What statement will derail the sales process?
One of my sons started off a conversation that involved his effort to get me to give him money by saying, “you’re going to love this idea.”
That statement rarely turns out well for the person who says it.
My initial thoughts were, in order, “I doubt it” and then “I wonder what this is going to cost me.” If it had been one of the other sons, the first thought probably would have been “wanna bet,” but that’s a result of past experience. This is an opening line that breeds skepticism. Better approaches to making the sale include:
- Help the prospect see your idea in full living color with story-telling and visual images. This idea, by the way, extends to presentation decks where you should avoid lots of bullets and standard clip art and use images that complement your storytelling. For example, I use a photo of a tiger peering out of a forest for slides about lurking danger, images of elevator doors to start a discussion about options, and a picture of Peter Falk as Columbo to illustrate a slide on asking lots of questions.
- Get rid of the handouts but use leave-behinds. But don’t hand out the leave-behinds at the beginning and say they’re leave-behinds. Wait until you’re actually leaving.
- Once you’ve made the sale, stop selling. How many times have you been in meetings where the salesperson was so intent on getting through his or her deck that the sale was lost by an errant or misplaced bullet point?
- Aim high. My friend, sports agent extraordinare Ron Shapiro, urges negotiators to Aim High. Do the same in your sales. While there are benefits to taking an incremental approach once you have the business and bringing about change, don’t play it safe during the sales process. Be logical and clear, but paint a greater vision. Bring the prospect along on a journey and encourage them to feel a part of figuring out the solution.
One thing that most consultants have in common is the need to constantly sell, particularly those who are trying to build a portfolio of projects or clients that provide consistent income. When selling yourself (your skills, experience, and value proposition), what approaches do you take?
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