Use Pain To Get Commitments

Whenever I speak with new salesreps and entrepreneurs, I hear a similar frustration:

"I call a lot of prospects each week, most of which are really hard to get a hold of. When I do get someone on the line, I am thrilled just to talk to them. I sell a great product, yet very few of these people actually buy, even though they sound very interested."

So I usually ask them, "Did you get a commitment?"

The answer is... well you can guess the answer. Without a commitment, you are left hanging as to whether or not the sale is really moving forward.

Now this doesn't happen only with new salespeople. It happens with experienced salespeople also. I see experienced salespeople going after competitive deals all the time, forgoing commitments in the process. This is usually rationalized away as "I had to, otherwise the prospect would have cut me out of the deal".

Buyers love to do this to salespeople. To the extent that there is such a thing as "buyers school", they are taught to get multiple vendors bidding on a deal so that the prospect maintains control (for those of you in high-tech sales, I know that Gartner Group used to run seminars on how to manipulate vendors like this).

So instead many salespeople spend lots of time preparing price quotations, proposals, product demonstrations, arranging customer reference calls and site visits without knowing whether or not they will get the business.

Selling is a process of continuous negotiation and trading. I give you some of my time, you give me some of your time. I give you my product information, you agree to read it and tell me what you think about it. I give you a presentation, you agree to give me a decision upon completion of the presentation.

Selling is a series of incremental closes then, each one of which moves us closer to the sale. This is the most effective way to approach "closing". The "big close" doesn't exist here (it doesn't need to). You are being respectful of both the prospect, and most importantly, you are being respectful of yourself.

These incremental closes can occur within a single sales call, where you get the sale in one meeting. Or it can happen over the course of many days weeks or months as you work with multiple decision-makers in a large business-to- business sale.

So how is this done?

The key is to remember that anything and everything that a prospect wants is leverage in negotiating for incremental commitments.

Everything. Product info, names of customers, price quotations, proposals, product demonstrations, customer reference calls, meetings with your company experts. All of these things potentially represent value to your prospect.

Ultimately the prospect wants a solution to her pain. Each of these things represents a way of exploring and proving whether or not you offer that. You must learn to use the prospect's pain to get incremental commitments.

How? Simple. If the prospect really wants to solve her pain, then she will give you a commitment. Remind her of her pain. Then ask and be firm. If she won't give you a commitment, then either the pain is not important enough for her to solve, or you are not being taken seriously as a vendor.

You must negotiate the process of the sale with your prospect. You want to set the rules for what can and cannot happen during the sales cycle, and for what you should both expect of each other. Then negotiate for an advance of the sale for each offer of additional value on your part.

If her pain is not big enough to give you a commitment in the beginning, then it is almost certain you will not get a sale at the end. So stop here and move on to the next prospect. Offer to come back when she is serious about solving the problem.

Do not fall into the trap of believing that you have to demo / show / give away your info without any commitment. In retail sales this is the norm. Retail salespeople are paid to be on the floor talking to prospects, answering questions, and giving out free info, demos, brochures, etc. Everyone else should not sell this way. Unfortunately for the rest of us, most people's experience buying is in the retail world.

Oh, and don't go out and buy a book of closing techniques. If I hear another sales rep start a close with "If I could show you a way...", I will throw-up!

© 1999-2004 Shamus Brown, All Rights Reserved.

Shamus Brown is a Professional Sales Coach and former high-tech sales pro who began his career selling for IBM. Shamus has written more than 50 articles on selling and is the creator of the popular Persuasive Selling Skills CD Audio Program. You can read more of Shamus Brown's sales tips at http://Sales-Tips.industrialEGO.com/ and you can learn more about his persuasive sales skills training at http://www.Persuasive-Sales-Skills.com/

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Focus on a Trade - Not a Discount

Smart buyers will always ask for a better price. Unfortunately,... Read More

Four Easy Steps To Building A Powerful Employee Incentive Program

Want to build a successful incentive program for your company?... Read More

Top Seven Ways to Write An Order-Pulling Sales Letter

Ready to put your Web pages up? Ready to sell... Read More

Great Telephone Skills

Having good telephone skills is crucial as the call may... Read More

3 Ways To Sell and Have Fun Doing It

There are many ways to sell and have fun doing... Read More

The Best Day In The Week

The best day of the week is TODAY, of course.... Read More

Exporting to Europe: Not the Challenges You Think

If you plan to do sell your product or service... Read More

Are You a Cultivator or a Harvester?

As a result of providing marketing consulting, training and coaching... Read More

What is Lead Generation?

Lead Generation is vital to all businesses. All companies try... Read More

Do You Know When You Are Being Sold To?

Britney Spears has recently caused controversy with suggestions that the... Read More

The Never Ending Sale

Once you have added a new customer to your book... Read More

Sales People have an advantage as entrepreneurs

Zig Ziglar use to say in seminars and on tapes... Read More

Create a Magic Connection with Clients, Leads, and Business Associates Part II

Part I of this article explored how strategies of Neuro-Linguistic... Read More

Increasing Short and Long Term Profits

"I was at your site for all of two minutes... Read More

How To Get Face To Face Over The Phone

One disadvantage of selling by telephone is the lack of... Read More

The Relationship Between Colour & Sales

Make no mistake that emotions are the driving force behind... Read More

Getting Past the Gate Guard

Over the years, many prospects have hidden behind their well-trained... Read More

Leads, Prospects, and the Huge Gap Between

The leads marketing delivers to the sales team never seem... Read More

How A Simple Greeting Or Post Card Can Turn Into Cash ? Guaranteed

I've been using a technique that has helped me to... Read More

How To Set Goals and Achieve Them

We use only 5% of God's given potential, 95% of... Read More

At-ti-tude, n

At-ti-tude, n.One of Webster's dictionaries describes the word attitude as:a... Read More

Making the Sale When the Customer Wont Buy

Ever had a party online or offline, and had guests... Read More

Five Deadly Sales Letter Mistakes

To be effective your sales letter must be opened, read,... Read More

How to Revive a Dead Lead

It's easy to spend days, weeks, or months speaking with... Read More

Grow Your Business By Increasing the Value of Each Sale - 29 Ideas to Spur Your Brain

There are 3 ways to grow any business:- Get more... Read More

The Trusted Advisor Relationship: What Is It, and What Should It Be?

For the past months, maybe a year, I've been hearing... Read More

The Force That Drives Buying Decisions

What do people buy? They don't buy your wonderful presentation.... Read More

9 Ways to Keep Clients Coming Back For More

A lot of effort is put into getting new clients.... Read More

Turn Your Wisdom Into a Workshop

The Technical Revolution has done a lot for us --... Read More

Sell More: How to Get Motivated Buyers To Call You First

How many sales opportunities have you lost to competitors who... Read More

Telephone Techniques

TELEPHONE TECHNIQUESSelling face to face is different from selling on... Read More

Book Yourself Solid

THE 7 KEYS TO GETTING MORE CLIENTS THAN YOU CAN... Read More

How To Bully Your Prospects Into Buying Your Product or Service

Selling is a tough job, and sometimes you may need... Read More