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My Prospect Gets Bored and Doesnt Want to Answer. July 24, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Asking Questions, Closing the Sale, Identifying Needs, Prospecting, Stalled Sales.
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This graduate asks: I meet my prospects and don’t have a problem asking them Situation Questions and can quickly build a conversation this way. But when I try to identify problems or opportunities (trying to establish the value of their problem), my prospect isn’t interested and the conversation dies. What can I do?

Answer: This seller is doing a good job of getting to meet new prospects and opening up the conversation. But then the prospect gets bored. Why is the prospect bored? I say its because the product being sold is more of a commodity – and is not interesting for the prospect to think about (In this case the product is a specialty hand cleaning product for industrial use.)

In a situation like this you need to get to the point. FAST! You don’t want the prospect to get bored and shutdown before you are finished getting your answers, or getting a commitment to buy or try.

So, I suggest still using your Situation Questions to find out what they are now using, how much they are using, where do they buy it from etc etc.

Then… before the prospect gets that “I’m so bored” look in their eyes… switch to asking for the order. That’s right, jump ahead and admit that your product isn’t real exciting. Empathise with your prospect.

Say… “I know I can get excited about this product. That’s what I focus on. I know how good it really is. But I realize it must be pretty boring for you. So let me get to the point.”

And then say something like…

“What can I do to get an order from you today?” , or

“What do I have to do to get you to order a trial quantity?” , or

“How can I be part of your next order?”

And if they still don’t want to place an order, create an opportunity to leave a sample. Saying something like…

“OK. I understand you wont be ordering now. But I know how good this product is. And I’m sure you’ll like it much better than what you’re using now. So how about I leave you with a sample for your team to use.”

The bottom line is… never let your prospects gets so bored they want to get rid of you. Keep an eye out for the signs of boredom and then quickly move the sale forward to reach a decision.

After initial consultation meeting the client does it on their own. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Asking Questions, Establishing Value, General, Identifying Needs, Presentations, Prospecting, Sales Basics, Stalled Sales.
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The seller asks: “After spending a number of hours in very positive, healthy discussion, consultation and demonstration, the prospect decided to go it on their own – without using our services. What went wrong?”

This sounds like a classic case of the seller giving away ‘unpaid consulting time’.

Service professionals (such as consultants and professional advisors) often fall into the trap of giving prospects all the information they need to solve the problem during the first meeting. They make it look easy.

Whilst this may seem sensible to the consultant – they have seen the same situation before and can quickly diagnose the problem – it undermines their ability to actually sell their professional services.

Many prospects will not recognise the experience required on behalf of the consultant to explore, evaluate, identify and recommend solutions. They will just see the consultant come up with a ‘quick answer’.

Surely that answer can’t be very valuable if the consultant thought of it just sitting there during the sales meeting? (Or so the prospect may think.)

This is why successful consultants have a process they take their prospect through. So the client can see the complexity of their situation, and recognise the fact that they can’t handle/resolve the situation themselves. Otherwise they wouldn’t have called in the consultant in the first place.

Of course I am not advocating making the situation more complex than it is. Or overselling a solution. It is simply a matter of making sure you can demonstrate the real value you are offering – as an expert in your field.

How do you achieve this? Create a series of questions like the one taught at Selling With Confidence that will give you the knowledge you need to make a powerful presentation to each client.

Prospect attended our event, now too busy to act. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Closing the Sale, Establishing Value, Identifying Needs, Prospecting, Sales Basics, Stalled Sales.
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The problem: “Our prospect attended our breakfast seminar briefly, asked for onsite demo then test drive of our software – still will not commit due to time and workload issues – our product is part of the solution. How do we get some action from them?”

See answer to a very similar question “My prospect is enthusiastic, but too busy to take action”

My prospect is enthusiastic, but too busy to take action. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Closing the Sale, Decision Makers, Establishing Value, Objections, Sales Basics, Stalled Sales, Uncategorized.
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Sellers situation: ” My prospect is enthusiastic about the presentation but there is a lack of urgency because of heavy workload – they are too busy to implement now.”

A ‘lack of urgency’ usually indicates one of three things.

Either:

  1. Your prospect doesn’t fully understand the benefits/value you are presenting.
  2. Your prospect doesn’t believe they have a serious problem that requires taking action.
  3. They are too unorganised to take action.

Your task in this situation is to isolate the real reason/s for why they are delaying. You must get to the core issue so you can resolve it and gain commitment, or decide to discontinue the sales discussion until the prospect is ready to act.

If either #1 or #2 reasons above apply to your prospect you may be able to gain progress by going back, clarifying your understanding of their motivations and present situation, and proposing a way forward that will motivate them to act.

If #3 applies, then you may have a very difficult time trying to close the sale. Solving that type of internal disorganisation is usually outsoide of the influence of external parties such as sales people.

However, if their desire to act is strong enough, you may be able to enlist a ‘champion’ within the prospects organisation that is in a senior enough position to take action within the company.

I stall cold calls because I don’t know what to say or do. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in General, Prospecting, Sales Basics, Stalled Sales.
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The seller says: “My biggest problem is within the cold call arrangement. Not knowing what to say or how to say it correctly will sometimes stall the conversation and subsequently any opportunity I may have had. What can I do?”

Cold calling is hard. To make it easier you need to have a plan for how you are going to approach your prospect. This includes identifying possible responses/objections the prospect may say and planning specific phrases you can use in reply.

Make sure you have qualified leads wherever possible. This makes your progress more likely.

Initial steps to a cold call:

  1. Open your conversation with a value-based message that will grab the interest of your prospect. Mention a referral immediately if you have one. Include facts and data to support what you have to offer. Remember: the task at this step is to get a conversation, not to make a sale.
  2. Plan a few open ended questions that will quickly identify if your prospect has interest in this area, and if they are the right person for you to be speaking to.
  3. Identify what needs to happen next. Do you need to schedule a personal meeting? Do you need to ask for 10-minutes to discuss it on the phone? Do you need to send some introductory material, and schedule a follow up call?

Once you are through these steps you are now working on a warm lead, not a cold call.

Continue to qualify and explore the prospects situation, earning your opportunity to present a customised solution for that client.

My client contact left and my deal fell through. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Decision Makers, General, Networking, Relationships, Sales Basics.
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“I had been working on a deal with a major electrical company when the person I had been dealing with left and the deal fell through. What should I have done?”

Professional sales people make an effort to become ‘embedded’ in their clients business. This means getting to know multiple contacts, and staying in touch even when there is no immediate need.

What can you do to become embedded in your clients organisation?

  • Ask to meet your contacts boss (in the name of developing a better understanding of your clients business).
  • Take your boss to joint meetings with your contacts boss.
  • Involve your technical staff with your clients technical staff.
  • Meet other influencers and users within your clients organisation. Let them know you are available to help if needed.

Minimise your risk by spreading your networks of contacts.

Clients hesitate to commit when I explain fees. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Asking Questions, Closing the Sale, Establishing Value, Objections, Price, Sales Basics.
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“At the end of a meeting with a client, when fees have been explained, they seem hesitant to commit. What should I do?”

Asking for a commitment should be a seamless transition from the preceding discussion, to the beginning of the implementation/delivery phase.

If clients hesitate to commit then you need to ask yourself:

  • Did I focus on presenting relevant value for the client?
  • Did I identify and remove likely objections?
  • Was I speaking with the decision maker?
  • Did I pro actively create trust?
  • Did I confirm the budget available, and the clients expectations of cost?
  • Did I expect to get a suitable level of commitment?

The most likely causes of lack of commitment is often the first and last points above.

Relevant Value

Did I find the most important factors for the client, and ensure the benefits I spoke about were focused on those factors? Too often sellers talk generally about a variety of factors that ‘may’ be valued by their prospect/client.

Don’t guess at what your prospect might think is important.

And don’t confuse your prospect by introducing a range of luke-warm benefits you think ‘may’ be of interest. This only waters down the value of the true benefits, diminishing their value in the eyes of your prospect.

Ask the right questions to zero-in on what is really driving their decision.

Suitable Commitment

What did you expect the outcome to be? Immediate agreement, approval to submit a proposal, arranging a meeting with other decision-makers, running a trial?

Was this a likely outcome to be expected by your prospect?

Sometimes we , as sellers, can expect too much from a sales discussion. For complex situations, or when multiple decision makers are involved, we need to carefully map out the series of discussions we will need to undertake.

It can be helpful to discuss that discussion map with your client during the initial meeting.

Jumping the gun and expecting too much from your prospect can make you look unprofessional, naive, or overly pushy.

Sent email. Met with prospect. No results. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Asking Questions, Establishing Value, General, Identifying Needs, Objections, Presentations, Prospecting, Sales Basics, Using Email.
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This is a situation of meeting with potential referrers, but the same applies to meeting with actual prospects.

The seller says: ” I sent intro email regarding our services. Met with accountants at their office. They have not referred us any work yet. I think I wasn’t professional enough.”

Firstly, if you think you are not professional enough… that’s not a good sign. You must know what to do and feel confident in doing it.

Accountants are a tough nut to crack. They are approached by all sorts of businesses who are trying to use the accountants relationship with their clients (as a trusted advisor) to refer their products/services.

This seller is doing well because he is already getting an appointment to speak with the accountants. In fact using email for technical people can be an effective first point of contact. But keep the message brief and to the point.

The main problem here seems to be that the accountants are either:

A) Not understanding what is being offered.

B) Not recognising the value to their clients.

C) Perceiving some element of risk in making the referral.

Ecxah of these areas must be clearly addressed as part of the sales presentation.

In fact, they should be addressed as part of the exploratory questions that are asked BEFORE the presentation is made.

Ask questions such as:

  • Do you usually refer other services?
  • What are you main concerns about referring other services?
  • How well do you think your clients are handling this part of their business now?
  • Have you considered helping your clients with this area before?

Make an effort to identify and remove any potential obstacles to gaining commitment.

I got quality leads, but only closed 5%. What went wrong? June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Closing the Sale, Establishing Value, General, Identifying Needs, Prospecting, Relationships, Sales Basics.
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In this case the seller says: “I recently used a Lead Generation company to book appointments for me with potential clients. I attended over 20 appointments but only picked up one new client.”

For this type of pre-booked appointment it may be tempting to ‘cut to the chase’ and open the meeting by explaining all about how you can help. But that is a mistake.

Clients still need to know that you understand their situation. And they want to have some degree of trust in you… before they wll be comfortable making a commitment.

So, go back to basics:

  1. Explore the clients situation (don’t assume they are ready to buy simply because you have an appointment).
  2. Identify the opportunities or problems where you can help them.
  3. During the sales discussion pro actively create trust (refer to your Selling With Confidence workbook for the 5 factors that build trust).
  4. Try to identify and preempt/eliminate any objections from the client. We want a smooth path to gaining their commitment.
  5. Ask for commitment by summarising the key points from your discussion, addressing the relevant benefits for that specific prospect.

What can I do when prospects are happy with their current provider. June 30, 2008

Posted by Stuart Ayling in Asking Questions, General, Objections, Prospecting, Sales Basics.
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Seller asks: “What can I do when my prospects are happy with their current provider and have been using them for years?”

In these situations we must start thinking on the basis that the current provider isn’t 100% perfectly meeting the prospects needs. We need to ask questions to identify where we may have an opportunity.

Ask questions such as:

  • If you were to change provider, what would you be looking for that you’re not getting now?
  • In my experience, it is rare for a provider to meet 100% of a clients needs. Is there something you would like but are not getting from your current provider?
  • How often do you review the service levels of your providers?
  • Do you get quotes/proposals from other providers to compare to your current provider?
  • Do you see your company needing different services in the future to what you have used in the past? (This question tries to identify a new opportunity the current provider isn’t already covering.)

Even if after asking these questions there is still no immediate opportunity for you… find out how often you can stay in touch. Based on the size of the prospect/opportunity you could consider various options, such as:

  • Personal sales visits (they can be brief).
  • Phone calls to ask “Is there anything we can assist you with?” (preferably you would be asking about a project or event you identified with the client, rather than a general ‘is there anything we can do’.)
  • Add the prospect to your company newsletter list.
  • Send them bits of relevant information e.g news clippings.
  • Invite them to company events.
  • Advise them on upcoming company activities – such as exhibiting at a trade show.