Part One
1) Stop Selling... Close More Business.
When you really want (or possibly need) the business, it’s easy to drop into the “convincing” mode. You begin to sound like the big mouthed obnoxious, pushy stereotypical salesperson. You are explaining strategies, justify the investment and defending techniques--all the things you shouldn’t be doing. The bottom line, you’re talking too much and you are going to decrease your chance of closing the sale.
Your job is to help the prospect discover how you can help them solve their problems, meet their challenges and reach their goals. . . not tell them. Learn to educate with questions and third-party stories.
WARNING: Don’t Oversell
Recognize when the sale is made. . . and then be quiet. Salespeople who talk too much soon become victims of the 5 / 55 rule--they make the sale in the first 5 minutes, and then spend the next 55 minutes “buying” it back. Once the prospect has made their buying decision, trying to reinforce their decision by adding additional information will often do more harm than good.
2) Stop Talking... Listen to Your Prospects.
Your degree of success as a sales professional is directly related to your ability to listen. Your primary goal in the early stages of the selling process is to gather information. There will be plenty of time later to give information if the prospect attains the status of “qualified” prospect. Only by listening, and listening well, can you determine if the prospect graduates to that level. So, close your mouth and open your ears. We have two ears and one mouth. Use them proportionately.
Listening is not a passive activity. You must pay attention to every word. You can’t be thinking about how to respond or what you will say next while the other person is speaking. You must also listen for the tonality of speech, which often imparts a message independent of the words.
WARNING: Don’t Miss Non-Verbals
You must “listen” to the non-verbal messages--facial expressions, breathing, clenched fist, snoring, etc. These messages sometime speak louder than words.
Don’t interrupt while the other person is speaking. Let them finish and then ask your questions or make comments. This allows you to hear their complete thought and perhaps gain a better understanding of what they are saying.
3) Stop Over Empathizing... Simplify the Prospects’ Point of View.
As the saying suggests, “walk a mile in their moccasins” before making judgments and recommendations. Before you can really understand what your prospect wants or needs, you must understand what they feel and why they say the things they do.
Respect their point of view, even if you don’t agree with it. Learn to empathize with them. This doesn’t mean that you give up your own point of view, it only means that you can understand theirs. Empathize, but don’t “over empathize”.
Warning:
- Don’t be too quick to react to a prospect’s comments. Often, what they say is not as important as why they say it. Find out why before you make judgments, react or respond.
- Don’t confuse empathy with sympathy. To understand someone’s point of view, to understand their thinking process allows you to better understand their situation or problem. You are then in a better position to determine if you can help and how. When you allow that understanding to affect your own position, you move into the realm of “sympathy.” Most often, the end result is that their problem, whether it’s money or indecisiveness, becomes yours.
Next week I'll post Part Two of “Five Stops” where we will address the last two “Stops”.
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