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Sales Surprises

  
  
  
  
  
  
In life, as in selling, there are surprises.  Some of them good and some of them not so good.  In life, there are many surprises that are really surprises.  Stuff that you can't control, don't control and just kind of show up.

 

Winning the lottery - good surprise

Tax audit - bad surprise

Finding that you and your spouse are expecting - good surprise

Finding out that you can expect triplets - well maybe not such a great surprise

Getting promoted - good surprise

Getting promoted to Fargo North Dakota - bad surprise

In selling, surprises shouldn't happen.  Surprises are not good in selling.  Surprises in selling mean that somewhere along the way the sales person failed to execute a critical part of their sales process.

According to Dave Kurlan in his book, Baseline Selling, there is a process that minimizes surprises, and when that process is executed, you improve, you eliminate surprises and you maximize your ability to succeed.

Eliminate sales surprises by doing the following:

  • Make sure you meet with the decision maker early.
  • Execute your steps for qualifying to a "T". Ask the required tough questions to get to the real motivation of the prospect.
  • Uncover any and all issues regarding money. They are the investment of time, money and resources required to make problems go away.
  • Discuss and agree on the decision making process and make it stick.
  • Follow up your initial meetings with ‘as we agreed to letters' so that you and the prospect are on the same page prior to presenting a solution.
  • Get an agreement for a decision prior to presenting your solution.
  • Review your entire process prior to presenting, then present and get a decision.

The process is simple but not easy to execute because executing each and every one of these steps requires ‘sales courage'.  And that is another blog posting.

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COMMENTS

This is a great post, but let's have some fun and give a lesson at the same time. We need to remember to always be watching from the prospect's perspective. I.E. - Winning the lottery, usually good, but not if you're Whitey Bulger? Triplets? Not bad if you've already had two sets of quads? Fargo? Hey, if your last post was Antarctica...? The rest? Totally on point.

posted @ Sunday, June 22, 2008 5:18 PM by Rick Roberge


Comments have been closed for this article.

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