One thing that’s helpful to keep in mind if you want to make more sales is to, first and foremost, find out what your prospects do, how they do it, when they do it, where they do it, who they do it with, and why they do it that way. Then, once you’ve done that, your job is to help them do it even better by using your product or service.
But before you can ever make the sale, you need to get an appointment to see your potential customer first. With that said, though, it’s likely that not everyone will say “yes” when you ask to meet with them.
Fortunately, we’ve already learned how to handle the four most common responses you’ll get from a prospect when you ask for an appointment, which are:
- “I’m not interested.”
- “No thanks, I’m happy with what I’ve got.”
- “I’m too busy right now.”
- “Just send me some information.”
And if those aren’t enough for you, there’s still another way for you to gather information from a prospect’s negative response and turn it around into the actual reason for setting the appointment. Here’s how it works:
You: Hi Sandy, this is Alex Miller from XYZ Training, Inc. We’re a growing sales training firm here in Boston that’s worked with over 300,000 salespeople.
Prospect: Oh, no kidding! We’re actually thinking about doing some training. So, what kind of programs do you do?
You: Well, we have programs on cold calling, information gathering, objection handling, and closing the sale.
Prospect: Really! What are your prices?
Now, since the call is going pretty well up to now, suppose you don’t want to be overly vague and merely say, “Our pricing is grouped into various classes.” So instead, you provide a bit more detail and say, “The range is from X to Y.” And as a result, the prospect responds by saying, “Wait a minute, that’s way too expensive.”
Now, here’s where you turn around the negative response. You see, instead of arguing with her about her response, you simply say, “Sandy, a lot of our satisfied customers initially had the same reaction before they actually saw how the benefits they received far exceeded the cost. You know, we really should get together.” In other words, you use her own answer as the very reason for meeting together.
Here’s another example:
Prospect: Gee, I don’t think that’s a good fit with what we’re doing here.
You: You know, that’s what other people said who later decided to work with us. We really should get together. How about Tuesday at 10 am?
Again, no matter what the prospect says, you use that reply as the actual reason why the two of you should get together.
Now, in addition to these examples, you can also turn around a negative response by asking questions. Remember, as a salesperson, your job is to find out the who, what, where, when, why, and how as it relates to your prospect’s current way of doing things. Take a look at how this works.
Prospect: We don’t do any sales training, because we don’t believe in it here.
You: Just out of curiosity, if you don’t use sales training, what do you do with your new salespeople? How exactly do you work with them?
Prospect: Well, we just have them work directly with their managers. And when they’re ready, they go out on their own.
You: Oh, that’s great, Becky! Then we should get together, because we’ve worked successfully with other companies that have done the exact same thing. How’s this Wednesday at 3 pm?
Here’s another example:
Prospect: I’d be interested in meeting with you, but we don’t make any decisions here. All the decisions are made at our headquarters in New York.
You: Oh, well what kind of training do you do in your office?
Prospect: We do the X, Y, and Z training programs.
You: That’s interesting. Then based on what you’ve mentioned, I think we should get together, because we complement those programs.
You see, even if the prospects can’t make the decisions on their own, there’s still a chance that they can get them made for you, which turns your meeting into an eventual sale for you.
Okay. Here’s one more example of how this works:
Prospect: We already have a contract with the ABC Training Company.
You: Oh. Are you using their Brand Z training program?
Prospect: No. We’re actually using Brand X.
You: Really? Then we should get together, because what we do builds upon Brand X nicely.
Now, the reason why this technique is effective is because you’re moving away from a one-way sales call to a two-way dialogue. You see, initially, you’re focused on your desire to get the appointment, while your prospects are happy with what they’re doing and feel as though they don’t need to change. This approach blends the two into an actual conversation.
Once you understand this, and use the information you get from your conversation with the prospect, you’ll be more effective. Whether you’re comfortable with these techniques at first or not, if you go ahead and apply them, you’ll get more appointments.
So again, if you hear a negative reply on the phone, ask a related question, and then say, “That’s great. You know what? We really should get together.” That’s how this approach works.
