Selling is a tricky game wrought with traps. Below is part 3 of the nine Cs of selling. These should steer you in the right direction and away from potential traps.
- Courage
- You must have guts to ask the tough questions. You must have the guts to hang in there even when the prospect call gets uncomfortable. You have to be courageous. Your prospects will respect you more and you will close more sales.
- Consciousness
- Be conscious of what is really happening in the sales call. Far too many salespeople are so concerned with their presentation that they miss all the signals given by the prospects. Get in tune with your intuition. If you sense something is going on with the prospect, you are probably right. Pay attention to that intuition. Challenge the prospect.
- If the prospect’s body language is standoffish, say, “Have I made you uncomfortable?”
- If the prospect looks or feels rushed, say, “It looks like we are running out of time.”
- If the prospect says, “Looks good” but you don’t think she means it, say, “Come on, it is way too early in the process to feel that way. Tell me what you don’t like.”
- Commitment Test
- One of the primary differences between successful salespeople and unsuccessful salespeople is their ability to get a yes or no answer. The best way to “test” you’re a prospect’s “maybe” is to issue a commitment test. This is a simple move. You set up a very small hurdle for the prospects and see if they jump over. They should jump if they are on the path to buy. If they do not, they fail the commitment test and you can re-begin your selling.
- Samples of little commitment tests are:
- Set an actual appointment time rather than agree to follow up later.
- Ask for a small deposit or payment.
- Ask for a purchase order.
- Ask to speak to other decision-makers.
- Ask for data files or other information needed to move the sale forward.
- Ask what the logical next step is.
