“I really can’t say that what you’ve shown me, Bob, does anything for me,” stated the prospect.

“In fact,” he went on, “your choice of colors is nowhere as extensive as your competitor’s, who was just in here this morning, by the way.”

Bob hated this type of prospect. And for some reason, the past five months had been filled with them. Gosh, thought Bob, this is going to be one of those meetings where he raises the hundred objections and I try to beat them down one after another.  There’s got to be a better way to make a living. “I didn’t know you were looking at anyone else,” responded Bob.

“Well, it’s what I should do. And I’ll tell you this now, right upfront, her prices are extremely favorable.  I doubt you could beat them.”

Here goes, thought Bob, start knocking them down. “Let’s talk about the colors; our colors are by far the…” Two hours later, Bob crawled out of the office with a signed purchase order. Totally exhausted, he got into his car, called the office and read them the order.

“Good work,” the sales manager responded, “but how come he’s ordering less than before?”

“The competition has got a proposal on the table,” responded Bob, “you wouldn’t believe what I had to do to get what we did.”  With a felling of dread he added, “I’m going back next week to see if I can knock them out.”

Bob was so afraid that he was going to lose the client that he was prepared to do just about anything to keep him. Bob had the guts to spend another two hours butting heads, but he did not have the guts to find out if he really needed to do this.

Taking a sale away, taking yourself out of the running, and then waiting for a response from the prospect/customer takes real guts. This is not a technique for those with weak knees. No one can fault Bob for his dedication to task. And most salespeople and sales managers would agree that in the above story, which happens every day, there was nothing else to do but “gut it out.” But there is something else.

Before Bob launched into meeting every objection, he could have done something very simple. He could have said, “You might not realize what you are telling me; I want to make sure that I have it right. The competition has more colors, the price is good, they were here this morning, I guess it’s over for me. When you gave the order to the salesperson this morning, was she excited?” And then wait for a response from the prospect, no matter how long it takes. In order for this technique to work, your really have to mean it and be prepared to “walk out the door” and not look back. If you cannot do this, this technique will blow up in your face. However, if you are truly prepared to walk away, this technique is incredibly powerful at eliminating objections. There are a multitude of words and gestures that you can use to “take it away” depending on what you are trying to accomplish and with whom.

Customers and prospects alike are famous for stating, in so many words, that the other guy can do better for less. In essence, you want to mirror back to them what they just told you and then state, not ask, “You did place the order.” Then do not speak until you get a response. Either the order has been placed or not. If is has, it probably really is over for you. If it hasn’t, then you deserve to know the reasons why. And when you find out why? You are now learning what you need to do to get the order or keep the order.

Prospects who gave given all the indications of being ready to buy, but who just resist closing, are especially susceptible to having it taken away. “Bill, you have given every indication that you are ready to buy. But for some reason you just aren’t sharing, you keep stopping short. I think I should leave.” Then wait for a response.

MORAL: Take it away ONLY if you are prepared to walk out the door. Once you take it away, wait for a response regardless of how long it takes.

Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business SELLutions in West Palm Beach, FL. She is the author of "To Sell is Not to Sell" and a columnist for business journals around the country. Greta does corporate training for Fortune 1000 companies and she has an on-line training course for entrepreneurs.

Click here to share this post.

Question of the Day
I enjoy reading your column as a marketer and small business owner I appreciate all of your good advice.  Have you ever addressed the issue of getting buyers, or your potential decision makers, to answer your phone calls or emails? One of the most frustrating parts of my business is connecting with a potential customer and then they never return calls or emails. Any suggestions? At what point do you stop trying to connect? Example, several weeks ago I was at a networking event and a woman gave me her card and said to call her to set up a meeting, we spoke at length and she was very interested in my services. I called she suggested we get together the first of April and gave me a list of questions I needed to be ready to answer. First week of April I contacted her she said call her April 8th, on April 8th she said call her the 15th...etc, until a week ago when her assistant said she will call you back, of course no call. I am sure I am not the only one who experiences this. Your thoughts?

-Joan

Well first of all Joan congratulations on networking. That is of course your best opportunity for you to find opportunities. When you speak to someone at a networking function you always want to ask about them first. The questions I recommend asking to everyone you meet are;

“What do you do?"

“How long have you been doing it?"

“What do you like about it?"

And “What is a good referral for you?"

The reason these questions are good is because networking is not just about you it is about learning about the other person. You are not trying to sell, you are trying to learn to see if you can help them and potentially build a “strategic alliance”(a strategic alliance is someone you build a relationship with to try to help refer business to each other).

There are times when someone will say, “Hey you sell web design, our company really needs a new web site, why don’t you call." Then you call the next day and leave message upon message and nothing happens. People are willing to say lots of things to be “nice." In a networking environment, people often think of themselves being in a somewhat social atmosphere so people say what they might socially with not a lot of meaning.

I recommend when someone does approach you about your product or service, always pull-back a bit. What I mean by that is if someone says they need a new web site, say to them, “wow you guys are a very well known company, I can’t imagine you need help with your web site?”. You will either hear something like, “well, you never know…” which means there is really no need they are just being nice or they might say, “ no we really have been looking into updating ours. We really don’t know what we need but we talked about making some real changes”. I would ask a few more questions to pre-qualify that this is real and say, “ Well if you want to sit and talk a little about what your needs are, I would be more then willing to learn more about what you need to see if I can help. What do you think?”.

It is important to pre-qualify any opportunity to see if it really is one. Pulling back with a few “take-away” questions with assure one way or the other if it is a true prospect or not.

Click here to share this post.

Since it is the start of the spring and our business and sales goals are in place and progressing nicdely, we can now begin to working on the next level of them…  Boy it’s great starting out with a clear and concise plan, right?  What… you don’t have a plan? You mean all of the goals you set for your first quarter and first few months this year were met purely by chance? You say you didn't meet all of your goals for last year? Say it isn’t so!

Why is it that we start out with the best of intentions on January 1st, and by March 1st we are back to our old routine? The routine of procrastination, excuse making and just accepting mediocrity.

There are several reasons.

1. We’re lazy. Yep it often is as simple as that. It is just easier to justify all of the reasons why we can’t do it instead of finding reasons why we can! Some people are happy living with mediocrity. It’s OK, you can admit it.

2. Here’s one of my very favorites: “I’m too busy!” And who isn’t? Typically when we hear I’m “too busy” you can replace that with “I have no real idea how to prioritize.” We fill our schedule with things that are not activities directly related to identifying business but the other “stuff” that is often easier to do. (There’s a reason why they call it busy work).

3. We set goals monetarily instead of through our activities and behaviors. When we set a goal by a dollar amount to be achieved, and not daily, weekly, and monthly activities, we set ourselves up for failure. Why? Because we can’t control who buys, but we can control what activities we are involved in.

I’d like to address number 3. Often the other 2 get caught up in the misinterpretation of dollars (or sales) being goals and they are purely the RESULT of your goal. When we set dollar volume goals only, we often don’t reach them and give up quickly. How can you set a goal of something you cannot control? You can’t. That’s called a wish. Wishes are wonderful for your children on Christmas but no way to run a business.

Now am I saying you should ignore dollar amounts for yourself and your sales people? No. But these are not goals, they are merely the result you expect from the goals. But this is a good place to begin.

Let’s say that you would like the results to be $120,000 for each representative for 2011. (By the way, past earnings and beliefs of your sales organization has an awful lot to do with being able to accomplish this. We can talk about that in a later article)

First of all, you will need to identify what this means monthly. In this case, about $10,000.00.

Second, what is an average sale for you? If it were $2500.00 then you would need 4 sales per month.

Third, How many prospects do you need to meet with to close one deal? This will take some review of your past closing ratio. *Remember, a prospect is someone with whom you have identified a need, that they have a budget and you have identified their process for decision-making. Let’s say it’s 3. Then to meet your goal you will need to meet with 12 prospects per month.

Fourth, and this will take some estimating, how many suspects do you need to meet with to get to 1 qualified prospect? * A suspect is someone you could be meeting with for a variety of reasons; exchanging referrals, a past client, a strategic partner, someone who has expressed interest in your business etc. Let’s say it’s 5. Then your monthly goal is to meet with 60 suspects. Now you have set a goal for yourself of approximately 15 per week.

The most important thing here is to track these numbers for a total of 30-60-90 days. This will not only tell you if these numbers are correct but where are most of your referrals of business coming from.

Too complicated? Then go back to the old theory, “if you get in front of enough people eventually some will close”. This is exactly how you fall into the, “I am too busy” category… And how’s that workin’ for ya?

Click here to share this post.