Self- Analysis of the Situation: Questions to Ask Yourself
Did I properly interpret the customer’s buying signs?
- Did you create value?
- Have you given the prospect a sense of urgency?
- Are you giving them space and support through their buying fears?
- Did I miss-interpret their commitment level? Was it low commitment or high commitment?
- Did you connect the dots of their needs to your value correctly?
Tips for Working Through the Stalled Sale:
Follow up with purpose
- Create a purpose to your follow up. Don’t just call and say “I’m following up” this creates no value for the prospect. Continue to create value by offering them some additional information or re-defining an option or ask a question. A voicemail that states “I’m just following up, give me a call back” can easily be ignored. However, if you say – “I have more pieces of information that you may be interested in…give me a call back” or I wanted to clarify further a point we were discussing.. each voicemail gives your call a purpose and gives them a call to action.
Don’t Just Check In
- “I’m just checking in to see where you are at in deciding..” Again, this puts the prospect in control to call you back or define where they are at. Create value and urgency.
Create Urgency
- Remind the prospect of what it is costing them to NOT make the change. Often people stall on making a change thinking it will create chaos and upset current business. Prospects often focus on the “unknown” chaos that occurs around change instead of realizing how much staying where they are is costing them.
Verify with Prospect the Priority of this issue
- Often the situation is still the same, but someone else on the buying team has decided that it is not top priority right now.
- Sympathize with your prospect, “I realize that this situation is frustrating for you. You have put so much energy into this and now you feel discouraged because others are seeing things differently. I would really love to speak with so-so to see their viewpoint” Let me help you to get this back on track again. Remember you are the advisor- helping them along the way.
Give Space
- Sometimes it is truly that they had to move the issue to the back burner as they handle an issue. Give proper space as they handle those priority issues but yet continue to create value for the prospect and don’t give too much space.
Listen Closely
- Listen very carefully to the objections the prospect is giving you. What are their fears? Peel back the onion by asking open ended questions to discover what may be the “real” reason for the stalling – not the false reason.
Ask for Feedback
- Be honest. Say I am trying to be the best at my job and I would just appreciate if you could give me some feedback on this situation. Is there something I could have done differently? Be open and not combative.