t have to read a Robert Frost poem – but really help them visualize whatever experience they are looking for. Once the prospect can see themselves using the product and solving a problem, you’re in a much better position to close a deal.

Leverage Your Inventory

Congratulations. You’ve built up enough urgency throughout your process and your prospect now wants to talk details. You’ve zeroed in on a section they like, and things are heating up.

Now it’s time to use inventory to your advantage. This is probably the easiest fix when it comes to building urgency – but it’s also where so many of us fail. Almost every section in the stadium presents a terrific opportunity if you’re tactical with your language. Even adding an adjective or changing a verb here or there can go a long way.

Take these two sentences for instance.

              ”I have a pair of seats left in the 6th row”

Versus…

“The closest seats we have left in this section are going to be back in the 6th row – it’s been a pretty popular area so far. That sightline is a great one though – not too close, not too far back. Puts you in a great spot.”

Do you see the difference? All we did is add a few more descriptors, which speak a bit more to the limited inventory. It’s framed as a high-demand space without even going into detail. There could be 150 seats left in that section, but it doesn’t matter. We’re already back to the 6th row, and he/she can feel that. On top of that, you framed that limited inventory as a positive and highlighted the perfect sightline that they get in that location.

The beauty of this tactic is that you can use it for whatever aspect of the space is most appealing to your prospect. Aisle seats. Club access. Close rows. Sightlines. This isn’t some cheap parlor trick, either. This is using the actual tools in front of you to your advantage. You are the maestro in your own inventory show – don’t ever forget that.

Ultimately, it’s a minor change to things we already do during our sales conversations. But a small tweak to your language combined with better framing of sections and locations can make a huge difference.

Effective Follow-up

Follow-up is my favorite part of the sales process.

It can either be your best friend or your worst nightmare. But it’s entirely up to you.

If you’ve been compelling from call one, framed the inventory well and checked off the pain points, you’re likely in a great spot, and this will be the easiest part of your job.

Conversely, if you haven’t built up much urgency to this point, your follow-up will be a disaster. It will consist of you sending a string of desperate emails, grasping for feedback and begging for a sale. If you’re stuck in that position, you’ve likely already lost.

But that’s not going to happen to us – because we’ve been laying urgency bricks throughout our entire process. We’re already on the green. Now, we just have to putt it home.

Did they really want aisle seats?

              “Hey Bob – we just sold another set of aisle seats in that section you liked, and it jogged my memory to reach out”

Were they really into the idea of entertaining their clients in the Hall of Fame Club?

              “Susan; I know we spent a lot of time talking about how you envisioned entertaining your top clients in the Hall of Fame Club. We just had a client finalize a purchase of a block of 10 in there, which pushes us over 75% capacity. I want to be sure your group gets the best spot, so let me know how I can help.”

If you didn’t do a good job building urgency throughout your process, these types of emails will come off cheesy and, in some cases, aggressive. But if you’ve done a good job creating urgency during your initial touchpoints, those emails will come off personal, powerful, and help push prospects closer to a decision.

For every prospect, you want to have at least a few bullet points to attack with your follow-up. Again, you’re just using what they’ve said to help control the process. If you have a good game-plan here, and it will make this stage so much easier.

Exploding deadlines can also be helpful at this point. If you have payment plans, priority phases, or pricing adjustments, those are great to sprinkle throughout your process. Even something simple like:

              “We currently have a 33% payment plan, which usually goes away as we get closer to the season, but is still currently active.”

All you did there was change the way you normally describe your team’s payment plan. If this was something that perked their ears up during the pitch, great – you now have another thing to reference when you follow-up.

              “Hey Bob; I remember the payment plan we have was of interest to you – it looks like that’s coming to an end here, so let me know if you’d like to take advantage.”

Again, there really is no science to this. It’s ultimately about pushing urgency as soon as you can, and as often as you can – in whatever way jives the best with your particular prospect. The goal is to get to the finish line with as many bullets in your follow-up gun as possible. We are all talented enough to hit a target with one shot – but it’s nice to have some extra ammo just in case…