Asking for the Sale by Tom Hopkins Without proper training and application of that training, it can be uncomfortable to ask people for their money. However, too many business people put their offerings out there and wait, often walking away with no sale. If a buyer doesn’t quickly see the value of your services and jump right in to take advantage of them, you may start to lose confidence in your abilities or in the value of your service. And this wavering of confidence weakens your desire to close the sale. In other words, you don’t ask for the order, call for a decision, or otherwise try to get a commitment from the potential client. We conducted a little survey and asked people who were not persuaded to buy why they didn’t go ahead with whatever it was they were offered. Interestingly enough, the most common answer was that they were never asked. The potential clients were contacted, a product or service was demonstrated to them, and their questions were answered. In some cases, they were convinced of the value of the offering and probably would have gone ahead, but nothing happened. The salespeople didn’t ask them to make a commitment or to part with their money, so they didn’t. Don’t ever let the fact that you didn’t ask someone to make a buying decision be the reason a buyer doesn’t go along with you. It can be as simple as saying, “How would you like to handle the investment for this?” Practice saying it in a business-like manner. It works fine when delivered with a warm and sincere smile. Knowing when to ask, however, is just as important as doing it. Sometimes salespeople wait so long to ask for the sale that the right time to ask passes them by. To get past this timing challenge, figure out how to take a potential client’s buying temperature. You do this by asking an ownership question, like the following: “Not to be assumptive, but if everything we’ve discussed here makes sense, how soon would you want to begin benefiting from our services?” Because you’re asking what could be considered an assumptive question, you soften it by beginning with “Not to be assumptive, but. . . .” If the potential client answers such a question enthusiastically in the affirmative, she’s probably ready to go ahead. But if the question brings up another concern or hesitation, then she’s probably not ripe yet to make a commitment. This strategy is commonly referred to as the trial close. It’s designed to take the temperature of the sale. If the client is warm enough, you would move to asking your final closing question about start-up date, how they’d like to handle the investments or something else that is required of someone who agrees to use your services.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:44:24 +0000
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