When your clients and prospects resist your sales presentation are they really saying NO or are they asking you questions in order to make an informed decision? Resistance can come in a variety of forms: The client may not like you, they may not like your product or service or they simply would prefer the status quo (change is not an option.)
If the prospect doesn’t like you, you may never be able to recover. People buy from people they like and people who they perceive are like them. If you don’t establish a strong relationship with your prospect right from the beginning, no matter how good your product or service may be, you probably will not be able to give it away. In the first meeting with your prospect, focus on the relationship not on selling. Work on developing your relationship and establishing credibility with your prospect. How do you distinguish yourself from the competition? Remember..no one wants to be sold anything, however, most of us love to make an informed decision to buy a product or service.
Give your prospect the respect they deserve. Ask questions: Do you have an agenda for this meeting? How did you get into this line of work? What strategies have you used to create your current success? What are the problems that you see limiting the future growth of your business? Are you always prepared with a list of powerful, impactful questions to ask your clients and prospects? How much time do you spend preparing for each sales call? Do you just show up and hope everything will turn out OK? Adequate preparation and well thought out questions could very well make the difference in establishing your relationship and credibility with your prospect as well as a creating successful outcome.
If your prospect is resistant to your service or product, how do you overcome their objections? Is your product or service an investment to your client to help him/her solve a problem and improve bottom line profits or is it viewed as an expense? Have you been able to determine the real reasons why you are getting resistance? Picture an onion – your job is to peel back each layer of the onion until you get to the core of the onion and the real problem that the client is facing. Then and only then will you be able to present alternative solutions to help your prospect solve the problem. NO PROBLEM...NO SALE!!! NO PAIN FOR THE PROSPECT…NO GAIN FOR YOU!!! Can you show an ROI for the product or service you are offering?
If your customer would prefer the status quo (resistant to change) vs. what you have to offer…they may not see the value in your product or service. If your client asks you…why should I do business with you? How do you respond? Before you read my recommendation on how to respond to this question…pause for a moment and write down your answer. If your answer is all about better service, better quality, faster time to market, more experience etc. get ready to lose the next sale if the question comes up. A response to consider when asked …why should I do business with you? Might be “Maybe you shouldn’t. Although we’ve worked with many companies similar to yours, our products/services might not make sense for you. Where do we go from here?” Acknowledge the customer’s resistance. It will help to defuse a tense moment.
Take your time, work on the relationship, STOP selling and focus on finding the real problems and concerns of your prospects. Then show them how you can make their problem go away.
The author, Ken Levine, is an executive sales coach who works with business owners and their sales organization to help them be more effective at sales and leads generation. Visit www.impactbussolutions.com or write ken@impactbussolutions.com.
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