Minu müügijuttude lemmik, Shamus Brown üllitas oma meililistis taas ühe hea tüki, mida tahan jagada. Olen ise aktiivselt müügitegevuses osalemas ja see lugu lööb nagu naelapea pihta. Vabandan, et ei jõudnud tõlkida eesti keelde, aga ehk saab ivad kätte ka inglise keelsest asjast. Niisiis:
HOW TO RESPECTFULLY TAKE CONTROL OF THE SALE
It’s a wonderful feeling when you ask a prospect a question, and he tells you about a problem he’s has that you can fix. It’s like having a woman you want tell you that she needs someone like you.
It’s a great feeling cause your prospect does need you when he tells you that.
And when a prospect tells you that he needs something like what you got, he’s exposed himself and made himself a bit vulnerable. Which is why the average sales person doesn’t hear such
needs so easily. Instead prospects tell you either that they don’t need anything, or they tell you exactly what they think they need to solve their problem. Either way they are protecting themselves.
If they say they don’t need anything that may be true. Or it may be that they don’t know that they have a problem, because they don’t know that there is a better way to do things than what they are doing now.
Think about it. Every innovation creates a gap that new things can be sold into. But before such sales can happen, prospects have to become aware that there is a new and better way, that there is a gap. And once there is a new and better way, many people will want that, and hence will have a “problem” that can be solved.
Other times prospects protect themselves by telling you exactly what they want (or think they need) to solve their problem. This usually causes us difficulty as sellers though cause the prospect typically figures out his solution by looking at other products to determine what the possibilities are. And if your product is not the main one he looks at, then you are in for an uphill battle.
Most people prospects, men in particular, would rather speak to you the seller as if they are in control and you are not. You see most people’s experience with sales people is not good. Yours and mine included. Most people think of sales people as poorly educated, not that bight, and aggressive. So people put up their defenses to protect against the idea that you are going to attack them and try to get you to do something you don’t want to do.
This is not to your benefit however. No. You need to be in control of the sale.
There is good news however. Control over the sale does not have to be a battle between you and the prospect. You can respectfully take control of the sale by telling your prospect what you are going to do. You simply tell your prospect at the beginning of every sales call what’s going to happen, and 99% of the time he will agree to it.
Tell him that you are going to start out by asking him questions, and that after you get through asking enough questions to understand his situation that you will answer his questions for example. Your prospect will be relieved that you are smart and respectful and that he doesn’t have to be in control.
When you run your sales calls this way, you will then have the chance to probe and hear about the real true nature of the prospect’s problem, instead of his already thought through and biased-against-you solution.
And you will experience that wonderful feeling of hearing prospects tell you they need something just like what you sell.
