In football (or soccer, depending where you live) one of the former favorite game tactics used to be “kick & rush”. You can describe it with getting the ball as quickly as possible in front in the opponent’s end zone, using long kicks, quickly passing the midfield, to strike a goal within minutes or rather seconds.
This tactic isn’t used as often anymore, as it bears the risk for the opponent to intercept the ball, where everyone is still in forward motion.
In sales you can describe it as “one call close”. The sales man is calling up a prospect he hasn’t met before, maybe meets them in person and sells on the spot, within the first meeting. Does it happen? Oh yes, especially if there is a price incentive involved. Does it happen often? No, as pressuring the sale often gives you more objections you have to master. And unless you are selling a damn hot product, with incredible value for a matching price (also to be named a “No Brainer”), I doubt that the frequency of selling in a first meeting will be sustaining. As always, you see exceptions in certain industries or technological advanced products (iPhone anyone?).
Prospects in a sluggish economy are more conscious how they spend their money, and how long there are getting tied into contracts. Quick wins may be lost just as quickly, as there is no deep and trusting relationship between the seller and buyer.
Shortcuts in sales are getting more difficult to find. It may needs discipline, but in taking all the steps needed to get it done properly, will give you the advantage of
- selling for a better price, with less discount.
- selling a higher value, a more premium version of your product
- getting more time to fix issues, if they arise.
- a happier customer
- a lot of referrals
And the best, it doesn’t necessarily take much longer than using the kick & rush method. What are the key things you should do while selling?
- Build a relationship with the prospect. The better the understanding – the same wave length – the easier it will be to present the value to the prospect. You will hit less resistance, obscure objections or even rejections, as the prospect is giving you a little bit of more trust.
- Always include all stakeholders of the purchasing decision in your sales presentation. A veto from the wife of the prospect may kill the deal in the last second. Sounds familiar when you are just about to book a weekend playing golf? Needless to mention, only sell to the decision maker(s), not the employees underneath him.
- Don’t pressure your prospects without reasons. Of course you must use believable urgency to give the prospect a reason to decide in your favor, but once it becomes unbelievable or even unreasonable, prospects will be looking for a way to back out. Or even worse, they disappear like magic. They take no phone call form you, or react on any email you send.
Depending how quick you can built the relationship with your prospect, the quicker he will open up to your product’s values. Once believable urgency is applied, your sales cycle will spin quicker. Just don’t rush your prospect with tricks, don’t oversell, stay honest. A long lasting client relationship will bring you more referrals than hard-selling ever does.
Related posts:
- The Biggest Challenge In Modern Prospecting: Selling Against The Status Quo The status quo describes the situation when the prospect is happy with what he has. The prospect is happy with...
- Successful Selling To Small Business Owners & SME [u] Small businesses differ from larger corporations. Not just the size of their business differs, also the way they make purchasing...
- Sales Prevention And Purchasing Objection – YOU! What is the true reason for prospects who object to the purchase in the very end? Price is the very...
- 5 Minutes Is A Lifetime In Sales In 1999 in the UEFA Champions-League, Bayern Munich lost in the final by one goal against Manchester United. All fans...
- Need More Needs? Finding People Who Are Willing To Buy. I am solid believer that I can sell anything to anybody, if this someone only has a need of what...
