9/8/2003
Creating Buyer Urgency
If you are wondering why you run lots of sale calls,
seem to have good rapport but are not closing enough
deals, you may not be creating enough urgency in
your sales process.
Three principles that must be adhered to in developing
buyer urgency.
The first principle is getting the prospect
to admit the need. Admitting need is more difficult than
it may appear. The prospect may think they need something
they don’t or they may need something else that they
are not even aware that they need. Getting a prospect to
admit is one of the same principles used in the counseling
profession: people don’t make change until they discover
and admit that a change is needed.
There must be evidence that there is a problem.
Like a good surgeon, a good salesperson
is a skeptic. A good surgeon is a skeptical
about doing surgery unless it is absolutely necessary.
The surgeon will not operate unless there is evidence that
the
disease process exists and that it can be cured by surgery.
Likewise, salespeople need to acquire evidence
from the prospect that there is indeed an opportunity for
a problem that can be solved by their product or solution.
Remember the principle, “In God we trust, everyone
else must bring evidence.”
The prospect must discover the impact of
not solving their problem. Two big mistakes are often made
during
the sales call. The first mistake is that most salespeople
create a commodity out of their product or service by talking
about the features and benefits of their product or service.
The problem is that people buy emotionally not intellectually.
Features and benefits are intellectual, not emotional. Chances
are that most of your competitors are pitching the same
features and benefits; good quality, service and expertise.
You and your competitor start looking and sounding the same
so prospects start buying on price because they can’t
figure out difference!
The second mistake that salespeople
make is presenting too
soon. Most salespeople love talking about the
solution before the prospect
has determined whether the problem is a big
enough one to fix. The sales
professional never “tells” the prospect
they have a problem; rather they use several different
tools such as clarification questions, engaging questions,
impact questions and lots of nurturing to get past
intellectual dialogue and establish true, deep rapport
which allow the prospect to discover, for themselves,
the consequence of not using your product or service.
Prospects don’t care about what you do;
they care about the problems you can solve.
Close more deals by getting your prospect to admit
that there is a problem, prove that there is a problem
and discover the impact of the problem. Remember,
the prospect is the only one that can close the deal!
Colleen Stanley is President of SalesLeadership,
Inc., a business development firm specializing in
sales and sales management training.
