Let’s face it. Sales is not for the faint of heart.
You have to get more market share every day. Slice the competition. Carry the quota.
It’s tough and in a moment of weakness, you may want to jump to cutting price as the solution to making the sale. But you and I both know where that can lead to…a slippery slope of reduced profits and a devaluing of your products, programs and services.
Thankfully, there is a better way.
I come from an industry of private aviation sales (Yes, selling to people who own their own planes). And being the cheapest option was not going to gain market share. We had to find a way to be strategic instead. Doing things differently allowed me to lead a high-performance team within the private jet industry that generated $800M in revenue. No, that didn’t suck.
Here’s what I did and how you too can apply these strategies to your own sales process…
Ask, and then shut up. Most sales professionals lead with features and benefits of their products, programs and services. And you know what the prospect is most likely thinking the entire time the sales person is talking…“So what?”
The prospect only cares how what you are selling will make their lives better so your job is to ask questions to discover what is important to the prospect in order to determine what is important BEFORE you try and sell them anything.
Understand why you are there. Statistics show that 87% of your prospects have already researched you and/or your prospects, programs and services before you showed up. Your job is not to educate them. Resist the urge to rattle off features and benefits. Your job is to uncover the real reason why your prospect wants to potentially buy what you are offering. The difference between a good and great sales person is how much they understand the prospect in front of them.
Ask for the sale. After you have asked every question, answered every concern and then developed a solution together with your prospect that will meet their needs, it is time to ask for the sale.
A simple phrase to try, “Customer X, we’ve discussed your (mention the needs you uncovered) and identified (insert what you are selling) as the possible solution. What can I do now to earn your business?” This statement is a nurturing way to ask for the sale that puts the control in your prospect’s hands and yet still allows you to leave the meeting with certainty of where to go from that moment.
Powerful stuff, right?
For example, “I had a meeting with a prospect about his private aviation needs. Due to him needing to travel for both personal & business reasons, he & I came up with a customized solution that would work for his needs. Before leaving his house I reconfirmed what he needed, reiterated what he & I came up with as a viable solution, and then asked him for his business (on the spot). He said yes, we shook hands, and I sent him a contract (which he signed) that day.”
You will make the difference today in being quicker to close more sales if you simply discover what is important to your clients and then walk them to the sale.
“Converting leads into sales is far from a perfect science, but Stephanie has cracked the code. She knows the in’s and out’s of accurate sales conversion ratios and is a marvel at maximizing the profitability of complex and straight-forward deals.”
Brenda Bernstein, From the Disney movie Million Dollar Arm