If you have successfully applied Customer-Focused Selling concepts, up to and including the negotiation of terms, getting a buyer’s commitment should come naturally. You have earned your customer’s trust, helped with recognition of needs, and proved that your solution is best.
As mentioned earlier, your goal is to open the relationship, not to close the sale.
In the Customer-Focused Selling process, I refer to the abilities needed to ask for the agreed-on order as “commitment skills,” not “closing skills.” This is a major technique in sales training.
Closing skills attempt to get the buyers to commit.
Commitment skills are different because there is MUTUAL COMMITMENT at the point of sale: the customer commits to you, and you commit to the customer.
In the final two roles you play in the process–Teacher and Farmer–are focused on the commitments you make to the customer.
Use these tools in your sales management training. Here are a few non-manipulative ways to ask for commitment:
Ask, “What should be our next step?”
This question is most appropriate for a buyer who has a clear direction of how events should unfold, a lion personality type. This is a simple, honest question that asks your buyer to suggest a commitment to you.
Describe in detail what happens between now and installation, delivery, or commencement of service. If you have an implementation plan, now is the time to share it.
Then, simply ask, “Does that sound acceptable to you?”
Ask, “Would you like to give us a try?”
This commitment question is soft, yet direct, because it asks for a “Yes” or “No” answer.
By now you have come a long way with your prospect. The commitment techniques above are often successful. However, some buyers may still be reluctant. If this is the case, you must deal with the salesperson’s old nemesis–objections.
To learn more about these sales techniques and many others take the time and attend sales training courses.
Recent research has found that the highest producing salespeople are those that work for sales managers with a “hands-on” coaching style. Sales managers that monitor, direct, evaluate and reward their salespeople on a on-going basis; and, these high-performance salespeople were found to have a greater level of commitment to their organizations when they worked for a sales manager with this “hands-on” coaching approach.
Your company can increase sales and reduce sales turnover by installing a culture of coaching within your sales management team.
The role of sales manager just may be the most important job in your company. Sales is the life-blood of every business, and there is a sales manager at the heart of every one of your sales teams.
Has your company provided your sales managers with the skills and tools they need to pump maximum growth and profits out of your sales force?
The sales presentation is your best opportunity to show and tell, but there’s more to it than just showing and telling. You also need to think strategically about the customers buying process and needs, your competitors’ offerings, and why your solution is best.
To plan and deliver winning sales presentations, try the following approach:
Find out in advance how much time you will have.
Have you ever had a key decision-maker leave in the middle of your presentation because he was out of time? You can’t hold someone’s attention when he’s looking at the clock.
At the beginning of the meeting, ask how much time the prospect has set aside, then adjust your presentation to take no more than 60% of the allotted time. Why only 60%? Because your prospect’s decisions to act typically occur at the end of the meeting. Adjusting your presentation will allow enough time to resolve any remaining issues, and reach an agreement. This is one key skill learned through sales training.
Check in.
Another good question to ask at the beginning of every sales presentation is, “since the last time we met, has anything changed?” If your competitor gave a presentation yesterday afternoon you may have a few new hurdles you need to overcome. The sooner you identify those hurdles, the more time you have to plan a response.
Take his temperature.
The next question you want to ask is, “Where are you in your decision process?” If he tells me he’s scheduled presentations with three suppliers and I’m the first presenter, I know the chances of this prospect agreeing to a decision at the end of my presentation are virtually nonexistent. For starters, it would take the prospect more time, energy and stress to cancel the appointments than to go ahead with them.
More importantly, the prospect wants to hear all three presentations, because from your customer’s perspective, comparison is necessary to recognize value. Never go for the close when you are the first presenter. You’re simply asking for something that you can’t get, and customers will think you’re pushy. Instead, come up with a legitimate reason to come back after the other presentations, when the prospect likely will be in a position to make a decision.
Try to be the last presenter.
The last presenter has a significant advantage, because he is closer to the customer’s point of decision. If I am the final supplier to present, and have shown why am I am the best choice, it’s only reasonable to ask for a commitment to buy. It also creates an opportunity to address any lingering concerns that may prevent a sale. Just by being the last presenter you will increase your sales performance substantially.
In one of the largest sales opportunities I ever worked on, I was the third of three presenters to a committee of seven decision-makers, the most senior of whom was the Executive Vice President, I’ll call him Mr. Burns.
Ten minutes before the conclusion of my presentation, the phone rang. Mr. Burns had a plane to catch, and his cab had arrived. As he stood up, I said, “Mr. Burns, before you leave, may I ask you one final question?”
I asked, “Now that you’ve evaluated all the options, is there any reason why my solution is not your best option?”
He paused, then said “Yep!” And out came his final concern about my solution. It was a concern I was ready for, but I never got a chance to respond because his comment triggered a firestorm of conversation around the conference table. Mr. Burns missed his cab, but several other decision makers drove him to the airport so they could continue their discussion.
A few weeks later, I learned that in the car on the way to the airport, a lower-level decision-maker had resolved Mr. Burns’s concern, and I won the sale.
This example shows that today, as much as 90% of the sale takes place without you being in the room. So it’s essential to make sure that the prospects championing your cause have the tools to sell other decision makers for you.
Start with a quick review of the customer’s goals and objectives. On a flipchart, list each of the customers buying criteria. This list is your outline for effective sales presentation. Next, show how your solution meets and exceeds each customer criterion.
Throughout your presentation, get a reaction from your prospect. For example, after demonstrating a capability you would ask, how would this be an improvement or how would this help. Interactive presentations keep prospects more involved and interested.
Communicate all your unique strengths.
Today’s customers want to know two things: can you do what we need done, and how can you do it better than the other options we are considering? It’s not enough to show that you can meet your customer’s needs. You must also have some reasons why your solution is the customer’s best choice.
To ensure that my strengths are understood, I always prepare a flipchart titled “Why we are your best choice” which lists at least three reasons why I’m the customer’s best option. Often, I list seven or eight reasons. The more reasons you have, and the more compelling those reasons are, the better your chances of winning the sale.
In sports, when two teams are evenly matched, the winner is the team that makes the fewest mistakes, and executes its plays the best.
To deliver a winning sales presentation, you must do the same. When you implement these 10 tips in your sales presentations, you will win more sales. To learn more great sales techniques, you should attend a sales seminar.
