31 July 2007
Close the Sale: Make the Pain Worse
30% of people admitted to a hospital’s emergency room feel no pain.
There might be a sucking chest wound or a missing limb, but nothing hurts.
An anesthesiologist will still administer an anesthetic not only for the pain, which might come eventually, but to also still the patient. To keep the patient quiet, sedated, compliant.
So even though the patient was not in pain, he still got a pain relieving solution.
(The Alert Reader will remember that Your Business Blogger once worked for Mallinckrodt — but only on the medical device side, not the drugs.)
Sales is sometimes the same way. A solution to the customer’s problem should be provided even if the patient customer feels no pain.
So how does the professional sales representative sell when there is no pain?
Your Business Blogger suggests that the sales rep doesn’t.
Don’t waste time “selling” to those who are not in pain. Find the pain and the sale will be easier to make.
But.
But there are times when the sales account manager must sell to a particular customer.
For example, Your Business Blogger was once a national account manager selling to Sears.
I had to sell my product lines to Sears, competing for shelf space; and budget buying dollars; advertising; and staff and management training time. No Sears, no sales.
Or a sales rep could have a narrow sales territory with a few accounts.
Or the sales rep could be selling a single product to a single buyer — a government account. F-18’s with USA-only avionics, for instance.
So how does the sale get made when the only pain is with the sale’s guy?
Alert Reader, Karl Goldfield shares this question from his LinkedIn network,
How do you close deals with hesitant prospects?
There have been more than one occasion where I’ve encountered prospective clients who, despite their willingness to work on proposals and have face-to-face meetings, were slow to commit to anything, whether it be a full-blown DR project or a three-day assessment of their IT infrastructure.
In one such case, everything was dragged out for nearly seven months before the relationship fell apart due to the lack of commitment on the prospect’s side… which was a bit disheartening for me.
For those who have worked in outside sales, specifically in the systems integration arena (although general sales experience I’m sure can be applied here too, regardless of vertical), have you encountered such prospects during your career?
If so, what did you do in order to finally get them to close?
Here is Karl’s advice,
There are two phases post qualification that make or break a good salesperson.
Without the assets to deliver these phases, it is almost impossible to sell high value offerings in increasingly competitive markets.
1. Value proposition
People tend to jump from qualification to presenting to pain and never ask themselves, “If I were the customer what would get me to say yes immediately.”
Now in this case I am assuming that you are talking to one or all of the decision makers, and if one, the financial authority. What makes people buy ANYTHING is perceived value.
If someone buys an expensive car, it is not because it gets you from point A to point B, all cars do that. It is THE PERCEPTION OF HOW IT GETS YOU THERE THAT MAKES THE SALE. People pay more for hybrids, to be gas conscious, more for luxury to be more comfortable.
The problem most sales representatives have, is they listen to the facts of qualification, but do not account for the desires. People buy from one company instead of the myriad of others competing in the SI space, because they think the company has the most to offer.
Get them talking to your customers, the ones that they can relate to. Determine early on in qualification, what the hottest points are and build your value proposition around that. Sell to the DESIRE AND THE NEED. This when done effectively closes a deal for you.
2. Closing
Ask for the sale, ASK for the sale, ASK FOR THE SALE. Once you have presented value, any delay tactics by your prospect are as good as a NO.
If a prospect has a logical timeline and plan that they can share with you, then wait to close them until it is close to the end. Otherwise, what do you have to lose?
Waiting four months for something to fall apart is hard on your ego, your patience, and your time management. If you present to the value and the need, while maintaining a clear focus on what will get them to buy, then close hard and get a yes or a no.
Karl’s advice is sound.
As he outlines, let us review the basics.
First, the account rep should be doing the ABC’s of sales:
Always Be Closing
This is the single bit of advice that every sales guy must be reminded of: We don’t get thrown out, we far too often bail out of a sales appointment.
Don’t know what to do? Ask for the order. Go for the “No” and move to the next appointment.
Second, Sales is the transference of emotion for our product or service. So we should sell the Desire and Need.
Third, Perception is reality. See Reality, Marketing and Aristotle
Fourth, Value Propositions are important, but I would avoid the “Bear Trap Close,” If I could solve your problem today, would you buy now? Savvy buyers and normal people get annoyed with this line. But the seller should ask if a benefit fits. Then, and only then can the feature can be applied.
The sale’s rep should note if the buyer is still not interested or not in enough pain to appreciate the benefits — whether faster, better, or cheaper. The seller should have enough features to find a fit, to find a solution.
Fifth, the hesitant buyer is not in enough pain — yet. Your Business Blogger has been selling tangibles and intangibles to single-sole buyers, like the government for decades.
If the buyer is reluctant, the seller might have to adopt a public policy maneuver favored by politicos:
If you can’t get to a solution, make the problem bigger.
Dave Sandler would teach this opening,
Are you happy?
Are you delighted?
If not, why not?
Delighted, contented customers would be very slow to make a new decision.
If there is the slightest dissatisfaction, a hint of unhappiness, the sales rep must exacerbate the problem, make the wound bigger — big enough for the client to notice. This is done to learn if the customer is sincere or not. If the customer has a problem or not.
Let us assume that the sales rep cannot simply walk away and look for low hanging fruit on another orchard.
Let us return to that last customer on earth that our sales rep must sell to.
This account manager is now dealing in the purest of politics. Yes, the Features, Advantages and Benefits must be matched to the needs of the customer.
However, the professional sales representative knows that nearly every decision maker has multiple points of accountability.
Here is where customer — the key influencers and decision makers — must be known completely by our sales rep. Every habit, every vice and virtue, must be cataloged by the sales rep. Every connection, personal, professional, social must be uncovered and managed.
The sales rep must know every detail of the client. I do not recommend stalking, but I have been trained by sales guys who tried this. (One trainer admitted ambushing a decision maker in the parking lot. A sales pitch-fork. It didn’t work.)
Good account management works to control events and the decision process.
These personal and professional details are necessary — an end result — because the sales rep loves the customer. And, like wooing and wowing a bride, our sales guy wants to know everything about her.
And her parents and extended family and friends and relationships and trust.
The sole-customer decision process probably uses some kind of committee clearing. Every member, every meeting, every move is known by our professional sales rep — because he will have found a friend — an insider to champion his cause.
The customer must like the company representative.
And if all else fails. The sales rep can simply hire the customer. See how I did it here.
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