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... that first move could also be one of perpetual indecision as a result.
Listen Rattus, if you expressed indecision how would that sound? How bout; "well, I dunno" ... ?
If I now say "what is it you do not know about" using an OPEN PROBE (open ended question) the prospect would say "Everything" indicating that you did not establish enough value in the sale, which happens. Likely you were not close enough to having them ready to buy when you asked the closing question.
And - and this is a BIG "and" - you should not have asked an open probe should you get to this point. Instead, ask a closed probe. By saying "I understand _________, this is my mistake [you better mean this], WHAT WAS IT YOU WANTED TO THINK ABOUT [do not pause] WAS IT ________________________?”
You would now have to go over every point in the sale again, one closed probe after another, trying to find out what it was that you thought was accepted which was not. This happens with low reactors, people who nod their heads but that nod means “I am listening” not “I agree, that does sound beneficial to me!”
Selling professionally is terribly misunderstood. In the case of someone being very uncomfortable it is almost certainly and indication of us having done a poor job on the way to the natural conclusion of a sale. IT IS NOT THE TECHNIQUE OF CLOSING THAT CAUSED THEM TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE BUT THAT YOU DID NOT SET UP THE CLOSE DURING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS.
In other words, if we get there, have an uncomfortable moment, it is our fault. Not for asking but for a poor selling job.
Selling is not what most people think it is. It isn’t telling and, yes, people do buy form people they like but it has been proven that A type personalities do not close at a higher ratio, subtlety works too – in fact, selling certainly involved subtle communications.
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"That must be nice having people already interested. However I have always done cold selling, so there needs to be a Need and Want created." -- Jumpman
So do I work in the cold market but unlike how you work I do not create a need and a want. I find people who have them by asking.
Let’s repeat that comment again shall we? "I find people who have them by asking."
This may surprise Mitch and certain readers ….clearly, what else can a sales person do but ask? I intend to have you see that there is no other course of action!
Of course, the best form of "asking" or probing, is done face to face. Only then can you deal with issues like misunderstandings, which are better known as objections (actually a type of objection).
For instance, aren't your vitamins more expensive on average Mitch? If so (and if you sell vitamins), to a prospect this could be a
perceived drawback ... value is the way to deal with this objection clearly. And it is easier to provide value when you can show them various pieces of evidence in your sales kit.
Similarly, when you "sell" the business Mitch, as I know you recruit MLMers as well as sell your MLM products, there are times when a prospect will say (after understanding you make money off of the people you recruit and the ones they recruit and so on ...) "Isn't that a pyramid?"
This is a
misunderstanding (for those who do not know, misunderstandings and perceived drawbacks are the two types of objections we run into).
You can't tell me that you don't deal with attitudes, that you do not find people who need to be redirected ... in other words, who require salesmanship; sales skills.
No matter what anyone says, it is impossible to always have lay down sales. And I reject the notion that we should sit in this forum and hear that "I don't have to do that" ... sorry and I am not picking on Mitch. There are others who also say such things and it is, to some degree, misleading to the impressionable.
This notion of "create a need and a want" ... not doing it because of "asking". What do you think professional sales people do? Badger prospects into admitting things? Or simply ask questions till they realize they have needs that can be addressed?
Two or three simple questions "uncover" needs. And this in about 95% of selling situations. It does not mean you close everybody or even close it just means that doing this, this thing we call sales, it a matter of asking question; of probing to understand.
How many times has a prospect given you an appointment and not clearly understood why? Gosh, just the week before last I had a situation where I had called two supermarkets in a small farming community, made an appointment with one, but as I looked on the website displaying both, I wrote the other one's name down. What happened?
I ended up with two appointments. I called to confirm on the day, apologizing that I would be late, would the client like me to come another day? He said yes - but he was not the guy I had appointed!
When I figured this out, I called the other guy and explained. Rebooked with him. Presto ... the point is, I got an appointment with a guy who had no idea what it was about!
Will I sell both? Not likely but there is a chance. Both have needs ... both did not know they could reduce their power consumption before I contacted them. Both will be probed to uncover extra needs or "create needs" when I get in front of them.
This is the way selling is done professionally (not the writing down of the wrong name cause I was not wearing my glasses but the probing). There is no other professional way.
One guy says I "create needs" the other guy says "I don't do that" I find people who have needs by asking.
Those two people just said the same thing.
The difference? Through training you understand what this really means. Then you are better prepared to take meetings with people who may have marginal needs or "opportunities" as yet uncovered.
In selling at the highest level if you try the method of disqualification - over the phone - you will loose prospects. There is no two ways about it.
What you have to do is be sure you have a product or service that is "needed" - that there is a market for. Then you do as much qualifying as you can get away with, no more, no less. The rest is done face to face.
Take this as a misunderstanding "the first one who speaks looses!" Who said that? J. Douglas Edwards. why did "Dougie" decide to say it that way? Did he mean the customer looses by speaking? No. He meant to emphasize the point and choose these unforgettable words to hammer into sales person's brains.
There are many misunderstandings, not only the ones prospects have but those right inside our own industry. Selling is poorly understood at best. And arguments in this thread prove that clearly.
Great sales people provide one of the most awesome services known to man, they help people buy. In the normal course of helping them, we have to allow them to see why. And we can only do that by asking questions and understanding what they think. Good luck trying to sell any other way. -Gold Calling
I've since decided that I much prefer questions that will elicit a response rather than silence.
Aloha.... Tom :cool: -rattus58