A week later, the prospect calls and in a hesitant voice, says “Something’s come up. “We need to postpone moving ahead. Give me a week, and I’ll get back to you.”Has this ever happened to you? You’ve just completed one of the biggest sales of your career and you’re reveling in it. The prospect has agreed to buy, and you’ve agreed on a date and time to get started. You shook hands and left, bursting with glee. Wow! What a coup. All’s right with the world.
Your heart sinks. “What the ...?,” you murmur to yourself. Don’t feel bad. This happens to a lot of salespeople.
What went wrong? Well, if you must know, whatever the prospect’s reasons are, you missed the postsell. That’s the sale after the sale. And you went off on a false start. You had your happy ears on and assumed that just because the prospect verbally agreed, you had closed the sale.
When a prospect verbally agrees to move ahead on a sale, remember that’s not good enough. A prospect can change his or her mind for any number of reasons. Perhaps your competition waltzes in with a better offer than yours.
To prevent buyer’s remorse or anything else from taking over, you need to deal with the post sell. As one adult to another, ask a prospect questions to help you help him or her to fend off anything thatcould stall or kill your sale.
For example, you could say, “Would you mind if I asked you this: We both know that buyer’s remorse or something else can affect buying decisions. What might come up that could change your decision today?”
Or how about this: “My experience has been that a buyer like yourself could think differently in a day or so about what we’ve agree to today. Would it be OK with you if we talked about some things that could change your mind about our agreement?”
If you’re not used to asking and dealing with post-sell questions like these, you may have thoughts that could make it difficult for you to ask them. This head trash may spawn feelings of hesitancy or fear of asking post-sell questions. When that happens, remember this: Get your emotional needs met elsewhere, not in sales.
Most of all, keep in mind that you can’t conclude a sale unless you’ve completed the post sell.
|
|
