Sep/090
Avoiding Objections
A funny thing happens when you make an offer to a prospective client; the whole dynamic of the conversation changes. Before the offer, you are just having a conversation. After the offer, it is time to close, and to overcome objections and attempts at negotiation. Things CAN get a bit more intense…. or not!
What you do in the pre-offer conversation can have a lot to do with how successful you are after the offer is presented. What should you do before presenting your offer? Answer the objections now, before they are objections!
In the pre-offer dynamic, you client may have some questions. Especially if you direct the conversation to flesh out all of the potential needs, concerns, costs, etc. All of the stuff you are supposed to be doing in needs analysis. If you do, then by the time you present the offer, you’ve answered all of the questions, and there are very few left that can morph into objections.
In other words, you can avoid objections by addressing them before they become objections, before the offer is presented. Be thorough, and ask the tough questions early, and save yourself from being on the other side of those tough questions later!
Sep/090
Is the sales process a process?
In this last phase of editing “Mastering Your Sales Process”, I sent the manuscript out to several people I know and respect for their input. One comment surprised me. One of my reviewers told me that the sales process is not a process. I asked him to explain.
He told me that a process is something that is best applied to a non-human endeavor (such as manufacturing or chemistry). Human interactions are spontaneous and unpredictable. One can predict the temperature at which glass will melt, but not how a conversation with a prospect is going to play out.
I understand his point, but I disagree. To demonstrate my contention, I scripted an imaginary but quite predictable line of questions from a sales manager to a sales person about current opportunities. It correlated perfectly with the sales process outlined in the book:
1: So, what is in your pipeline? (Leads and Prospecting)
2: Is that opportunity qualified? (Qualification)
3: What can we sell them? (Needs Analysis)
4: Did you make them an offer? (Proposal)
5: Are the going to buy from us? (Objections & Negotiations, Closing)
In my experience, these are the typical questions that a sales manager asks a sales person. A sales person following the process described in the book will have answers to these questions. Better still, if the sales person and the sales manager develop their process together, and have systems in place to manage it, then the conversation becomes a part of the CRM process, and can be reviewed by management on a computer screen.
The sales process is indeed a process, and a useful one that that! I may not be able to predict outcomes, but by following the process, the sales person is in the best position to be successful with both his boss and with his prospect.
Sep/090
Welcome to my blog!
I’m still a few months away from getting my first book, Mastering Your Sales Process, done and onto Amazon, but the process of writing it has been a new, and even sometimes fun adventure for me. If you are reading this post, you are here before publicity starts, so “Hi”. You probably know me personally, and I appreciate you coming here to take a look.
Please let me know if you’d like me to notify you when the book is available, and be sure to connect with me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS if you would like to be notified of new posts on this blog.
-David
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