SalesMotivation.net

by Dan Coughlin, author of ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum
Visit Dan at www.businessacceleration.com

No one wants to be sold anything. We all know that one.
People like to make good investments. They want to make wise investments in their savings account, in their meal selections, in their entertainment, in their travels, in their homes, and in their cars and shoes and bikes and health care and on and on.

So don’t sell stuff to people. Help them make good investments.

a good investment – when a person feels the output he or she received far exceeded his or her financial and time input

Clarify the Desired Customer Output

In order to help a person make a good investment, ask the following questions:

1. What are you hoping to experience, improve, or achieve as a result of your investment?
2. What do you believe to be a fair financial investment to garner your desired output?
3. How much time do you want to invest in receiving this product or service, in learning how to use it, and in actually using it? (You may have to reword this one a bit depending on the circumstances, but you get the idea.)

You now have a reasonably clear understanding of the person’s desired output and the input he or she is willing to make.

When my wife, Barb, and I invested, not bought, a digital video recorder we answered these three questions for the sales person. We wanted to make taping and watching television programs a much more efficient process. We wanted fewer missed programs. We were willing to invest a few hundred dollars for the equipment and a little bit more each month on our normal cable bill. And neither one of us is very technological so it had to be fairly simple to use.

Clarify Your Organization’s Input

Once you get the answers to these three questions from your prospect, then sit down and honestly reflect on what your product and service can do. Answer these questions:

1. To what degree can your products or services help this potential customer achieve his or her desired outcomes?
2. How close to the customer’s desired financial investments can you provide your products and services?
3. Can you deliver these products and services in a manner that fits within their desired time commitments?

If you honestly cannot deliver what the customer wants in these three areas, then be prepared to explain what you can do and what you cannot do.

For example, if you can deliver the customer’s desired experience, but it’s going to cost four times more than he or she wants to pay, then say that. If you can deliver a product or service within the desired budget, but it will only provide 60% of what they want, then say that. If you can meet the customer’s desired budget and deliver the desired improvements, but it’s going to take a substantial investment of time on his or her part, then say that.

The important part of clarity is honesty. If you’re merely clearly stating a lie, then you are going to decimate not only the relationship with that person, but with everyone that persons talks to about you.

Clarity increases speed.

You add value to prospects when you help them clarify the outcomes they want, the financial investment they are willing to make, and the time they are willing to invest. Even if you don’t sell the person anything, you will have enhanced your reputation by helping them to get clear on what they want.

Clarity enhances matchmaking.

By clearly understanding what your prospect wants and what you can truly offer, you can quickly gauge whether or not this prospect is a good one for you and your prospect can gauge if you’re a good match for him or her. Some prospect s are perfect matches, some are terrible matches, and most are possible matches. With possible matches, you and the prospect are going to have to be flexible in making the match work. However, don’t be so flexible that you actually step into a terrible match. Many times the sale you walk away from is better than the one you made.

About Dan Coughlin

You can reach Dan at www.businessacceleration.com. As a business keynote speaker and management consultant, Dan Coughlin’s clients include Toyota, McDonald’s, Marriott, Coca-Cola, St. Louis Cardinals, Eli Lilly, and Boeing. Quoted in USA Today, the New York Times, and Investor’s Business Daily, Dan Coughlin has provided articles to more than 100 publications.