Sales Call By Paul Cherry cherry@pbresults.com

Five Common Sales Obstacles and How to Overcome Them L

ucy was a brand new salesperson who wanted to make a big impression. She

did everything she could think of to estab- lish relationships with prospects and wow them with her proposals. While she was not failing as a salesperson, Lucy was cer- tainly not leading her team in sales either. After nine months of below aver- age performances, she knew something had to change – but what? Veteran salespeople know that while

every customer is unique, the obstacles to a sale are predictably the same and occur rather frequently. Once you understand these obstacles and the strategies to over- come them, you will have all of the tools you need to make the sale.

Obstacle 1: Identifying and Communi- cating with the Decision Maker(s) Too often, salespeople will focus solely on their initial contact at an organization. Yet, they are probably not the only person who is going to have input on the pro- posal process. Smart salespeople know that there are usually other decision mak- ers who will have input in the deal, and the challenge is to figure out who they are and how you can meet with them. To get that information, you will to have to ask your current contact some questions that might seem awkward. Some questions to broach the issue are: • What is your time frame for making a final decision?

• What criteria will you be evaluating to ensure you are making the best deci- sion?

• What measurable outcomes are you looking to achieve?

Once you are able to determine who else will be involved in the decision mak- ing process, you can ask this follow up question: “I really appreciate this insight. So that I can propose the best solution that is going to meet the needs of every- one else involved, I would love to talk with these other individuals and get their input. When can I meet with them?”

14 Automotive Recycling | March-April 2015

Obstacle 2: Uncovering the Budget If you are working to get a large con- tract with, say, a multi-location collision repairer, nothing will derail a deal faster than a mismatch between your proposal and the customer’s budget. Prospects are often reluctant to discuss their budgets with salespeople. It is your job to press them further to get a number, or at the very least, a range of their budget. A good tactic involves framing the inter- action through the lens of recommend- ing a program that best suits your prospect’s needs and expectations, and expressing how budget parameters can shape the direction for both parties Obstacle 3: Working with Customers Who Do Not Want to Commit There is nothing more frustrating than getting ready to close a sale, only to have a customer say, “I still need to think about it.” When this happens, a seasoned sales- person knows that he or she needs to fol- low up on the customer’s statement. You should respond by saying: “I can under- stand you need to think about this. After all, you need to do what is best for you and your company. Tell me, what specif- ically stands out from our conversation that is of interest to you?”

The goal of this question is to get clar- ification on how much the prospect is really interested and whether or not the prospect feels they want to move forward. Is there sincerity in the response, or are you being blown off?

Once you get an answer to your first question, you can acknowledge that the customer has concerns, and ask them what they are. Ask what is holding them back from making a decision, and then hopefully you can help alleviate their con- cerns and get the sale back on track. Obstacle 4: Understanding the Custo- mer’s Values Too often, salespeople get stuck on the issue of price. If you sell on price, you lose on price. As soon as someone cheaper

comes along, a customer will not give you a second thought before cutting you loose. Instead of getting caught up in price wars, you need to steer a customer’s attention to other issues. This means you need to ask your customers about value. What characteristics does the organiza- tion value in a vendor? Are they most con- cerned with good customer service, high quality products, speedy delivery, or ease of use? Once you get a customer talking about these areas, you can determine what their needs are and how you can position yourself to get those needs met. Obstacle 5: Establishing Credibility Many salespeople make the mistake of spending an initial meeting talking all about themselves and their products. This is a mistake. During an initial call, your goal should be for the prospect to do 70% of the talking. Why? For two reasons: 1. You want to hear about his/her prob- lems, goals, concerns and ideas.

2. You want to qualify if there is a gen- uine opportunity with this prospect.

You cannot do either of those things if you are trying to sell during the first meet- ing. Instead, start with a unique value opening statement, which is a 30-60 sec- ond description of who you are as a com- pany and what you do. It should detail the benefits of your company, the impact that hiring you will have to their organization, and an immediate follow-up question to gauge their expectations and interest. Remember Lucy? She was able to ask great questions, which led to increased sales and performance.

Paul Cherry is President of Performance Based Results and is the leading authority on customer engagement strategies. He has more than 23 years experience in sales train- ing, leadership development, sales perform-

ance coaching and management coaching. He is also the author of Questions that Sell: The Powerful Process for Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants and Ques- tions that Get Results: Innovative Ideas Managers Can Use to Improve Their Team’s Performance. For more informa- tion on Paul, please visit www.pbresults.com. You can also reach him at 302-478-4443 or cherry@pbresults.com.