Trial closing is performing a “test” close to identify where the prospect is in terms of his or her level of interest. Here are some examples of closing questions that you can ask to perform a trial close: What do you think about what you have seen so far? How do you think this fits [...]
One tool that you can use to improve closing sales is a partnership plan. This is basically a document that lists out all of the steps that you and the prospect will take together leading up to the purchase and implementation of your product. Here is an example: This sales tool is just a table with [...]
To determine if the prospect is not giving you the run around, you need to assess if they have genuine intent to purchase from you. To picture what we are talking about here, imagine a prospect who arrives at a car dealership that needs to purchase a new car, has the money needed for the [...]
Authority to purchase means that the prospect has the authority to make the decision to purchase your product. If a prospect has a true need for a new car and has the money needed for the purchase, but it is his or her spouse who makes the final deci- sion on big purchases, then this [...]
One area to measure the prospect’s qualification is his or her ability to purchase your product in terms of having the needed money or funding. If someone has a car that is periodically breaking down, that person definitely has a need for a new car. But if that person is unemployed and does not have [...]
Another way to disarm gatekeepers is to name drop other people you have spoken to in the organization so that you don’t look like an outsider who is calling to try to work your way in. The way to do that is to say something like this: I spoke with Tom Jones in accounting, and [...]
There are times where prospects will seem very interested in what you sell. This is great, but it is important to know if the prospect’s interest is tied to more of a “need” or if it is more of a “want.” For example, if someone has a car that breaks down periodically, this person has [...]
Many of the gatekeepers you will face are executive assistants, and they usually work for the leaders (executives) of a specific department of the company. For example, the CFO will likely have an executive assistant who will help him or her personally with all sorts of tasks. However, this executive assistant will usually also support [...]
In order to qualify a prospect, you have to be able to measure or assess how good or bad the lead is. To get a more accurate assessment, you can measure prospects in four different areas: Need to purchase Ability to purchase Authority to purchase Intent to purchase For prospects to be completely qualified, they [...]
If it does not look like the gatekeeper is going to let you through, try getting around the gatekeeper by treating the gatekeeper like the target prospect. There are two different ways to do this. First, if the gatekeeper does not understand who you are, who you should talk to, or why the target prospect [...]