Should You Sell During a Pandemic?

When you get your prospect on the phone... Put yourself in their shoes. When you are searching for your dream home and your top three must-haves are: 1. an infinity pool in a spacious, private backyard. 2. a grand kitchen with custom white cabinets, double ovens and a farm house sink. 3. five spacious bedrooms. What would you say if your Realtor showed you a two bedroom apartment on the main floor with a small kitchenette? You may have the perfect solution, but if your prospect doesn't feel heard and see value, you have a 0% chance of advancing them.

If we know that value needs to be built in order to advance someone to the next step, how do we build value? Think back to the last time you purchased something large. Let's stick with the dream home, it's fun. Put on your imaginative hat with me, and picture interviewing Realtors. Rate each conversation on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being you saw enough value that you were ready to meet (advance to the next step). 1. Peggy calls you, has you describe your dream house, desired location and budget, which is great, you feel heard. She then tells you that she has a few listings that match this and provides two times to meet her this week. Scale of 1-10? 2. Mark calls you, he starts off with going over his experience in the industry, which is 20-years deep, his sales last year, 2nd highest in the county and his goals for you. He asks your budget and if you have a pre-approval, then about your timeframe. Mark asks you a final question, if he finds you the perfect house, will you be ready to commit? Scale of 1-10? 3. Joanne calls you, she's from the midwest, so naturally starts the conversation with talking about the weather. She starts to ask about you, your family, your hobbies, why you're looking to buy now. Joanne is on her 10th question before she talks briefly about the families she works with and how she puts them at ease in a tough market. She talks about three communities known for their custom homes and infinity pools, providing you a visual. Joanne recaps your conversation, asking for confirmation if she's heard you correctly. She then provides two options and asks which is more ideal for you. Scale of 1-10? Let's recap: - Ask questions. More questions. - Remember that as soon as people stop seeing value (sometimes you might start to ramble), you decrease your chance of advancing them. - Keep the call about THEM. Not you. Think back to the last time you called a company for help. Chances are, as soon as they started to talk solely about their services, not specifically about your need, you lost interest. - Recap the call. - Be confident!

Can you say with 100% certainty that you have successfully uncovered sales objections at the end of each meeting? Let me clarify. Are you comfortable asking your prospect what is holding them back from moving forward? If you are, great, skip ahead. If you aren't, let's dive in. We've all been there, things are going great, the conversation is comfortable, relationships are forming, you even uncover that your brother-in-law and John (imaginary prospect) went to the same high school. Then the clock strikes 12:50pm, the call ends in 10 minutes. Example of an open-ended passive close: You: "Well John, this is great! I feel like we covered everything on the itinerary, and more. Did you have any final questions for me?" John: "Well Dave, I'd sure love to chat again, I don't have any other questions right now." You: "uhh, yes! Sure! How is next Monday?" John: "I'll have Sally circle back with you soon, we have a big meeting coming up and we need to be in prep mode." Ask yourself, was that a successful close? Is he holding something back? Is he genuinely interested? It might seem like it, but you really don't know. Why? You haven't asked. Example of a confident close: You: "Well John, I want to respect your time as I know you have a hard stop at 1pm, if you don't mind I'd love to run over what I'm hearing is most important to you. Do you mind if I do that?" John: "Sure." You: "I'm hearing that your top need, like many others in the industry, is to reduce your monthly staffing spend by $10,000 per month. Did I get that right?" John: "That's exactly right." You: "Okay perfect. In addition, you are open to seeing how adopting our subscription service will allow you to save at least half that and allow you to staff within 48-hours vs. your standard 72-hours, is that correct? John: "Yep!" You: "Great. Based on what we've talked about today, I'd like to invite your Chief Financial Officer Diane, to this conversation and schedule a brief visual (demo) to dive into the financials a little deeper. Would tomorrow at 9am work, or does 4pm work better? John: "I appreciate that, we are interested, but instead, I'll get Sally to reach back out next week, does that work?" You: "I completely understand John. Before I let you go, may I just ask one last question." John: "Sure." You: "I want us to continue this relationship, even if it means not doing business in the end. But do mind me asking what's holding you back from our model? I am all ears." John: "uhhh, sure. To be frank, I haven't heard of your company, I don't know anyone who's used you before and my confidence level isn't there at this point." You: "Hey, thanks so much for being honest and I completely understand. Since you aren't ready to bring your CFO Diane into the conversation yet, may I reach back out in two days with testimonies from three of our current clients?" John: "That would be perfect." You want to uncover what value needs to be built so you know what to propose for the next step. If your next step doesn't add value, they will say no.