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| Subject: When Assuming Is Good, It's Very Good. When It's Bad ... | |
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Author: Dennis S. Vogel |
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Date Posted: 20:37:32 06/04/05 Sat In some sales situations, you may have a prospective user & a prospective buyer/payer. It may be obvious to you & the prospective user, s/he needs what you offer. But the prospective buyer/payer may not realize it or is denying reality. NOTE- Prospective users could be children who need something or have a felt need for socially acceptable things. Or they could be employees who need better results to satisfy themselves or the boss. Sometimes, prospective buyers/payers will send prospective users to buy something. Though buyers/payers may not be there physically, they (or a harder to please image of them) are still there. Prospective users may be very cautious & hard to convince than prospective buyers/payers. Something similar is a gift purchase, but these can be easier to handle because the budget is usually determined by the shopper. If you offer the optional versions Good, Better & Best, it can help shoppers justify what they buy. Gift shoppers don’t want to pay too little. Business (prospective users) shoppers don’t want to buy too much or too little. They also don’t pay too much of a boss’s budget or too little of it. Some are under pressure to buy a smaller supply instead of investing in a more economical size. Other times, when the prospective buyer would be the user, you know the product/service is definitely what s/he needs. Even if you didn't need to make a sale, this person needs a solution. So, if you have the best solution for a particular person’s situation, you should do your best to get the person to buy that solution. But people buy what they want & maybe they'll buy what they need. To serve this person, you need to ethically influence him/her. People who aren't used to making buying decisions tend to hesitant because they don’t want to make a bad decision. Some are overtly resistant. They act & talk as if they’re against buying what you offer. They tend to be like this because they know they’re easy to persuade. They’re trying to convince you & themselves, they won’t buy. These are the ones who tend feel like they’re suckers. This is especially true if they have relatives or “friends” who examine or ridicule their decisions. True, these may be real friends who don’t want them to be taken advantage. But too often, that’s not the case. You can do at least 2 things to protect customers against ridicule: 1) Internally- Build up their confidence, but not with false praise. Look & listen for things they say (said) & do (did) to prove they’re wise. 2) Externally- After they buy, but before they leave, give them things to show others why they bought the product/service. This is also good for reducing buyer’s remorse – also known as post-purchase dissonance. Even if customers don’t ask for a refund or exchange, they may still regret buying something. If they regret buying something from you, they may not buy anything from you again. When they review what you gave them, it’ll restore their confidence & comfort. If, for some reason, the printed material doesn’t have a benefit supplied by the product/service, be sure to write that on it. This may be something may be something a buyer said is important to him/her. So, as along your penmanship is neater than mine, your customer will be able to reread that information to confirm the purchase decision. Here’s an example of building customer’s confidence- If you sell vehicles & see their potential trade-in had some good advantages, list them. They may say, “Well, I bought it because my parents strongly suggested it.” You can sincerely say, “It’s good when you know who is giving you good advice. You used their advice to make a good decision because of (list of benefits). Are you looking for something similar to this today or have your needs changed?” Making It Easier To Buy Zig Ziglar has taught us for years to make it easy for people to buy. One way he suggests for us to do it is to assume the sale or as some call the technique “The Assumptive Close.” Dan, a guy I used to work with, used this very smoothly. He didn’t seem to be a smooth talker, but that may have helped him do well. He just seemed to a regular guy. Chet Holmes (Jay Abraham’s co-developer of the Performance Enhancement Quotient), from whom I’ve learned a lot, says he never does sales presentations, he does orientations. Orientations are for teaching. Dan did orientations, even if he didn’t think of them that way. He went into people’s homes & showed them how to use the vacuum cleaners. It was very simple – maybe that’s why it was effective. He assumed the reason he was allowed to bring the vacuum cleaners into people’s homes is because they wanted to learn how to use the machines as effectively as possible. But he didn’t tell prospects he expected or assumed they’d buy. It’s a soft-sell approach, some sales reps just like hard-sell. But it worked for Dan. I’ll admit, he had a higher sales percentage than I did. I know about the common belief – Ass/u/me means makes an ass out of you & me. Assuming a sale in an egotistical & unethically manipulative way makes asses of people. Doing it the right way makes it easier for people to buy what we sell because they don’t want to say, “No,” But they’re hesitant & may even be too afraid to say, “Yes.” If you push them to say, “Yes,” you may be psychologically pushing them away. Though they know they have a problem, or at least they lack something, they don’t want to make a mistake. They may not want to admit they don’t have enough knowledge about solutions. Since you sell solutions, you should have – or be able to easily get -- the required knowledge. So, you should be qualified – more qualified than they are – to know what they need (& should want). As long as you’re sure what they need & if they’re depending on you to determine what they should buy, then you owe to them & yourself to make that decision. Do it as a business coach or consultant. You can say, “Based on what you’ve told me, these are the possible solutions- XXX costs AAA; YYY costs BBB; ZZZ costs CCC.” Then they might ask you which one you recommend. If they’ll have to try something or more than one thing to find what works best, be candid with them. Don’t think you need to have every exact answer. If you were my marketing client, I’d design policies, plans & procedures, but it’d be up to you to implement, then report on the results. Based on the results, I’d recommend which adjustments to make. Your situation with your clientele may be similar. But as long as they understand they might get optimal results on the first try, they shouldn’t be surprised if the problem isn’t completely solved. You should have a risk-free offer for them. (I’ve written about risk-free offers in other posts here & on my web site.) Knowing they won’t be stuck with an incomplete solution or paying for something that’s not a solution should help them justify buying from you. Some are indecisive because they know they don’t have enough information, another group are indecisive by habit. There may even be some who are indecisive because you, or your staff, are hesitant about pushing the prospect for a decision or making the decision for the prospect. Some don’t feel comfortable making major decisions. To you, it might not be a major decision, but if they have very little money or what they’re thinking of buying is socially visible, it can feel like a major decision to them. You can softly soothe them, but don’t make it seem like you’re condescending. If what you sell has many options, it’s not good for you to decide, which options they should buy, without knowing what kind of solution they need. You can help them participate in the process with questions. If you sell appliances you can ask questions like these- “Will this freezer be in a place where your visitors will see it?” “Then if the color doesn’t matter much, this standard white model will work well for you & we have it in stock now & can deliver it on Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday evening. Which of these times would you be ready for it?” Asking the right questions is vital. Those questions depend on what’s being offered. Zig advises using the 3-Question Close. 1- Can you see how my product/service would (give the promised benefit – save money, increase income, etc.)? 2- Are you interested in (getting the promised benefit)? 3- If you were ever going to start (benefiting from the solution the prospect agreed using the product/service would provide), when do you think would be the best time to start? I’ve adapted the questions like these- 1- Do you understand how this could eliminate or at least substantially decrease your pain? (I agree, it’s best to ask questions prospects will answer with “Yes.” This is an exception because it’s good to know if prospects understand vital points. If they don’t they need you to explain it again, maybe in a different phrasing.) 2- Is this pain severe enough to drive you to find a solution? 3- If you’re going stop feeling this pain, when is the best time to start the treatment program? Another variation- 1- When we started discussing your need for more effective marketing, I remember you were concerned about increasing your profits without increasing your costs. Based on what we’ve been talking about, do you think I understand your situation? 2- When you think of the questions I’ve asked you & the answers I gave for your questions, do you feel we could work together & improve your situation? 3- Do you understand how much I’ll help you since you’ll get profits from the marketing program I design for you before I expect to get my fee? 4- Do you like the fact, if you answer some questions about your business, I can usually help you build a marketing budget before you start using the marketing program I design? 5- A- If you’re ever going to have optimal marketing program without a big marketing budget, when should you start? B- If you’re ever going to have a business that works for you, instead of being your employer, when should you start? Now the question is, when will you implement these ideas? I’m available to answer questions. I develop full marketing programs for a percentage of the gross profits my efforts produce. Thank you for using this forum for your business needs. Dennis S. Vogel thrivingbusiness@email.com Marketing strategies and tactics are long-term issues, but you don't have to wait long for sales when you use the right methods. http://web1.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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