Sample Chapter of Real-World
Selling
See what you can apply to your next sales
call.
The commission on this one
sale was $150,000. The salesman had been working on this project for
almost two years. The end was finally in sight. The buying committee and
the salesman were huddled around the massive conference table hammering
out the last contract details. In minutes the deal would be signed. The
conference door opened and one of the executives was summoned from the
room. When he returned a short time later, his face was ashen. He
announced haltingly, “I’ve just learned with great regret that we must
stop the negotiations. The deal is off.” Everyone sat in stunned
silence.
The history
Many months before, the
salesman had asked who would be the decision-makers. The buying committee
included people in key positions of authority. Even better was that he
knew everyone on the committee. He had met individually with each one of
them asking about their concerns. His questions produced the information
that he needed to customize his company’s solution for this customer. He
learned not only what his customer wanted to accomplish with the solution,
but also what the costs would be if they chose not to implement the
solution. His solution would motivate them to buy because they would want
it. Doing nothing was not an option because it would cause them pain. His
presentation was structured to showcase how his company’s solution would
deliver his customer from their present situation to where they wanted to
be. That’s the reason they wanted to buy from him.
Every member of the committee
had the authority to say “yes” and buy. They did. The lone person missing
from the room was the chief financial officer, the person with the power
to say “no.” The salesman did not know that the CFO was the only one who
didn’t want the deal. During those last few minutes, he thought the buying
committee would see things his way. When they didn’t, the CFO had no
choice but to kill the deal.
What went wrong?
As the salesman was gathering
information he was always concerned with who could say “yes.” The ones
that could were the members of the buying committee. The buying committee
reported to the CFO. The salesman never asked who could say “no.” The CFO
could say “no” and he did.
What can we learn?
When we sell we sometimes
have blinders on. We leave meetings feeling exultant because our customers
want our products and services. When they say they’ll look at our
materials we believe they actually will. When they express interest we
believe the sale is imminent. We look for what is positive in the sales
process. We seek the people who can say “yes.” We forget about the people
who can say “no.”
As we start the sales
process, the questions we ask should give us all the information we need
to sell. That includes both what we want to hear and what we don’t want to
hear. Some questions you should ask your customers are:
-
What criteria will you
use to make this buying decision?
-
What is the order of
importance to you of these criteria?
-
When is the decision
going to be made?
-
Who are you
considering?
-
Is the budget in place
for this project?
Remember the most
important question: Who can say “no”?
Selling Pointer
· When you develop your questioning strategy, always
ask who can say “no.”
Sales Coaching
-
How
will you prepare your next sales strategy?
-
Who are
the decision-makers at the account?
-
Who
decides on price and technical specifications?
-
Who
will use your products? What do they think?
-
What
input will each decision-maker have in the purchasing
process?
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Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World
Results
From strategies to the sales call, Real-World
Selling provides ideas to get the sales results your
want.
Real-World Selling was written for the busy
sales professional who wants to improve selling, but lacks the time.
The chapters are short enough that you can read a couple while you
wait for your customers. You can get new ideas that you can use
immediately as you sell. Here's a preview
for you to read.
2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA) is
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