SKILL
Stages of the Sale How to identify the three stages of buying –
and move through them to the close. ART SOBCZAK
The saying “timing is everything” may be doubly true in sales. For the best chance at closing, tailor your sales approach not just to your buyers’ charac- ter and industry, but also to how far they have pro- gressed in the decision making process. Depend- ing on whether they are considering, desiring, or decided (the three stages of the purchasing pro- cess) you may need to simply provide information or perhaps adopt a more aggressive approach.
To build a presentation that’s in perfect time with your prospect, learn the three stages and how to identify buyers in each.
CONSIDERING
“Considering” buyers may recognize a need to buy at some distant and
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indefinite future date, but feel no ur- gency yet. These are your least serious (though not necessarily least promising) prospects. They probably just haven’t started shopping around to compare products and prices yet – which means you may have to wait longer and work harder than usual to get the sale.
Certain statements are typical of considering-stage buyers: “We feel we need to address the situation of...” or, “There has been talk of getting something in place to help with...” These statements are open windows of opportunity – but be realistic about how much time and effort remains between you and the sale. With considering prospects, focus your approach on why they should buy. If you can develop those reasons into a stronger desire to take action, you may speed up the sales process. Respond to statements like the ones above by saying, “Tell me more about the situation,” “What are the costs associated with that problem?” or, “What will happen if you do noth- ing?” The answers you get will tell you how much energy to devote to this prospect – or they may help pros- pects realize the seriousness of their problem and the need to act quickly.
DESIRING When wants grow stronger and needs grow urgent, prospects are ready to take definite steps toward buying. Once they pass into this “desiring” stage, prospects typically speak in the future tense but use more specific, action-oriented words like “doing,” “buying,” or “acquiring.” They may open a statement by saying, “What we’re looking at doing is....” In response, question the prospect as you did in the considering phase. Present the specific benefits of faster action and the negative consequenc- es of procrastination. Such reminders should convince them there’s no time to buy like the present.
DECIDED Your buyer’s choice now is no longer whether to buy, but which vendor to choose. You’ll know they are “de- cided” when you hear buying action statements in the past tense, e.g., “We’ve decided to upgrade our system and are looking for the right program.”
As a rule, decided prospects are already buying from someone else,
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