Asking a prospective or existing client for their business is one of the most challenging things faced by a professional advisor, sales executive or business developer.
Other than appearing as too ‘pushy’ when pitching our services or products (and therefore not doing it at all), closing the deal is usually the next big thing on the list that most sales and non-sales people dislike.
There’s a good reason why too, because nobody likes to hear the word ‘No’.
Nobody likes to feel rejected and so the challenge with many professionals and sales people is that - they confuse themselves, with the deal.
We need to understand that the prospect or client is not saying ‘No’ to us (as in personally) – what they’re saying ‘No’ to is what we are offering them.
However, I do understand that even though I understand that logically - it still doesn’t change the feelings of rejection and dejection that comes with being rejected by a client.
It’s often said the salespeople live ‘lives of constant rejection interspersed by moments of blissful triumphs’!
So, to increase the number of ‘triumphs’ in our role it’s important to keep in mind that when someone says ‘No’ it doesn’t mean they are saying ‘No’ forever – just for now.
The fear of rejection is strongly linked to the fear of failure. We believe that if we fail that we’ll also be rejected and for most human beings we need to feel both recognized and accepted by our peers. So it's entirely natural to feel like a failure when we have faced rejection.
The important thing to remember when we are turned down is to keep going - keep moving forward.
This is just one prospect or client saying 'No' and if we are clever about business development we have many more in our ‘funnel’ of people that we are meeting.
Successful business development comes down to focused and consistent activity. The more people that we see and serve then the more success we earn.
Ultimately new business development is a numbers game and the higher the quality of the people that we see (and the greater the number that we seek to spend time with) then obviously the higher our ‘closing ratio’ will be.
However there is something that we can do to improve our chances of a positive response when we have positioned our offer and are ready to close.
Specifically, it is to use a question that I call a ‘convincer’ or ‘closer’ question.
The sole purpose of this question is to move the client into an emotionally positive space just before we ask them to make their decision about our offering.
I define modern professional selling as ‘the ability to influence the emotional state of the client and thus their logical decisions about the transfer of goods, services and money for the mutual benefit of both parties’.
So if you are familiar with my work then you’ll know that I’m a great believer in harnessing the power of emotions when looking to influence or persuade people to do things.
I value the fact that the main driver behind buyer decision-making is not logic but emotion. Not thinking but feeling – and the more powerful the feeling we can induce in the neurological system of the person we are looking to influence, then the greater the ability we have to influence them.
Let’s imagine a scenario where we have made our pitch. We’ve presented the value of what we can do for the prospect or client, we’ve explained exactly how we are going to do it for them and they are happy that they know enough about us and our expertise or resources or experience to be convinced that we are the right people to do the job.
So they are nearly convinced but they are not there yet. They are wavering or hesitating.
They might be comparing us to the last presentation they received or even the next presentation – wondering if they would get a better price or more for their money.
Here’s where the following question can be very powerful.
Just ask: ‘How valuable would it be if we were to get the paper work out of the way and make a start on things’ or ‘How valuable would it be if we were to finalize the terms of the deal now’ or ‘How valuable would it be if we could wrap this up in time for the weekend’ or ‘How valuable would it be if we get you prioritized for the project’ or How valuable would it be if we were to get started right away on making those savings we discussed’.
The words ‘How valuable would it be if…’ cause the prospect or client to link a value that is important to them to take the suggested action that we are positioning in the second part of the question.
If they assign a high emotional value to the action that we are proposing – then they will make the decision to take the action that we have proposed – allowing us to move forward with the deal.
In most case this question works – but if it doesn’t then we have one last question we can ask to potentially close the deal.
Ask them ‘We’d really like to work with your firm so may I ask, what one thing would you need to know to be absolutely sure that we are your firm/partner/supplier of choice?’
This question is full of ‘soft’ and influential language designed to bring out from the person the one thing they need most in order to choose us.
Usually, the prospect or client will then share with us the critical piece that may have been missing in earlier conversations, allowing us to continue the conversation and so close the business and create a long-term, high-value relationship.
For more on the Psychology of Sales and Advanced Questioning techniques whynot join us at ExpertToAdvisor.pro
- Sean Weafer Founder, ExpertToAdvisor.pro