The first step in selling is to introduce yourself in a positive self-assured manner and provide your prospect with the opportunity to introduce himself to you. Then briefly explain what you do or offer. De-emphasize you and your business and demonstrate interest in your prospect. Keep in mind the importance of establishing agreements and do so whenever possible.
Uncover and remove barriers
Your prospect may have had a negative experience dealing with a company offering a similar product or service. Ask if he ever purchased or worked with a (your product). If so, find out if his experience was positive. If it was negative, encourage him to discuss it. Just listen in an interested manner and acknowledge his response.
Also, in some instances a prospect may have heard negative comments about your product or company. If so, find out what they have heard and from whom. This must be done in a non-threatening friendly manner. Your object is to get the individual to form an opinion for herself and not base it on hearsay.
Sometimes dealing with negative rumors may require the sales person to disprove these comments. This might mean gathering documents, photos, letters, etc. In this case, you must discontinue the sales effort and tell the individual that you will get back to her when you have something to show. Your close then becomes achieving her agreement to review evidence that you will uncover.
You cannot sell your product or service to a client who is not willing to receive communication concerning it. Likewise, you cannot do so unless you first establish some trust. Never ignore this step if you suspect either of the above scenarios are present. However, skip this step if your prospect is interested and attentive.
Discover their need
Next, you must dig down and determine how the use of your product or service will benefit your prospect. One method is to state the key benefit of the product and ask your prospect how this might be of value to him. For example, “This widget allows people to get to work faster. If you could get to work faster, how would that be of value to you?” If the prospect cannot see how it will be of advantage, suggest some possible benefits. You must find one that is evident to your prospect in order to have a chance to make the sale.
A similar but equally effective approach is to state all of the benefits of your product and ask your prospect to state how she sees your product benefiting her. Either approach will uncover a need, demonstrate your interest in your prospect and increase her desire to purchase your product.
Let us say the prospect responds, “It will allow me to get along with my boss better.” Then ask, “What if your relationship with your boss didn’t improve?”The key is to make your prospect realize that continuation of the current situation is not optimal. Next, gain his agreement that he has a need or desire to improve his relationship with his boss. Then ask if he is sure he really wants to do something about it. Once you receive his affirmation on this, proceed to the final step.
Demonstrate how the product will benefit
Now that your prospect has agreed with you that there is a need to do something, you demonstrate how the product or service will bring about the benefit he desires. “The widget will tell you where the traffic is, where it isn’t and your best route to your office. It’s easy to use and installs right on your dash board. You punch in your work address and the quickest route pops up on the screen and away you go.”
The most effective method of demonstration is show and tell. Being able to provide a live demo in a well-thought-out presentation is strongly recommended whenever possible.
Final comments
If you follow this procedure properly, your prospect will be sold, objections will be minimal and closing will be a snap. Failure to close a qualified prospect means that you have not carried out these steps properly.
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