Anxiety sets in as soon as a sales call isn’t going the way the rep expects

The rep’s knee jerk reaction to fix it is to talk faster and talk more.

The problem with this sales strategy is…. It doesn’t work!

Everything gets worse.

The customer tunes out, loses respect and most of all loses interest in ever doing business with this rep and your company.

If you or your rep ever finds yourself in this situation again use this secret tip to turn it around.

Drum roll…. Secret tip… Ask Two Questions.

One question to the customer and one question to yourself.

First, let’s look at the Question to the Customer.

Questions are everyone’s best friend.

When a question is asked right, it means you stop talking and it becomes the customer’s turn to talk.

You gain time to regroup, relax and listen intently to what they have to say. Chances are good you’ll get the nugget of information to redirect the conversation from sales fail to sales success.

So STOP TALKING and ask a question.  A feeling or opinion question is good at this juncture in the conversation.

• “What do you  think about what we’ve talked about so far?” 
• “When you think about the change you want to make, what are your biggest concerns?”

Now the question to yourself…

“What step in the sales process am I in and is it the right step based on how long we’ve been talking and the information I know?”

Why this question to self? Because what often happens  happens for the conversation to get derailed is the sales rep either skipped or rushed a step in the sales process.

For example, after a great launch, the next step is the interview step to discover the customer’s before and after state along with the risk and rewards to take any action to gain the after state.

Often reps ‘hear’ something early in the conversation as the customer is describing their before and after state and bam… they move right to solution.

It’s really too soon and too rushed to be offering a solution, which is exactly why the customer shuts down and anxiety sets in.

It’s an easy fix to stop the ship from going down and turn a bad conversation around.  Use these two questions – they are your lifesaver.