Something that doesn't get talked about nearly enough is the importance of urgency—moving quickly, velocity, bias toward action, striking while the iron is hot (you get the idea...)
In the highly competitive world of Tech Sales, urgency must be your default mindset. The best sellers know that time kills momentum, and when momentum dies, so does the deal.
Every moment of delay risks losing attention, excitement, and buy-in from decision-makers.
Whether you're closing a deal or advancing an interview process, fast, thoughtful follow-up signals professionalism, drive, and intent. Waiting days to respond or act is rarely justifiable.
I recently heard from a Prospect about a sales rep waiting several weeks to send a follow-up after a demo session.
Do you think that rep won the deal?
Nope! The Prospect's exact words were: "We can't confidently spend our limited budget with a vendor that doesn't move quickly."
You'd be surprised at how common this is.
The good news is, if you're not in the habit of striking while the iron is hot and operating with urgency, it's an easy fix.
Just like anything else, it's a habit you can form and a mindset you can adopt. When in doubt, ship that email now, make that call now, send that proposal now.
If you're still struggling, create a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for yourself.
Here are some examples:
- When following up after a meeting, whenever possible (assuming you are not running back-to-back calls), aim to send a follow-up, recap email within 2 hours post-meeting.
- Follow up with new inbound leads within 20 minutes or less during business hours to maximize response rates.
- Strive to respond to outstanding questions about your product capabilities, pricing, or service agreement within 48 hours.
These are just a few ideas from my own playbook. You likely won't meet SLAs 100%, but creating guidelines like these will help you better embrace the urgency mindset.
In summary, top players move quickly (but not recklessly) because they understand that responsiveness builds trust and keeps the process alive. In a competitive market, urgency isn’t optional; it’s a core differentiator that separates the true Sales Players from the rest.
Now go take care of that thing you've been putting off!
-JMW