I was coaching one of my class participants from our ongoing Individual RELATE Selling workshops today. She was trying to figure out how to pull a deal out of the fire, as the prospect had just informed her that they were going to buy from her competitor. My coaching to her was to first reestablish rapport with the prospect to create a fertile environment for a conversation, then get into a good phone conversation and find out why. She did this, and what she found is that it was neither the price nor the product features that were the primary factors in losing this sale (often suspected culprits). Rather, it was that the competitor had an office just an hour drive away.
Often, we work very hard selling what we believe the prospect needs to buy, and we don’t spend enough time considering or discussing WHAT THEY WANT TO BUY! If you are in the conversation with them, you can usually assume they see value in your product or service. So, besides features and benefits, speeds and feeds, expertise and experience – What really matters to them?
Consider the idea that many of our prospects concerns aren’t around buying our product or service – they assume they will get the features and benefits they require. Sometimes what they are buying is a relationship, an insurance policy, a backup plan, a sense of security on their project, a partner, and/or an intelligent sounding board who understands what they are trying to do. And it isn’t for us to guess what exactly will motivate them to buy from us. We need to find out first hand from them, by getting them to tell us… out loud.
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