Have you ever had that sinking feeling, after you’ve spent time enthusiastically explaining a service or treatment to a client…
…and you stop, and wait, and she says…
“Thanks…I’ll think about it….!”
And that’s where you go “oh, damn, lost that sale…”
You can have the best marketing on the planet – the right offer, the perfect Facebook page, a website that dazzles, a salon that screams quality, happy and accomplished staff…but if you haven’t worked out how to actually get the sale once all that marketing has created an inquiry, it’s all for nought.
The late, great American sales mastermind Ziglar was fond of saying “poor sales people have skinny kids”, and he’s right.
So many of the businesses I consult with have great marketing, but they also have what I call a finely tuned “Sales Prevention Department.”
I bet you’ve heard sales people say it’s all about “handling objections,” right?
John Blake is an accomplished sales trailer of my acquaintance, whose business is helping business owners increase their sales.
This is what John teaches about “handling objections”:
“For a start, If you are getting objections, especially at the tail end of your sales process, what it means is that something is broken at the start of your sales process and most times, it’s happening way before you get to the end or to the “closing” part of the conversation.
What I find when I work with clients on their sales process is when we fix the front part of their process for handling new enquiries, we rarely if ever get objections at the end.
So what are your options if you haven’t had your sales process optimised and this does happen to you…
1.If it’s a question, you can simply answer it
What can also be really useful is to know in advance how to better answer common questions in a more powerful way. What I normally suggest is a list of frequently asked questions or FAQ’s but also a list of questions that people who are in the market for your product should ask which are called SAQ’s
This will go a long way toward keeping a sale on track.
2. If it’s a mis – understanding, you can dissolve it by simply clarifying the point in question
Often an objection can be dissolved simply by doing this.
3.If it’s a stall or a decision to postpone the decision
What I normally suggest and do myself, is to ask “when would you like to continue the conversation?”
This effectively does two things, it puts the onus back on your prospect and makes it their idea as to when to talk again. And because it’s their idea, when you do contact them again, you are doing so on the date and time that they said.
Never do this:
Where sales people get into trouble is when they try to trick people into buying by using “linguistic binds” that attempt to force someone into a pressured decision. There are sales training programs that teach these things and whilst they may get you some short term sales, long term they end up being toxic to your business
Here’s why
1.Potential clients hate it (and will go tell the world how “pushy” you are)
2.Even if they do become a client they will be the client from hell (I know because yep I’ve tried it)
3.If they do become a client and they actually stay, they will never refer or subject anyone they know to the torturous process they went through with you to become a client.”
Good advice, don’t you think?
If you want to know more of John’s work, check out his website here.
