SALES BULLETIN
DO YOU GIVE UP TO EASILY ON TOUGH-TO-SELL
PROSPECTS?
Do you sometimes "give up" on hot prospects too soon? Do you sometimes leave sales on the table that should be rightfully yours?
If so, you're not alone: 51% of the salespeople responding to a Dartnell survey say they have packed up and left before the sale was
made, leaving easy pickings for competitors. Just 49% made the commitment to persist with tough prospects.
Here's what some of these salespeople-- those who give up too easily, and those who stay the course-- had to say:
"I don't pursue the sale if I receive negative responses."
"I accept objections or put-offs too easily."
"I hear objections and take them as a sign to leave."
"Our competitors are strong and customers are loyal to them."
"I have trouble countering the price objection."
"I give up when faced with low-price competition."
"I don't have the time or the skills to properly follow up leads."
"If a prospect will not buy after four calls, I take it personally and stop calling them."
"I think my problem is not knowing when to close the prospect."
"I tend to give up when running into a lot of voice mail, have trouble making appointments, or have to deal with purchasing
agents."
"Rejection is hard for me to handle. I need to learn how to be persistent, not pushy."
"If the prospect is confrontational, I choose to avoid any contact."
"Sometimes I give up too soon and go on to the next prospect, thinking I've got a better chance."
If you've ever had thoughts like these, help is right here.
Challenge: Dealing with Rejection
Let's face it: You're out there day after day, pounding the bushes for your next sale, and the majority of the time, you are forced to
face rejection. You might even be feeling frustrated because your prospects need what you are selling but you want it for them more
than they want it themselves. How can you be expected to continue forward in a positive manner without letting the rejection get in
the way of making your next sale?
Solution: Get in the habit of liking the word "NO." When you hear the word "no," you may tend to take it personally, when, most of
the time, the prospect made the decision on a pure value judgment of your offer. So how can you change your reaction?
Realize that "No' is the answer of no risk.”Yes" is the answer of risk. If a prospect does not feel ready to take the risk and invest in
your solution, all he or she is saying to you is that, at this time, the value of our solution does not justify an answer of risk. When
you understand this concept, you realize that your next step should simply be to ask the prospect where your proposed solution has
fallen short.
If you can re-address the issue and present the solution again, it is possible to turn the "No" into a "Yes." If, for some reason, you
cannot motivate your prospect to take the action of risk, then move on and realize that it may not necessarily be a result of your
efforts. After all, not everyone is going to appreciate your solutions and you.
The Secret of Superstars
If I were to ask you what the oldest computer in the world is, hopefully your answer would be the human brain. After all, human
beings have created the most powerful computers in the world. Therefore, if you look at your brain as being a computer, then,
logically, you should be able to program your brain.
It's all in how you look at things. If you look at the game of baseball, a batter hitting .300 is considered to be a superstar. This means
that the batter got three hits out of every 10 at bats. Think about it- going three out of 10 and being rewarded with millions of dollars.
The superstars of business and sales know that they aren't penalized for not getting a sale, but, rather, rewarded for making a sale.
Do you know your "batting average"? How many prospects must you present to before one buys from you?
Obviously, you should always try and increase your batting average. But whatever your batting average is, you should realize that
there are certain numbers of "No's" you must endure before you receive the coveted "Yes" answer. If your average is one sale for
every 20 prospects, you can program your brain to say what my colleague Warren Greshes would say after the first "No":
Thank you, Mr. Prospect. All I need now are 19 more 'No's' before I get to the 'Yes'!
Superstars concern themselves with the qualified prospects that can say, "Yes." They are the ones who will enable you to make
quota and attain your goals.
You see, it's really all in how you look at things. The bottom line is that you have control. Does your computer need to be
reprogrammed?
Challenge: Unseating the Competition
Unseating your competition requires that you excel in the skill of selling change. It involves motivating your prospect to change his
or her way of doing things by developing a relationship with a new vendor, learning how to do business with the vendor, and
agreeing to spend money in making the change. When you think about it, it really does seem like an awesome task. But there is a
way to do it.
Solution: Position yourself as a valued resource. You are not going to successfully unseat your competition by concentrating solely
on features and benefits.
Remember, nobody is 100% satisfied with their supplier. Take a look at everything you yourself have purchased. You probably
could point out a few items that you wish you could exchange and replace with something else.
But, overall, you are happy and not necessarily motivated to look elsewhere. If this were the case, why would you talk to another
vendor offering the same product with similar features and benefits you may or may not have?
The answer is that you wouldn't. But your prospect would listen if you started by forgetting about the competition and concentrated
on the challenges facing your prospect.
Like you, your prospect is striving to achieve new results in order to reach the next level of performance. By finding out what your
prospect's desires, needs, and fears are, you will know how to position your product or service where they will be perceived as being
critical to his or her success. When you employ this strategy, you are no longer selling against your competition. Instead, you are
raising the level of the playing field to where there is no competition to the perceived value you are offering your customer.
Challenge: Your Price Is Too High!
I'm sure you have heard this statement many times in your career. If you react to this by defending and justifying the price, then you
will have lost the negotiation. You can't win when you are on the defensive-- especially when your defensive position is a signal to
your prospect that maybe there is validity to the fact that your prices are too high.
Solution: The only way to effectively deal with this objection is to immediately put the monkey (pressure) back onto the shoulders of
your prospect. The following three tactics will help you do that:
1. Uncover the real objection.
Buyers in general have been trained to ask the questions, "Is this the best you can do?" Salespeople tend to
translate this into "Your price is too high." The fact of the matter is buyers know that if they don't ask for a lower
price, they won't get it. They have nothing to lose by asking. Professional buyers ask this question because they are
looking for the best price you have to offer. It is up to you to declare that it is the best price and to find where your
prospect is having a problem with it. If there is a hidden objection, you will likely uncover it. If there isn't, and you
stand your ground, then you will most likely get the sale.
2. Empower your customer.
The next time you hear the price objection, ask your customer this:
"Mr. Customer, I hear your concern. If your budget does not allow for this investment, then tell me
which part of the offer you would be willing to give up."
The fact of the matter is that no one wants to give up anything. Just by asking this question, you will increase your
success twofold in selling the entire solution at the proposed price. At the very least, you will still have an
opportunity to make the sale - only without some of the "bells and whistles" you have proposed.
3. Concentrate on cost, not price.
Another tactic you can use in combating the price objection is to concentrate on the cost vs. the price of your
solution. By selling on the cost your prospect will incur over the lifetime of using your product or service, you may be
better positioned as far as overall value is concerned. When customers purchase your product, the cost does not
end with the price they pay at purchase. There are other costs involved, such as service, replacement parts, cost to
operate, and so on. This is where the quality issue can really help you win the price war.
If done correctly, you will successfully turn the original price objection into the reality of: Can your customer really
afford not to accept your offer?
Challenge: Prospecting Intelligently
The old saying that sales is a numbers game still holds true today. But is your sales success based solely on your prospecting
numbers? If you only care about the quantity of sales calls you make, and the quality of the calls, you will jeopardize your ability to
make quota.
Solution: Determine whether you are task-oriented or purpose-oriented. You are task-oriented if you only worry about the number of
calls you make in a certain time period, such as eight customer visits per day. To prospect intelligently, you must shift your position
to being purpose-oriented.
Successful salespeople are purpose-oriented in that they mostly care about the bottom line: How many profitable sales did they
make in a certain time period? They are focused on the end result. They would rather spend more time calling on the right people
and asking them more questions in order to close the sale. While numbers are important to them, the only numbers they really care
about are their sales revenues.
Concentrating on your overall purpose requires that you attain and maintain a balance between the quantity of your actions and the
quality of your actions. How many calls does it really take if you are talking to the right people and doing what you need to do to
make the sale? Is your prospecting system in balance? Do your actions support your purpose? If not, then you may be working too
hard and not receiving the rewards you deserve.