Okay, it’s game time and you are about to have a meeting with a potential client. You have already performed Action #1—Prepare/have a specific objective, and are ready to greet your prospect as he walks into the con- ference room. If you remember anything in this chapter, make sure it includes this section. There are three specific things to say during Action
#2 to earn respect and trust. These three things need to be preplanned, rehearsed, and repeated in every new scheduled appointment, be it in per- son or over the phone. (A scheduled appointment is one where the cus- tomers know that you are coming, have the defenses fully armed, and yet are willing to give you a shot at proving to them how you can make their lives better.)
To become the dominating, PRECISE, top performer in your company, you must read these phrases, practice them, and use them for 20 days. The three wall-crushing phrases sound like this (with key words in italics):
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1. “Thank you for your time, Ms. _________.”
2. “I know your time is important and you are probably in a hurry, so I would like to make our visit together as quick and as valuable as pos- sible. I can do this by asking you a couple of quick questions.”
3. “If you believe that we might have a solution for you, then we can discuss it in further detail. If not, I thank you for the opportunity.”
This opening is designed to relieve pressure and to bring the customer’s defenses down. Let’s break it down piece by piece and tell you why it is so effective.
“Thank you for your time.”
Many average sales reps don’t even take time to thank their prospects or customers for giving them the opportunity to speak with them. They act like it is their God-given right to be in front of customers, when the cus- tomers are actually doing them a favor by taking time out of their busy day. When the PRECISE sales rep opens his discussion with these two magical words (thank you), he immediately sets himself apart from the average salesperson. These two words immediately help to break down the wall of apprehension that most customers bring with them into a sales call.
“I know your time is important . . .”
What do most customers think a sales rep is going to do during a sched- uled appointment? If you answered, “Waste time by talking too much,”
you are correct. Because the PRECISE sales rep knows what 98 percent of all customers are thinking at the beginning of a sales call, she knows how to disarm them with this one rehearsed comment above. This simple fact that you are acknowledging the customers’ time will put your cus- tomers’ minds at ease. In essence, you are bringing up the time concern before they do, thereby disarming them.
“…quick and valuable…”
Because most customers are skeptics, they also think that most of what you are going to say will have little value to them. When you tell them that your intentions are to save them time and make every word valuable, the reaction from most customers is one of relief. When the customer is relieved, your chances of getting your message across are greatly improved.
“…quick questions…”
Can you see a trend developing here? Yes, we do use the word quick twice in our opening and that is by design. You want your customers to know that you plan to do your job effectively in the shortest time possible. When your customers realize that your questions are the vehicle that helps you save their time, they are much less apprehensive about letting you question them. In fact, they are much more eager to share the information that you need to better serve them because they now understand that it is in their best interest.
“If you believe…”
These three words let customers know that they are in control and that the buying decisions are theirs alone. Letting them know up front that their opinions and beliefs supersede yours as the salesperson will blow a big hole through the defenses.
“…might have a solution. If not, thank you…”
These words insinuate that you, as the salesperson, are not even sure if what you have is going to provide a solution to their needs. This lets them know that you have no plans to pressure them and removes yet another brick in the customer defense wall.
The Typical Customer Responses
While the customers’ faces usually say, “Whew, amen, thank goodness this is not another sales schmuck,” their lips usually say one of two things:
“Thank you for coming. Feel free to ask questions. Oh, and by the way, I am not in a hurry, so take your time.”
“Thanks for coming. I appreciate your concern for my time, and I do only have seven minutes to chat.”
Either response gives you valuable information. Isn’t it useful to know in a sales call how much time you have to find a solution for your cus- tomers? This PRECISE opening pulls this information out of them much more softly than saying, “How much time do we have today?”
It is usually at this point during one of my seminars when a student raises her hand and says, “When I am in front of my customers, I know exactly how much time I have to get my point across.” For those of you in
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similar situations I ask this: Imagine that you have an hour-long appointment scheduled with a sales rep that wanted to sell something to you. That rep comes in and tells you that his purpose is to have a specific and PRECISE discussion that will be done in half the time. Wouldn’t that excite the hell out of you? Sure, it would! We all would like to spend a little less time with salespeople, wouldn’t we?
So try this PRECISE opening, even if you have a specific amount of meeting time scheduled. When you use this PRECISE opening, it is like looking your customer in the eye and saying:
“Customer, I know you are thinking that I am about to bore the hell out of you and waste your time. I know you also think I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions that have almost no value to you. In fact, you think that because I am going to ask you a bunch of questions, what was already going to be a miserably long sales presentation is now going to be even longer. I know you are dying for me to just get to the point, show you what I have, and let you make an educated decision on your own. But frankly, I can’t do that. Because the only way that I can make sure that I don’t bore the hell out of you is by asking some quick and PRECISE questions. After asking these questions, I will then talk about only the benefits that you want to hear, and I will speak nothing of the features that you have no interest in. If after that you like what you hear and see, then we can move forward. If you do not like what you hear and see, I will not push you. In fact, I will pack up my bags and off I go. Oh, and did I mention that our conversation will take half the time of my competitor and you will learn twice as much?”
While I don’t expect you to say the written words above, wouldn’t it be nice to communicate a message such as this to a prospect before you present your solution? Well, you can with the less wordy and slightly more profes- sional version listed before.
If you would like to change the wording up slightly, great, go ahead.
Just make sure you use the key words listed in the PRECISE opening.
Why? Because they work!
Curiosity Brings Walls Down While Prospecting
Respect and trust is difficult to build during a prospecting call. This is when customer’s defenses are at their strongest, and when their inclination
to becoming annoyed by salesperson is at its highest. Curiosity is the only weapon that a salesperson has at this point. Without creating curiosity, there is never an invitation to share more information. Without creating curiosity, the salesperson is just making an uninvited sales pitch that usu- ally produces severe resistance.
When prospecting, your goal is to keep the sales game alive as long as possible. With curiosity as the foundation, the game will continue.
Without it, you won’t even get past the coin toss. Curiosity causes prospects to seek more information. When a prospect is seeking, they are not defending. And when they are on offense, it’s tough to play defense.
When this happens, those walls of resistance suddenly come down and the customer becomes more engaged. Remember what I said earlier: When prospects want, they are more willing to give. And the more willing they are to give, the more able you are to be PRECISE and deliver them the perfect solution. The next chapter will show you ways to build curiosity when prospecting.
PRECISE Action #2 Review Respect and Trust
1. “Thank youfor your time, Ms. _________.”
2.“I know your timeis important and you are probably in a hurry, so I would like to make our visit together asquickand asvaluableas possi- ble. I can do this by asking you a couple ofquick questions.”
3. “Ifyou believethat we might have a solutionfor you, then we can discuss it in further detail. If not, Ithank youfor the opportunity.”
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