The business of selling tends to be interrupted by every possible distraction. No matter how hard we try, life and all its complications seem to get in the way. We assume our clients think the same way as us BUT how does your prospect see the word? How can you tap into their emotional style?
- My wife calls and reminds me our grandchildren are staying over tonight.
- Don’t forget to pick up the dry cleaning ready for that important meeting.
- Is it Jennifer’s school recital tonight?
- Where in the hell did I file that company’s business quote?
….Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, we often walk into a sales meeting totally preoccupied and distracted from the main task at hand….. That is, effective communication with the prospect/client.
Sometimes we are halfway through the presentation before we realize how distracted we are and how we have actually just been going through the motions.
There goes that investment in a new lead.
It is the first minute or so when your prospect will start to decide if they want to deal with you. We all have our favorite little rehearsed sales introductions. It is in those initial fact-finding questions when we need to stop, put aside all our other preoccupations and concentrate entirely on how our prospect sees the world
If we are distracted in any way we tend to resort to selling our prospect as if they were simply a carbon copy of ourselves and how we see the world. This is a classic mistake as we are making a very unprofessional assumption. We could take any selling situation to illustrate the point but for our purposes, let’s use a car salesperson and his/her encounter with a prospect to illustrate the point……
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Prospect (P) walks into the car showroom or car yard. The Salesperson (SP) makes their initial approach. After offering a welcome, the salesperson might ask a simple question.
SP: “How can I help?”
P : “I am only looking.”
SP: ”What is it specifically that you are looking for?”
Now this is were the salesperson needs to pay real attention to the prospect’s response. It may tell them How the prospect sees the world
Response #1 – Something well presented and in good condition
Response #2 – What colors does this model come in?
Response #3 – Have you got a six-seater?
Response #4 – Does it have side airbags?
Response #5 – I just want a cheap car, don’t care what it looks like.
Response #6 – What is top of the range for this make?
Response #7 – What is the typical mileage for this model?
We could address each of these Responses but let’s concentrate today on what Response #1 tells us about this particular prospect.
Someone who uses the expression “well presented” expects the vehicle to be an extension of how they see themselves or if you will …How the prospect sees the world.
This particular expression is commonly used by one particular emotional buying style. They hold a very conservative view of the world and it is important that the vehicle reinforces what they regard as their social standing. Their primary drive is a need for social acceptance. You would be well served if you direct them towards a conservative color for that model such as white or silver.
You could equally make mention of the typical buyer of such a model.
SP: “This is a very popular model with the medical profession.“
You could equally use a trial close that may put pressure on their self-image.
SP: “If this model is a bit more than what you would like to pay, we can always look at a more standard model.“
This emotional buying style does not want to feel that their product choice proves to be inferior so it is important that you use this with another trial close
SP: There is a twelve-month full warranty exclusive to this top of the range model.” “Will that be a major factor in your mind?“
It is critically important to note here that our prospect, if they responded using response #2 to #7, would not necessarily respond to these suggested sales lines so be careful about your assumptions and ask yourself this simple question.
Am I determining the emotional buying style of my prospect or am I just plopping all my unqualified preconceptions in their lap?
If we allow ourselves to be distracted, and only function in this mechanical way, you can almost guarantee you are just irritating the prospect.
If you really want to know more about recognizing the emotional buying style of a prospect in the first sixty (60) seconds of an encounter….learn more in my book. Here is a link to it at Amazon at Selling Commercial Solar to the Seven Emotional Buying Styles