Do I have Something You Want?
This could equally
well be put as, “Do you have something I want?” and revolves around the
question of selling to others.
Many of us will have received “cold” calls from telesales
people who want to share their “client list” (or similar) without even telling us
what it is they do or if checking whether we need their product/service (let
alone use another supplier).
When selling to someone else, the natural tendency may be to
start with a glowing description of the product or service’s features and
benefits and ending by asking the potential customer how many or how much
they’d like. Then the surprise comes –
they don’t want any…
Experienced sellers know to start with questions to the
potential buyer based on a product or
service’s feature and benefits to find out what matters to the buyer. If their needs match, then there’s a
potential sale. A buyer needs to feel
that we're genuinely interested in solving
their problem, not that they’re just a potential target.
What happens, though, if the potential buyer genuinely doesn't want/need what we
have? It happens. Once this is clear, there’s no point in
trying to irritate them into buying – we’ll only lose their goodwill the next
time. The answer is to ask them if they
know anyone else who might need it. This
way, we still have another potential buyer and who knows, the next time we call
the first one, they may need what we have and be willing to listen as we
respected their position the last time. Or
they may even call us…
Some people simply put the phone down when they hear that
Mr/Ms X is calling or that ABC Company is on the phone. This isn’t where we want to be. In short, we need to:
- Know what questions to ask;
- When to stop asking;
- How to ask for a referral.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 08:24
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