A question for all you owners and salespeople: How many times have you met with prospective customers and not asked for their business?
The shocking reality is that too few salespeople--when executing a sales call--ever bother to pop the question. A former trainer at the Xerox Training Center in Leesburg, Va., which had reams of data on the sales process, once told me that 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the time salespeople walk right out of the room before initiating a transaction.
The hesitation is understandable: Popping the question takes guts--mainly because you have to deal with the finality of an answer. The good news is that not all answers are final, if you know how to play it.
About three years ago, I had to step into the breach on behalf of a client who couldn't seem to pull the trigger. I was acting as an adviser to the head of a large manufacturing company (we'll call him Big Cheese). He was eyeing a division of a European manufacturing company that was up for sale. Asking price: $175 million. Cheese was looking to do a leveraged buyout and needed a private equity firm to back the deal, so I set up a meeting with a well-connected Wall Street shop (we'll call the head of that firm Big Bucks).
The meeting started off well. Cheese and Bucks got along swimmingly. Cheese harped on the capabilities of his management team and the huge returns the deal would generate. As the conversation progressed, we eventually reached a logical pause: It was time for Cheese to ask for Bucks' business.
We all waited--and waited and waited. I couldn't believe a guy with Cheese's ego was seizing up. What was he waiting for?
Finally, I realized the close wasn't coming. So I did it. I wasn't going to lose a sale because my client got a brain cramp. After quickly itemizing the benefits of the deal, I said: "[Mr. Bucks], can we do business?" Bucks' response: "Yes. What's the next step?"
There are three possible answers to popping the big question. "Yes" is the best, obviously. If you get a "Yes," don't hang around. There is such a thing as buyer's remorse, and plenty of salespeople have talked themselves right out of business they had already bagged.
"No" is the next best answer. Here's why "No" isn't all bad: It gives the skilled salesperson an opportunity to deflect the objections--one by one, clearly and patiently--and try to close again. "No" is the normal human response to a difficult decision. Expect it--and be ready with a little well-crafted jujitsu.
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Basic example: Say you're selling computers and the prospect rebuffs because the price is too high. Absorb and acknowledge the objection ("You make a good point ... "), then twist it to your advantage (" ... however, consider that this computer offers a lower overall cost of ownership because it takes up less rack space, sucks less power and kicks off less heat, thus boosting your return on investment by 20 per cent relative to the competition.")
The worst of the three possible answers is "Maybe." It doesn't come with hard objections you can swat away. It's a stall. And it makes salespeople sweat.
Say that same prospect expresses interest in your computers, but then says he has to take matters to the capital committee, possibly delaying a transaction for months. Your response: Fire back by calculating, on the spot, the opportunity costs (lost performance, extra electricity, additional maintenance) that come with the delay.
Remember, asking for the business is important. Being prepared for any answer will let you close it.
Glenn D Porter has 25 years of professional sales and sales management experience, much of it with IBM. He is the founder of Dolphin Nextgen LLC, a business advisory firm. He can be reached at GDPor3811@aol.com.
