Over the last few posts we’ve gone over 5 hidden objections you face when closing the sale.

Here’s a free report you that covers even more about closing…

“15 Things You Need to Know about Closing the Sale”

When you click on the link the report will open.

Enjoy!

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

Even the most positive folks you know harbor negative attitudes.  Some of us tend to think more negatively than others.  Some respond more negatively to certain things than others.  So how do you deal with a potential buyer who seems to hold negative attitudes?

Avoid War

Every time I’ve ever seen this happen it results in a virtual train wreck.  The prospect makes a negative statement and you respond by trying to convince the prospect they’re wrong.

For example, the prospect says what you are selling costs too much.  Rather than finding out what they really mean by that statement you take it as an opportunity to challenge their statement.  So you come back with a statement about how great a value your service is.

This is a dangerous approach.  You can very well win the argument and lose the sale because the more you try to convince the prospect of your position the more committed they become to their position.

A defensive reaction to a negative attitude escalates the problem rather than deflating it.  Whenever a prospect makes a statement against what you sell you need to respect their point of view.  To respect their point of view you need to acknowledge it, and find out more about what they mean.

Ownership

One way to work through negative attitudes is to help the potential client imagine ownership.  They need to think through how ownership would impact them in as much detail as possible.  They need to explore both the positive and negative potential.

Respect Motivation

Whether a person has a positive attitude or negative attitude they are either motivated to move toward something or away from something.  You need to figure out if the person you are speaking with is more interested in moving toward a specific desired outcome, or if they are more concerned with avoiding a specific undesired outcome.

So when you are presented with a negative challenge:

• Diffuse the challenge by accepting it as a valid concern
• Respect the challenge by exploring the expressed concern
• Uncover the impact both positive and negative
• Accept challenges as unanswered questions
• Identify the prime motivator

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: JFeister

If you look the word assumption up in a dictionary you’ll find several different meanings.

• Assumption of obligation (taking responsibility)
• Assumption of command (asserting a claim)
• False assumption

We make assumptions when we take something for granted.  This can be a VERY costly mistake.  Just ask Coca-Cola.

Back in the 1980’s Coke was concerned about their future market share.  Pepsi was going head-to-head with Coke in their Pepsi Challenge commercials.  In these commercials they showed Coke drinkers choosing Pepsi over Coke in taste tests.  57% said they preferred Pepsi over Coke.

Coke executives were frantic.  They made the assumption a shift had occurred in cola drinkers taste preferences.  They made the assumption they needed to change their secret Coke formula, or they feared they would lost their dominant market share.

Thus New Coke was born.  Much to Coke’s shock and horror there was a virtual revolt among loyal Coke drinkers.  New Coke was such a disaster they immediately stocked shelves with “Classic Coke”.  New Coke sales went to zero.

The flaw in their assumption was the difference between a sip test and a whole can test.  While testers might prefer a sip of Pepsi those same tasters did NOT prefer a whole can of Pepsi over a whole can of Coke.  The assumption that Coke drinkers were switching to Pepsi was FALSE.

Oddly enough you make assumptions that prevent you from making sales too.  When a potential clients says…

• It costs too much
• I already have…
• I need someone with … certification
• I can’t afford it
• I can wait on this

You make the assumption those words mean the prospect doesn’t want to buy.  What it means is these potential clients have QUESTIONS.  The problem is you don’t respect their questions because of YOUR assumptions.

When you hear, “It costs too much.”  The appropriate response is, “Costs too much?”  Because you need to help your potential buyer tell you about their concerns.

“It costs too much” may really mean they need a payment option, they don’t see the value, they simply don’t need what you have to offer, etc.  However, until you know exactly what that statement means to that particular person you can’t possibly respect your prospect or yourself.

Assumptions are a preventable challenge when it comes closing the sale.  Don’t take the bait and assume anything.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: randychiu

I’m guilty and I’ve no doubt you’re guilty too.  We all, at least occasionally, selectively listen to others.  Sometimes we listen selectively because we aren’t ready to listen to the speaker.  Other times we do it because we want to hone in on what we want to hear and ignore what we don’t.

Remember when your Dad said you could take the car if you washed it when you brought it back?  You heard “You can take the car”.  Somehow you did NOT hear “You have to wash it when you bring it back.”  Sorry, Dad.

Most of the time selective listening, while annoying, is pretty harmless.  However, selective listening leads to misunderstandings.  And those misunderstandings can lead to damaged relationships.

It’s All My Fault

In most cases when someone misunderstands what you said because of selective listening we get mad and blame the other person.  Even though you may be justified that doesn’t solve the problem.  The reality is you have to take full responsibility for what your potential clients “hears”.

Shut Up & Listen

The quickest easiest solution to overcoming selective listening is to simply shut up and listen.  The more you talk the less the other person actually hears.  Think about it.  When you listen to someone else, watch a TV show, or listen to a CD your attention comes and goes.  That means you never get the whole message.

The best way to get your message across is to help the other person do more of the talking.  Speaking requires thought, focus, and attention.  Plus it engages your potential buyer and increases their interest.

Place the burden for listening on YOUR shoulders.  Ask questions you really want to know the answer to, and your potential client wants to answer.  As you listen make sure you use both your eyes AND your ears.

First, listen for the content.  Then listen for emotion.

One thing I want you never to forget.  When your potential buyer is speaking they are saying whatever they are saying for a very important reason.  Sometimes it may seem like they’ve veered off topic.

When a potential client veers off topic they may be doing it to sidetrack you, and prevent you from asking for the sale.  When that happens recognize you are no where near ready to ask for the sale.  You literally need to go back to square one because this potential client perceives no value in your offer.

Other times when a potential client appears to go off topic they are really very much ON topic.  They are sharing something very important to them.  Even though you may not immediately see the connection this is a critical part of their decision making process.  You have to help them help you see the connection.

Finally, when a potential client tells a great story resist all instincts you have to tell your own story.  When you tell your story what you are doing is one upping your prospect.  Need I tell you how bad an idea that is?

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

Lack of focus is a big challenge for most people.  There are just so many distractions, opportunities, and crisis going on it’s hard to stay on track and focused.  Most of us can only sustain focus for short bursts of concentrated effort.  Focus is hard work.

The Role of Focus in Closing the Sale

All too often you unwittingly set yourself up for failure when it comes time to ask for the sale.  Here are just 3 of the most common mistakes you make:

• You give your prospect too many choices
• Those choices feel too complicated to the prospect
• The prospect is not clear about the outcome

Before you think about asking a potential client to buy make sure you know enough about their needs so you can limit their choices to no more than three.

Sometimes it’s just plain hard for your potential client to really understand what you are selling.  It isn’t because they lack intelligence.  Rather they simply don’t have the expertise in this area that you do.  That means you have to make it crystal clear.

Stories, analogies, and examples are great ways to do that.  We naturally think in pictures so use that to your advantage.  Let’s say I came to your office to talk to you about how I can help you get the clients you want so you can do what you get paid to do.  Here’s how I might transform this concept into something more tangible.

Before coming to your office I might stop at the greeting card store and purchase one of those greeting cards that you can record a message in that plays when it’s opened.  As we are talking I will need to help you realize that it takes marketing, sales, and referrals to fill and keep your business full of clients.  After we’ve talked for a while but before we are ready to close I need to make sure you fully appreciate this concept.

I hand you the greeting card in the envelop.  Then I might ask, “If you were sorting through your mail and noticed this hand addressed envelop how likely is it that you would stop and open that envelop?”  I’ve yet to meet anyone who does not open a personal communication in the mail.  I would then explain how this card represents your need to let the people most likely to become your clients know about you and that’s called marketing.  Marketing grabs the attention of these ideal potential clients and makes a favorable first impression.

I would then ask you to remove the card from the envelop and open it.  I would point out how the recording in the card is like sales.  I would have pre-recorded a message in the card that includes a request for action.  Then I would explain how this message represents your opportunity to invite the receiver to take an action that brings you at least one step closer in the process of working together.

I would point out how neither the envelop or the card itself for this particular card are specifically addressed to my potential client.  The reason is because this card can serve as a tool your existing clients can use to easily refer you to the people they know.  This particular card is intended to get passed along from client to potential client.  A note inside the card would also explain this concept.

If we had sat together and I had shared this card and this story about the card with you, do you think you could remember my card story?

Was it a good way to show you how it all works together?

Could you repeat my story?

BINGO

That’s exactly what you want.  You want to use a story, analogy, or example to make your offer understandable, memorable, and repeatable.  You may not realize just how important repeatable is.  You see when your potential clients decide to choose you they will need to logically explain their decision to someone else, and you want to make it super easy for them to do that.

Plus your story makes it very clear what your buyer is getting.  A confused mind can not buy.  Until your potential client can answer these two questions they aren’t ready to buy:

• What do I get?
• Why do I want that?

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: Creations by Ro

Resistance to change is one of those human frailties I mentioned in the last post that make it harder for you to close the sale if you don’t understand it, and don’t know how to deal with it.

Extreme Motivation

It is much easier to remain complacent and keep doing whatever you’re doing now than it is to make a change.  Change is uncomfortable.  It takes extreme motivation to either avoid something very painful, or get something very pleasurable to spur most people to get off their duffs and DO SOMETHING.

The option of doing nothing, aka not buying, is SOOO much easier than the option of buying.  Even when your prospect really wants to buy they waffle back and forth thinking should I or shouldn’t I.  It’s much easier to stick with what you know than venture into the unknown.  As far as your potential client is concerned you are selling an unknown.

Risky Business

Making a change is risky no matter what that change might be.  When your prospect is weighing the pros and cons of purchasing they are really evaluating how this purchase impacts them:

• Are they risking being wrong and having to admit it?
• Are they risking investing more than the value they’ll get?
• Are they risking how others think of them?
• Are they risking giving up things they like?
• Are they risking having to do things or get things they don’t like?

The list could go on, however, you get the idea.  One thing I want to make sure you don’t miss.  These risks are all about how this purchase decision impacts them as a person on a very personal level.

A common mistake people make is talking in terms of what their prospect is buying from a feature or process perspective.  What they’re really concerned about is how this purchase impacts them as a person.  Will this purchase decision make them feel more confident, respected, healthier, better looking, etc.?

Peel the Onion

You’ve probably heard the phrase you have to peel the onion many times in sales.  What people often don’t understand is that when you peel the onion you are working to uncover the core motivators for the person you are talking to.  You will never get to that point unless you earn the trust and respect of that person.

That means you need take it easy and allow that level of trust to develop.  Start by asking the easy questions until you earn the right to ask the important questions.  You will need to ask questions like:

• How would this impact your customers?
• How would it impact your ability to manage your employees?
• How might this impact your profits?
• How would this help you grow?
• If I could show you…. how would that impact the way you work with your clients?
• If I could show you… how would that impact your family?
• If I could show you… how would that impact your standing among your peer?
• What happens if you do nothing?

Think of the questions relevant to your business and your potential clients.

Unless you can openly talk about whatever is creating the resistance you can’t possibly overcome it by helping your prospect talk it through.  Until you uncover what really gets your potential client fired up and ready to act you won’t immediately seal the deal.

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: Danilo Cattani

I have to agree with Gary Layo, listening is one of THE most important skills when it comes to selling.  I know this completely contradicts what most people think about sales.  People who aren’t very good at selling think the more you talk the more you’ll sell.  The reality is the more you talk the more likely you are to talk yourself out of a sale.

When it comes to listening some of the most important listening you’ll ever do doesn’t happen with your ears.  Quite often the most important listening comes from your eyes and your gut feelings.  The better job you do tapping into the unspoken messages you receive the easier it is to actually sell something.

Here’s why this is true.  All humans are innately frail.  These human frailties, though they exist, are rarely spoken about openly.  Nope, we keep them locked inside because we think if we never speak of them no one will realize we have them.  These human frailties create objections to taking action and buying.  If you don’t recognize and respect these hidden objections you will sell far less than you could.

These are the 5 hidden objections based on our human frailty:

1. Resistance to change
2. Lack of focus
3. Selective listening
4. Assumptions
5. Negative attitudes

You must always acknowledge and respect the fact that even though your potential buyer is not voicing these objections they exist.  That means you must bring them to the surface so you can work with the potential buyer to overcome them.

Before you do that though you need to acknowledge and respect these objections in yourself.

Why are you resisting making the changes you know you need to make to change your results?

How would it impact you if you focused on just one thing until you could succeed with that one thing?

What aren’t you hearing that if you did would change everything for you?

How are your assumptions preventing you from getting the very things you want?

What negative attitudes are keeping you from doing what you need to do to get what you want?

Coach Cheryl

Do it Yourself

Do it with a Little Help

Do it with Guidance

photo credit: perpetualplum

The fact that a turf war is going on may not be at the top of your list of things to pay attention to.  However, as I read the article Rob Enderle recently wrote about the competition among the big three to provide the operating system for your next computer or notepad I realized this was yet another opportunity to make an important point.

photo credit: Leon Maia

If anyone understands the importance of what’s going on now it’s Bill Gates.  After all, he was the nerdy upstart who virtually took down the giant… IBM.  IBM was to computers what Kleenex is to facial tissues.  They were the big gun who could outspend and out promote all the competition.  That is until… Bill Gates completely changed the game.

Now if you’re tempted to believe this is only happening in the software industry think again.  You only have to look back to the recent election to see the same thing in government.  Then candidate, Barak Obama came out of nowhere and did what almost no one thought was possible.

Here’s why this is important to you and your sales.  Right now you are in the eye of the hurricane when it comes to sales.  Just like what’s happening with operating systems in the computer industry… how, why, and the way sales occur is in the midst of a big change.  How people use their computers has changed.  Why people use their computers has changed.  The way people use their computers has changed.

Google is responding to those changes.  They’re in a more nimble position to make those changes than Microsoft and Apple who are tied to the past.  However, Google doesn’t have the marketing muscle of either.

No matter what you’re selling, no matter what industry or sector of the economy your business is in, the same is true.  How you sell to the people most likely to buy your stuff has to change.  Why you sell what you sell to the people most likely to buy your stuff has to change.  The way you sell what you sell to the people most likely to buy your stuff has to change.

But I Hate Change…

If you’re like most people you absolutely hate change.  You want to keep doing what you’ve been doing and pretend things will go back to the way they were.  You want to keep doing what you’ve been doing and hope for the same old results.  You want to keep doing what you’ve been doing and bet this is just another passing fade.

Fear of change makes you very vulnerable because things are going to change no matter how you respond to those changes.  You either change with the world around you… or you get left behind.  You either make the changes you need to make to serve the people who buy your stuff the way they want to be served or… you fail.

Time for Phenomenal Success

What this also means is now is the time for phenomenal success.  When you are the one who changes when others won’t… you hold the key to setting yourself apart.  When you set yourself apart… you have the potential to be found by hordes of buyers.  When you help those buyers the way they want to get helped… you have the potential to own the market even… if you’re just a one man computer nerd who happens to know how to cut a good deal in a market that appears indomitable.

What changes do you need to make to take full advantage of this opportunity?

As we head into a holiday weekend here in the U.S. I want to share a few things for you to think over.  Unless you don’t read a newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch the news you already we are losing jobs at a rate of about 600,000 jobs a month.  The White House is forecasting an unemployment rate exceeding 10%.

If you took that information at face value alone things could look pretty grim.  Plus many of you are lamenting about companies closing.  Everyone is tightening their purse strings.  Does this mean you won’t be selling much of anything to anyone anytime soon?

Take a Closer Look

Well, I want you to take a closer look.  I only heard this mentioned briefly.  It doesn’t seem to be a big news interest story for the media just yet.  However, the number of new businesses is growing at about the same pace each month as the number of jobs lost.

WHAT THE HECK!!!  Yes, it seems that more and more people are fed up with someone else controlling their destiny.  They can’t depend on the security they once enjoyed from their employment, there are hundreds of applicants for every job, so people are electing to take matters into their own hands.

What Does this Mean for YOU?

It means you’ve never had a better opportunity to actually sell something.  Each month there’s a whole new group of new businesses who need your stuff.  600,000 new businesses each month!  Just think how many of those new businesses and business owners are in an industry you can help.

There’s no reason you can’t be the person who gets their business.  All you need to do is answer 5 questions for these new potential buyers better than the competition.  Here are the 5 questions you must answer:

1. Why are you contacting me?
2. Why should I pay attention to you?
3. Why is this the right thing for me?
4. Why does it cost this much?
5. Why should I act now?

When you can do a good job of answering those 5 questions you won’t have any problem attracting and attaining new buyers.

You & Your Potential Buyers have a Common Challenge

Oddly enough you probably share a common challenge with your buyers.  Those new business owners are starry eyed and enthusiastic about their exciting new future.  They have a good idea or a skill they intend to build a business around.

At first they don’t know what they don’t know.  It’s once you start implementing those ideas and run into road blocks and obstacles that you begin to appreciate it isn’t as easy as you once thought.  The common challenge you share is effectively communicating:

• What whatever you’re selling actually does for the person buying
• The critical reasons why
• Best options

Most new business owners don’t have a clue how to effectively communicate these three critical pieces of information.  You simply have to communicate these critical pieces of information effectively to succeed.  Even though you would think it would be easy to communicate what your offer does it isn’t because most people try to tell you what their offer does in terms of themselves rather than in terms of what the buyer is looking for.

Reasons Why

Without a solid reason why for the potential buyer everything you put out there gets a, “So what?” response.  Each potential buyer must understand:

• The reason why they should pay attention to you
• The reason why what you say is true
• The reason why they should act now

When potential buyers can link what you’re communicating to their reason’s why they act.  The next challenge is closing the business.  While most people think the key to selling is a sales pitch that’s exactly what turns red hot buyers into stone cold suspects.  Pitches, slick sales lines, and sales gimmicks turn buyers off.  A “salesy” approach works against you.

The good news is, like those new business owners, you don’t need to take a “salesy” approach. All you
photo credit: Tony Crescibene

need to do is help your potential buyers choose the best option for them.  Bottom line the future for sales is as hot as the fireworks this 4th of July.

Need a little help getting ready to increase your sales with all these new buyers?  Discover an easy way to increase sales.

“The purpose of your opening statement is to get the listener to listen to the rest of your pitch.”

Tony Cole

How often have you heard or read a similar statement from a sales trainer or sales manager?  It’s both a commonly held belief and a commonly used practice in sales.  I have a different view on the purpose for your opening statement.

You see, when you do or say things your prospects either expect from you because they know you’re a sales person… or they associate with sales people you set off a trigger.  That trigger initiates a conditioned reflex in the prospect.  And typically, that means your prospect automatically responds defensively to you.

In general, people have been conditioned through past experiences to distrust sales people.  Many people think anyone selling anything is simply out for themselves.  They often believe sales people deliberately take advantage of other people.  And unfortunately, there are a few sales people who do take advantage of other people reinforcing this negative view of sales people.

Never Voluntarily Trigger a Conditioned Response

You never want to trigger a conditioned response unless you know that response works to your favor.  For example; MacDonalds knows asking, “Would you like fries with that?” triggers a positive response more often than not so asking the question is a safe bet… and an example of when a trigger works to your advantage.  However, calling a stranger and asking if they have a moment is an unsafe bet because you trigger a negative response.  Why set yourself up for failure before you even have a slim chance for success?

The Mini-Pitch

The first words out of your mouth are nothing more than a mini-pitch.  It’s obvious to the prospect not only from the words you use but also from the way you say those words.  That mini-pitch triggers a negative defensive response.  Prospects don’t want to agree to this pitch even if they like what you’re saying because they definitely don’t want to agree to your big pitch.

Honestly, have you been on the receiving end of a sales pitch?  Sales pitches are boring, agonizing, even insulting.  Contrary to what sales managers and sales trainers want you to believe sales pitches are for losers who can’t sell.  The longer your pitch drags on the lower your odds of actually selling something because your prospects defenses are escalating with every word and gesture.

Connections

The real purpose of your opening words is to gain permission to interrupt the other person.  As I talked about in the last post you have to initiate contact without triggering a conditioned reflex.  You do that by behaving like an ordinary person.

If you fail to do that you end up trying to arm wrestle an alligator.  You enter a game where you really can’t win.  Even if you think you’re winning you aren’t because the prospect isn’t trusting you.

Conversation

Once you gain permission to interrupt the other person by asking for their help the next thing you want to do is confirm there’s a reason to even have a conversation.  If they aren’t already interested and looking for what your stuff does it’s not likely you’re going to have a productive conversation.  Don’t waste their time or yours by trying to have a conversation with someone who has no interest in what you can do for them.

You don’t want your prospect to listen to your pitch.  You want to engage the prospect in a conversation.  Pitches are telling and telling ain’t selling.  The more you talk the quicker you talk yourself out of a sale.

When you engage a prospect in a conversation where they’re doing most of the talking… that’s when you’re really selling.  And the cool thing is the prospect is doing all the work.  They’re telling you exactly what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.

Being ordinary and doing what’s expected in sales means you’re going to do a lot of work for very little reward.  Stop doing what’s expected and learn how to really engage your potential buyers.  That’s when sales gets really easy… and you get tremendous rewards for little effort.

If you’d like to learn more about how to sell without triggering conditioned reflexes you might enjoy reading about the Top Producers Increase Sales Club Coaching Program.