Regardless of how bad the sales call might be going, you should never leave a sales call without closing on something. Doing so gives you momentum on which to build.
Too many times when a call is not going good, it becomes too easy for the salesperson to think there is nothing else they can do. That’s the worst perception a salesperson can have.
It is essential to always remember there is no such thing as a final sales call. If a sale can’t be made, there is still a sale that can be made and that’s selling yourself and creating a next step.
Minimally, strive to agree on what is keeping the customer from making a decision to buy. Doing this helps to clarify in both your mind and your customer’s mind where the issues are.
Second thing this does is it then opens the door to come back to the customer with follow-up information to help address their issues. If you have not taken the time for the two of you to agree, then you don’t have the leverage to come back to the customer for a follow-up meeting.
Don’t spend time sulking over why you couldn’t close a sale.
Rather, view the meeting as one that helped prepare you for the next meeting. When you are able to leave the call with the customer agreeing with you on something, what you have done is allow the customer to gain confidence in you. The confidence they gained in you from the first call is going to allow you make the next meeting far more beneficial.
This strategy is very easy to use and what makes it so good is how many salespeople fail to apply it.
I’ve watched too many salespeople take the initial rejection as if it was a permanent rejection, and in so doing, they’re accepting failure. They also happen to be opening a wider door to their competition.
Be the type of salesperson who never leaves a sales call without closing on something.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
