Have you ever left a sales interaction feeling less than fulfilled? You feel like you did a great job educating your prospect, answering all of their questions, sharing your expertise, but not necessarily getting the pertinent information that you need from them? Then we wonder why we have not heard back and we wonder why they are not returning our voice mails and emails.
If you answered yes to the above, don’t worry, you are not alone and we can help you prevent this from happening again.
Salespeople have rights and it’s about time we exercise them . . .
The first thing you must do is establish equal business stature. You need to see yourself as an equal in the relationship and professionally assert your right to have open and honest communication. You must reframe your attitude and develop an abundance mentality. Success is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Remember, you get paid to be a professional salesperson. Your prospect is not compensated for working with you.
Here are some Philosophies that you should really take to heart...
• Salespeople are professionals
• The prospect must qualify for your time and efforts
• Developing a business opportunity must be done in a systematic manner
• Some buyers won’t qualify for your time
• Stalls and Objections should not be part of the selling process
• Controlling the selling process is a function of asking the right questions, at the right time, of the right people
• There should be a start and a finish to every selling opportunity
Salespeople have rights...
• We have the right to ask questions and gather the information that helps us determine if you are a good prospect for us
• We have the right to talk about budget, not only about money, but time and resources involved and if you are willing and able
• We have the right to find out about your decision-making process, who’s involved, when will it be made and why
• We have the right to know if you are just browsing and gathering information to keep your incumbent suppliers “honest”
• We have the right to know what happens next when you receive that sample, quote or spec sheet
• We have the right to ask you about the most important attributes you look for in suppliers, vendors, and partners
• We have the right to ask you for a yes or no answer so we can close the sale or close the file
• We have the right to ask for all decision-makers to be present if and when we make a presentation
• We have the right to want to be treated like a trusted advisor vs. just another vendor
• We have the right to discover the true intent behind your smokescreen questions and answers
• We have the right to ask for referrals
Just make sure when exercising your rights, you do so with a nurturing and inquisitive tonality as people buy from people that they like and trust. We also know then when we are stuck in a comfort zone we are no longer growing. In order for true growth to occur, we have to try new things. New things make people uncomfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. That is where the magic happens.
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