George called today to defer
a scheduled meeting for himself and his sales team.

“Why?” I asked.

“Remember,” he
said “how I couldn’t understand why you were so adamant about sending
handwritten thank you notes to the people we met at the trade show? Well, a key
contact from one of those companies has called me now twice…and mentioned my
note both times. I have to fly out, meet with him and his staff and do a
capabilities presentation and so we have to delay.

Before we go, is there a
last minute piece of advice you can give the team?”

I said, “Be definite.

1.     
Be definite about who you are and what you do.  You need to
know with complete certainty what your company can do for folks like this
prospect. In a crunch, you need to be able to sum it up in 30 seconds or less
in their terms.

If this is a big sale in terms of dollars or
emotional content or both you need to spend the time to learn everything you
can about them and why they’ve agreed to meet with you.

2.      Be definite
about their problem. Big sales solve
big problems. The better you understand this one and how it impacts the
prospect’s organization and budget, the more apt you are to be considered for
the contract which will solve it.

Go
one step further than simply gathering the data. Try to see it from the prospect’s
viewpoint. What does this situation mean in terms of staff, output, budget,
timing, any and everything that working with you may directly and indirectly
impact.

3.      Be definite
about the implications. The more
completely you demonstrate your understanding of the prospect’s real needs and
the hidden factors that cause resource concerns the closer you will come to
that contract.

Take
more time with implications and ask more questions about them and you’ll walk
in the footsteps of the most successful salespeople. Continuing studies show
that the top performing high value salespeople all  use this simple technique.

4.      Be definite
about the payoff the prospect sees. Listen
to what is being said.  Hear the meaning
and the words. Comprehend their needs. Grasp their perceptions. Understand
their view of the benefits your product or service offers. Their views are more
persuasive to them than any you will ever be able to offer.

In
conversation with the prospect take the strength of your product or
service  that you would normally tell the
prospect about but instead of telling, ask three kinds of questions:

§        
Identify
if the benefit can help the prospect

§        
Clarify
the importance of the benefit to the prospect’s need

§        
Extend the
prospect’s perception of the benefit.

5.     
Be definite about closing. Ask for the order. Do it at the end. Do it once and
once only.

There
is a growing body of evidence that asking for the order too early or too often
(especially in high dollar or highly emotional sales) can demolish your
chances.  In one test, salespeople who
did not attempt a close had more sales than those who tried three or four. A single
close, properly done, is still the most powerful.

6.     
Be definite about next steps.  Never leave a
sales presentation without one of three things:        

A definite No
A definite Yes
Or
A definite PlanToo
often, both professional salespeople or professionals that sell accept a delay
or deferral or a “Come see me next time you’re in town” as a
successful sales call.

It
isn’t.

A
successful sales call leads to next steps that inexorably bring you closer to making
the sale or getting the contract.

7.      Be definite
about following up. Send a
handwritten thank you note. Call to confirm next steps. Immediately respond
with the data requested. Live up to your commitments. Get to trust.

That
is the way you change contacts into contracts.

All
sales begin in doubt. You must be definite to lead them to certainty.