What do you do when a prospect expresses interest in your product or service? How do you handle the conversation? Could you be inadvertently be making two major mistakes which could cost you the sale?
My name is Rashid Kotwal.
I’ve worked in professional sales for 35 years and over the last 20 years coached and trained hundreds of sales consultants in how to effectively structure a sales conversation.
There are essentially three stages to a conversation.
Compassion, consideration and conviction.
Your prospects need to know that you understand them and their world. Their potential issues. Know what they’ll openly discuss and what’s deeper under the surface.
At this point they don’t care about your solution and how wonderful it is.
Only once they feel understood can you move to considering what they might want instead. Their goals and aspirations. And what’s stopping them from achieving them.
Now you can present your solution and invite them to buy.
I know this sounds simple in theory but there’s a lot of complexity under the hood which is why we spend considerable time drilling and skilling our clients in both the art and methodology of selling.
So coming back to the two major mistakes we see.
The first one is starting the conversation by vomiting all over your prospects telling them all about your solution. Going into what it is and how it works in detail.
At this point your prospect doesn’t care. They’re only interested in their problems and the outcomes they want. And their eyes will glaze over and you’ll get nowhere.
The second is not asking for the order!
You’ve had a great conversation, the prospect is leaning forward. They’re interested. But you never actually recommend the next step which is getting a commitment to buy, getting payment and a date to deliver.
So you shake hands and leave. Both parties feel let down. Your prospect wanted to move forward and is in limbo. You feel frustrated as the sale hasn’t been made.
Now just to be clear this isn’t about old school tactics of always be closing.
Your prospects are looking for you to take the lead in the discussion and take it to a logical close. Which is a decision to move forward or not.
So ask the question. Would you like to buy. And be okay with the answer is no.
Always strive to get a decision one way or the other so both of you can move on.
That’s it for now.
If you’d like our help to improve your sales effectiveness and close more business in less time, give me a hoy. We have a 90 day marketing, prospecting and sales program which is guaranteed to make you more effective.
Till next time, this is Rashid Kotwal.
