Our seller says: My customer is looking for a new machine and I have convinced him mine is the best one for his needs. However he is waiting to sell a car before he can buy the machine. He doesnt want to finance the purchase. It has been several weeks and I have not progressed any further. I have no idea how to move it along.

Answer: This is a tricky situation as the client has expressed a desire to buy, and has openly expalined how he will be paying for it. But this sale may still not be finalized. If we cant get closure soon the client may not end up buying.

• He may not be able to sell the car.
• He may not get the price he wanted for the car.
• He may decide to stick with what they have now, and not buy the new machine.
• A competitor may gain influence over the prospect.

During the Situation and Opportunity Question phases of the sale (this is taught at Selling With Confidence) you should have found out things such as:

• The reason for buying the new machine.
• The impact on the clients business.
• The real value/benefit they will achieve from using the new machine.

So, you need to go back to the client and remind them of the real value they are delaying by not finalizing the purchase. Don’t push your own ideas… use the information they gave you about their situation and their benefits.

You should also have asked about how they would be financing the purchase – and be prepared for this sort of delay, hopefully avoiding it from the start if possible by reminding the client of what they can achieve as soon as they start using the new machine.

However, this still may not get action. The client may insist on waiting to sell the car before buying the machine.

Rather than pushing the client too much and risk losing the sale altogether, a better approach would be to set a time frame for follow up and make sure you stay very close to the client until the purchase is finalized.