“This is what we expected. Tell you what…get us a proposal and I don’t see a reason why we won’t get this going.”……
“This looks good, how soon can we get started?”……
“Send me the details and we will get working on the P.O. right away.”…..
Sound familiar? What about the silence that follows? How about the frustration with “following up” to figure out what happened between these overly positive statements by the prospect and you telling your manager that you’ve “got one”.
This is all too common in attempting to close sales. The prospect says things that get us excited, we get happy ears and then things don’t go as we expect because we really don’t have a clear understanding as to what will happen next.
So, what can we do? Bring the future to the present! Let’s break down each scenario above.
Prospect- “This looks great. Tell you what…get us a proposal and I don’t see a reason why we won’t get going.”….. The Sales Pro might answer this with the following:
Sales Pro- “Great, happy to do that! Let me ask you this…..let’s pretend that I get you the proposal. In fact, it’s as good or better than you expect, what happens then?”
Prospect- “Wow, this looks good, can we get an outline of your approach and we will get to a decision quickly?”
Sales Pro- Sure, but let me ask…..let’s say that I get it to you shortly, what do you do with it at that point?”
Prospect- “Send me the details and we will get working on the P.O. right away.”
Sales Pro- “Happy to send you the details. What do you mean when you say “work on the P.O. right away?”
Each one of these responses by the sales pro help to clarify the situation in the present vs. leaving vague statements out in the future.
As I type this, I’m at a trade show with a client. Everybody we come in contact with that expresses interest wants us to “send information” or “send me pricing” or “send me samples.”
For each of those questions we are bringing the “future to the present” by asking the question… “Let’s pretend that you have that now, what would you be doing with it”. The answers are helping us set clear, mutually agreed upon next steps vs. blindly sending out information, samples and pricing without any commitment from those requesting it.
So, when you want to know the future, bring it to the present. It really works.
