Spend your time trying to disqualify them instead of qualifying them

Thomas

Can I get a witness?

I have learned this lesson at great expense from the school of hard knocks. For the love of Pete don't do it!

Ace Coldiron

Never heard that said better.

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www.acecoldiron.com

Flyn L. Penoyer

The concept of trying to qualify in the way suggested is box pushing. If you stop selling your "box" and offer value all of this garbage goes away.

If you read Mack Hanan's book "Consultative Selling" he talks about a concept call the "profit improvement proposal." His method is to offer a proposal that matches the strategic objective of the corporation. And he offers that proposal to the people who are directly responsible for that strategic objective -- the CEO and CFO.

This is obviously a technique that may not be directly applicable on smaller or less significant purchases. However, it can be adapted and the concepts use in most situations with great results.

The idea revolves around presenting something of value as opposed to a product or service. The product or service are not the value -- the result is.

If you offer the value the prospect will instantly qualify himself.

Example.
If you sell a productivity software for auto shops and go into the shop trying to find out how they operate and what tools they have for there business blah blah blah, you're going to sound like every other peddler.

However, if you go into the owner and say. "Look I don't know if I can help you -- but what I do know is that the shops I have worked with have achieved average benchmark increase of 20-30 percent in productivity, which for an average shop is a minimum of $60K.

At this point the owner is going to want to know if he can gain $60 in revenue -- now you are talking to a prospect that wants to solve a problem.

rattus58

This sounds a little like what we do.... Explore, Identify, Recommend and Agree.... simply put...

"If you read Mack Hanan's book "Consultative Selling" he talks about a concept call the "profit improvement proposal." His method is to offer a proposal that matches the strategic objective of the corporation. And he offers that proposal to the people who are directly responsible for that strategic objective -- the CEO and CFO."

Don't we as sales people Explore with our clients what they do and how they do it? Don't we as sales people attempt to Identify areas of concern for which we might provide a solution? Don't we as sales people then Recommend (offer) a proposal that matches the needs (strategic objective) of the corporation. Don't we as sales people then come to Agreement with our clients on the right solution?

Aloha....

Gold Calling

It is all in the way you do it Flyn. If you are good enough you set up the questioning in a way that makes perfect sense. And, at this stage, the "take away" is a - shall I say - "card" that is too early played. Regardless of that, the disqualifying process is one that simply is not required to get to the meat of the matter, not at all. And, may I say, you are not using disqualification as it has been put forward by some of the NEW AGE SELLING camps.

I know MACK's book is good, though I have not read it. My dad perused it a few decades back and explained the little he adopted from it. And I say "little" because he was a national sales contest winner and respected trainer almost a decade prior to that book coming out.

What I want to say is ... if we think more generally, as in uncovering NEEDS (some are felt as pain and some are opportunities: areas where no pain is felt) then the "consultative" method is just how we approach what to do with the benefit(s) uncovered.

We are really in a way saying the same thing, I am just trying to assert that "specialization" is not a good idea in selling ... understand all approaches, in fact: DO IT ALL PEOPLE!

Master this crazy unrecognized art, you won't regret it.

At this point in the economy, strangely, an increase in productivity may not be a benefit - interestingly enough. It depends on what level of automation exists and how big the demand (amount of orders) is.

If you said to an auto parts maker "I can increase your through-put by 12%, even with your handy-dandy automation system that replaced 60 employees with four" (then add a value to that increase as you did Flyn) and the owner of that business may say;

"I am at 37% of last year, I don't need increased capacity right now. I can't lay off any of the people remaining on that line, as we will always require manual quality checks ... "

One benefit of software in the automation process is less people are required. And, while the union and/or employees may not love that idea, people can get let go to make that extra $60,000 annually a reality. But not in industry where a certain level of automation already exists.

The point of bringing this up is to say that you are much better off with a general benefit statement at the beginning. What is their PAIN (need) ... maybe a reduction of rejects rather than increased through put (productivity is a general statement really)?

There is no through put improvement but stock reject goes from 2% to POINT THREE %!

The whole concept of SELLING PROFESSIONALLY is SUBTLE ... it may not immediately hit you but what we need to do is be good enough to gain their attention and get the right to go forward, exploring the situation through probing/asking questions ... WITHOUT SAYING MUCH OF ANYTHING!

Edwards would say; "Are you good enough to do this one?"

It is all in the way you do it Flyn. If you are good enough you set up the questioning in a way that makes perfect sense. And, at this stage, the "take away" is a - shall I say - "card" that is too early played. Regardless of that, the disqualifying process is one that simply is not required to get to the meat of the matter, not at all. And, may I say, you are not using disqualification as it has been put forward by some of the NEW AGE SELLING camps.

I know MACK's book is good, though I have not read it. My dad perused it a few decades back and explained the little he adopted from it. And I say "little" because he was a national sales contest winner and respected trainer almost a decade prior to that book coming out.

What I want to say is ... if we think more generally, as in uncovering NEEDS (some are felt as pain and some are opportunities: areas where no pain is felt) then the "consultative" method is just how we approach what to do with the benefit uncovered. We are really in a way saying the same thing, I am just trying to assert that "specialization" is not a good idea in selling ... DO IT ALL PEOPLE!

Master this crazy unrecognized art, you won't regret it.

At this point in the economy, strangely, an increase in productivity may not be a benefit - interestingly enough. It depends on what level of automation exists and how big the demand (amount of orders) is.

If you said to an auto parts maker "I can increase your through-put by 12%, even with your handy-dandy automation system that replaced 60 employees with four" (then add a value to that increase as you did Flyn) and the owner of that business may say;

"I am at 37% of last year, I don't need increased capacity right now. I can't lay off any of the people remaining on that line, as we will always require manual quality checks ... "

One benefit of software in the automation process is less people are required. And, while the union and/or employees may not love that idea, people can get let go to make that extra $60,000 annually a reality. But not in industry where a certain level of automation already exists.

The point of bringing this up is to say that you are much better off with a general benefit statement at the beginning. What is their PAIN (need) ... maybe a reduction of rejects rather than increased through put (productivity is a general statement really)?

There is no through put improvement but stock reject goes from 2% to POINT THREE %!

The whole concept of SELLING PROFESSIONALLY is SUBTLE ... it may not immediately hit you but what we need to do is be good enough to gain their attention and get the right to go forward, exploring the situation through probing/asking questions ... WITHOUT SAYING MUCH OF ANYTHING!

Edwards would say; "Are you good enough to do this one?"

And getting better means practice but how many people on this forum can say they practice the setup of a meeting out loud with their significant other or to a mirror repeatedly to be able to express more so with enthusiasm than an actual benefit as to why a meeting should be conducted?

How about less than 1% ... !?!?!

... and yet this might be the most critical sales practice. It comes into play during both forms of cold calling (telephone prospecting and door knocking) as well as at the beginning of a meeting, especially if you were NOT involved in setting it up.

How about less than 1% ... !?!?!

... and yet this might be the most critical sales practice. It comes into play during both forms of cold calling (telephone prospecting and door knocking) as well as at the beginning of a meeting, especially if you were NOT involved in setting it up.

Skip Anderson

Amen to that, Steven!

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Selling to Consumers
B2C Sales Training

Alexander

Since most prospects have a automatic no response when they hear something from a sales rep, the disqualifying approach wastes a lot of otherwise valuable leads. You need to do some persuading and time to let the need ripen in the mind of the prospect before asking if they want your product/service.

Gold Calling

This is not my expereince. The overwhelming majority are not negative to questions.

A low percentage are the opposite.

Thomas

I think in the mind of a high percentage of prospects if someone else, like a salesperson, says something it is suspect but if the prospect says the same thing it isn't.