tor in the steps that need to be done before the order can be shipped. Let the prospect know exactly when he has to commit to hit his goals,” suggests one expert. “It takes time to place the order, go through credit, manufacture the products, and deliver them. To make all of this happen, the order needs to be signed off by a certain date…period. “There are four things all customers need to have
answered before they will ever make a commitment,” says one authority. “Why should I buy this from you? Why should I buy from your company? Why should I buy your products? Why should I buy this today? All of these questions are important, and the salesperson should have answers – especially for the fourth one that deals with urgency. If a salesperson doesn’t provide a compelling reason for a customer to buy at a certain time, it lets the customer completely off the hook and the sale can stall.” The experts also believe that part of the reason buyers hesitate to make a commitment is that salespeople don’t have a sales strategy in place to continuously move the buyer forward and just don’t know how to handle objec- tions or close prospects.
“Salespeople need to have a strong, well-planned
presentation and know how they want that specific sale to progress,” is one piece of advice. “Customers need to be led. Once a customer starts making decisions in the sales process, the salesperson has lost control and now the cus- tomer is calling the shots. Remember, every great general who won battles had already won them before he arrived on the battlefield.”
“Salespeople need to develop their own list of common objections and preplan responses,” says another expert. “How can you overcome an objection if you don’t have preplanned responses and a selling strategy? “Depending on the industry, between 60 percent and 85
percent of all transactions aren’t really closed by salespeo- ple,” he continues. “Salespeople think they’re closing but they aren’t. For example, if a salesperson gives a presen- tation and then turns to the prospect and asks what they think, they’ve lost ownership of the sale to the customer and now they are order takers instead of order makers.” The expert continues, “Furthermore, they are imprinting on the buyer that maybe there is something else they should think about.” He can’t stress the closing part of a sales sce- nario enough and urges salespeople to be prepared. “All professional salespeople have at least seven to nine
strong closes they have rehearsed and know frontwards and backwards,” asserts one sales expert. “Closing itself is a logical conclusion to a sales presentation. If you’ve qualified the prospect, uncovered needs and wants, made a good presentation, handled objections, and answered questions, the act of closing is a natural conclusion. But the closing questions still need to be asked.” How patient should a salesperson be when dealing
SELLING TIP
The Cool Close When sales manager Hayley Weinper got trans- ferred to the Midwest sales office for his company, he started going after some big clients. After pre- senting a $1 million proposal, the prospect told him he was still on the fence. He pulled a coin from his pocket and told Weinper that, if he called it right, he’d sign with him instead of his competitor. On the inside, Weinper was shaking, but he maintained his reserve. He called heads – and heads it was. Later, the client told Weinper that he had planned to go with him all along, but wanted to test him. When he failed to fall apart, he felt assured that Weinper could handle a crisis.
– LISA GSCHWANDTNER
Adapted from Sales Stories to Sell By: 95 True Accounts of Success You Can Use To Close More Deals, part of the Selling Power Success Library, published by McGraw-Hill.
SELLING POWER OCTOBER 2015 | 7 © 2015 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
with a hesitant prospect? One expert says, “Econo- mists would say it’s time to give up when the expected value of the sale drops below the cost of the effort. It’s like tennis. There are players who – if they’re down five games in the first set – decide to forget about it and concentrate on the next set. Then there are players who are going to play every point to the max. Finally this advice: “Salespeople should never give up.”
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