When sales fail to close, it’s usually for one of the following reasons:
1. The approach is confrontational rather than consultative. When prospects feel confrontation, they often feel provoked and challenged. Salespeople who are too anxious to close the sale or get their prospects to see their point of view, may only decrease their odds of closing. Selling is not about getting people to see your point of view. It is about allowing yourself to see the customer’s point of view.
2. The prospect feels pressured rather than being helped. When prospects feel pressure, they feel that demands are being placed on them. Pressure violates trust when the salesperson doesn’t show respect for their ideas and opinions. Creating demand usually doesn’t work. Patience, respect and understanding usually do. When you’re able to turn pressure around, it becomes your advantage because you become elevated to a level far above your competition. When you truly want to serve your prospects, they know it, and you may overcome sales resistance.
3. The prospect feels the salesperson is aggressive rather than supportive. Potential customers don’t usually reward aggressive behavior. When salespeople are aggressive, their only goal is to share what is important to them – closing the sale. There is a big difference between aggressive and assertive behavior. When salespeople are assertive, they believe in the value of their products or services. Successful salespeople are self-assured and self-confident, but never allow their sales talk to overwhelm or push away prospects.
4. Salespeople lose the sale with self-focused goals, rather than customer-focused ones. Prospects have a multitude of choices of how and what to buy, and also have the opportunity to find and buy anything they want around the clock on the Internet. While they don’t need salespeople to be sold on what they want to buy, they often do want to work directly with a salesperson who can assist them, service them, and educate them. Professional salespeople help, support and share knowledge with their prospects. They pass along important information and ask customers to buy once they’ve demonstrated clearly how their product or service will help achieve the desired results or objectives.
5. Salespeople retreat from customers’ problem when confronted with them instead of listening carefully and responding immediately. When customers call to discuss a problem or issue they are concerned about, some salespeople either wait to return the call or don’t return the call at all. Ignoring objections, problems or concerns won’t make them go away. Salespeople who ignore problems or concerns instead of putting them out on the table and dealing with them will lose their customers’ trust. It’s a much better decision to take action quickly.
Adapted from Sky Rocketing Sales, by Debbie Allen.
