Selling

In our most recent blogs, we've been reviewing Negative Reverse Selling and how it is very effective in creating great bonding and rapport with sales prospects. Negative Reverse Selling is a way of saying and doing the opposite of what the prospect expects from a salesperson, disarming them and creating trust with them. One of its more compelling techniques is called strip-lining, a method of using reverse questions to get the prospect talking, and you keep "throwing more line and let them swim". However, you need to do this step right or it could backfire on you. When you do it correctly, prospects feel like they are in control of the conversation, and you have a better chance of making a sale. Practice this step frequently in low risk situations before using it on your biggest and best prospects.

Far too often, salespeople throw information and free advice and their own time and money and resources against a wall hoping some of it will stick. “If I go to enough networking events, if I make enough new prospecting calls, if I talk about my product enough, if I ask enough people if they need this for their business, and if I make enough cold calls, then I’ll be successful.” We call this "spilling your candy in the lobby" and it's not an effective sales strategy.  

Here is what to do instead...

Within the professional buyer/seller environment, preferences and practices have altered dramatically since the spring of 2020. In many sectors, the dynamic between buyer and seller has changed in fundamental ways. Some of these changes, according to a new Sandler Research Center report, What Buyers Want and How Buyers Work, tend to favor the buyer.

Are you a salesperson who has been hearing too many of these statements: “We’ll think it over,” “Get back to me,” and “We’ll let you know”? If so, you’re in good company. I want to help you to fix that problem.

It’s been over thirty years since David Sandler introduced the concept of “pain” as the core element of a selling methodology—the Sandler Selling System®. Pain represented the prospect’s collective reasons to buy a product or service. Sandler chose the term not only for its connotation physical discomfort, emotional distress, or something troublesome—but also for its relationship to one’s motivation to take action. Psychologists note that people take action to either seek pleasure or avoid pain. Of the two, they suggest that avoiding pain is the bigger motivator.

Have you been tempted to offer discounted prices or fees in an attempt to win the business? Have prospects asked for discounts, promising to give you the business if the discounts are granted?

Logic suggests that “more prospects” will lead to more sales. While that may be true for some salespeople, for many others, “more prospects” actually leads to fewer sales. “Prospects” is undeniably the essential element in the sales process. However, the quality of the prospects and the pattern of interaction with them after the initial contact will determine if the sales process leads to closed sales…or closed files (and fewer sales). What accounts for the difference?

Scheduling appointments with prospects is hard work. You not only have to arm-wrestle with gatekeepers, but then you have to contend with voice-mail. But eventually, whether by sheer persistence or a little luck, you get through to the intended prospects and you schedule appointments. All of those efforts, however, are wasted if you’re not properly prepared for those appointments.

You have an inventory to take, a phone call to make, and a report to write. But instead of diving in and getting the tasks completed, you put them off. “I’ll get to them soon,” you tell yourself. But your definition of “soon” and Webster’s definition have little in common.

Not all “fine-tuning” activities are driven by procrastination. Some people have a need for perfection. They’re not ready to take action until everything is perfect…every contingency has been identified…every twist and turn predicted and appropriate actions planned. They put off implementation until everything is perfect. But it never is. So, the planning continues and the “doing” never begins.