Sales Advice: “I think I am boring my prospect to sleep!!! HELP!”
This question was posted on LinkedIn today in a sales professionals group:
“I don’t know about the rest of you but I have decided to stop boring my prospects and wasting their time. Before my next sales call I will have at least 12 reserve question topics to use when the prospect gets silent. What I am doing currently is wait until things get silent the start showing brochures and product dumping…”
This is an interesting question, and I know a lot of entrepreneurs feel this way when they are making lead generation calls, having coffee while networking or giving sales presentations.
Here was my reply and advice on this question:
Hi,
Kudos on the idea for preparing 12 questions for your next sales call.
What I would recommend instead of waiting to use them for when the prospect gets silent, is to start with them.
This is what I work on with my own clients to greatly increase their sales effectiveness and close rates. Also, from a personal stand-point, I hate it when someone is trying to sell me something and assumes that I have no background or clue about what they’re talking about. They take 10 – 15 minutes of my time to “educate me” on stuff I already know or don’t take the time to find out my previous experiences or perceptions. This is a big turn-off, and even if I really have some interest, they probably have already blown the sale with me.
As a sales pro, you want to ask lots of questions, get them talking. Have them talk about their pains, their desires, their wants, their needs. Ask them about problems they’ve had and experiences they want to top.
Ideally, they should be talking 80% of the time. After they have given you all the info they can think of and relate to, and qualifying and pre-selling themselves in the process, then it’s your turn talk and be the answer to all their prayers.
Just make sure you are being truthful and can deliver on all you promise.
Good luck on the next call! And please let me know if I can answer any questions or ever be of assistance in any way.
All the best, and no more Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…..’s :)
