Daily Inspiration 5-26-12

"Why struggle to convince someone of something they're not ready to hear?" -- Alan Cohen After starting in sales in 1972 and becoming a sales manager in 1975 and working in those capacities in one way or another all this time, I've learned that salespeople in general are always looking for ways to close sales. That's what they always seem to want to know more about--at least on the surface. I learned a lot of different sales closes, such as the Ben Franklin close, the feel, felt, found method, when you ask a closing question, SHUT UP!, and many more. I even tried most of them on one or more occasions. The best one is when you ask a closing question, shut up, but that leads me away from the point. What's the point? None of them work when someone is not ready to hear it, or buy it. They aren't magic and they just don't do what the promoters say they will. If you find the rare prospect that is just trying to blow you off because they have a hard time making decisions, some of these might work, but still a relatively small percentage of the time. I'm also a consumer and so I know that none of these closes would work on me either if I wasn't ready to hear it, or buy it. Now, questions is a whole different animal. Questions are good. If a prospect is asking questions, they are interested to some degree and closes are not necessary, just answer their questions or concerns. This really isn't rocket science. Take the time to understand their concerns. Try to put yourself in their position. Some people are just afraid. They're afraid to make a mistake, to make a bad choice, or that they don't know what they're doing and have little confidence in themselves. Those are all things we as salespeople can do something with. But, someone who isn't ready to hear? Until they are ready to hear, there isn't much point. We close a pretty high percentage of the people we do a presentation to in our business; however, it is pretty easy to see which ones aren't ready to hear. We can tell by the statements they make, and the LACK of questions they ask. It comes out in how they compare us to other vendors. We might swim a stroke or two with them, but we've learned to stop swimming very quickly and excuse ourselves for another day. One thing every one in sales needs to learn is to ALWAYS keep moving. There are plenty who ARE interested. There are PLENTY who will. Accept the ones that aren't ready to hear and keep your sanity and confidence in tact.

Focus On The Plenty Who Will Rather Than The Few Who Won't. Spread Some Joy Today--How often do you thank people for anything? Good question.