Wouldn’t it be nice to never have to persuade your prospect to buy? Selling will never be that simple, but might you be working way too hard to make a sale. Most sales training manuals never cover this.
By acting in a manner opposite of what the prospect has come to expect, the sales consultant can reap huge benefits. Prospects have come to expect certain behaviors from sales consultants; they are trained in a general way, on sales and selling. Enthusiastic sales presentations are one of those behaviors, along with justifications, explanations, and defenses of products. These can be emotional turn-offs for your prospect.
If you are feeling down yourself, and someone (anyone) comes up to you in wild enthusiasm, what is your reaction? If you just found out you lost an account you thought was in the bag, and co-worker sweeps into your office full of cheerfulness – how do you feel? How do you feel toward them?
It is best to mirror your prospect’s mood.
In the consultative sales process, prospects will swing between two mood levels. Sometimes they can be very positive — ready and eager to listen. Sometimes they can be very negative — they don’t perceive a need for you, your company or your service.
Most sales consultants will try to push their prospect in the direction s/he wants the prospect to go. Not only is this the typical sales behavior, it is exactly the behavior the prospect expects, and is mentally prepared for – this behavior creates a competitive environment between the sales consultant and the prospect. What happens when a sales consultant tries to push a prospect in one direction or the other — nothing, generally? The prospect either does not move at all, or goes below the mood level where they started, and they can push back.
How can you use this tendency of prospects pushing back to your advantage? Try this –rather than guiding the prospect in the direction you want them to go, guide them in the opposite direction. The prospect’s tendency is to push away from you, resulting in them moving in the direction you intended. Like a pendulum, if you pull it one direction and let it go, it swings in the opposite direction.
By asking questions and making statements opposite of what the prospect expects, you can get the prospect moving in the direction you want them to go, and it can be faster, easier and a lot more fun. Your sales process should have you move in unusual patterns to avoid the conditioned responses from prospects. Sitting across from a prospect who is giving nothing but conditioned responses is a bit like trying to communicate with an android. We actually need to talk to the person, not their mental machinery.
Doing this will require you to withhold your own excitement, and to stop talking about your product and company at the first chance you get, and not offer solutions to what you think are your prospect’s problems. Instead, allow your prospect to get excited, ask you about how your product or service will help them and, most importantly, let your prospect tell you the solution they are looking for.
If your product provides the solution your prospect is looking for, a sale will follow quickly.
Are you interested in selling Verizon Wireless services? Call us at (855) SELL-VZW or fill out the form below. We look forward to talking to you soon!
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