Uncovering Client Concerns

“You can observe a lot just by watching.” – Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame Baseball Player & Manager

You might think that your client’s concerns about you, your service or your product might be negatives that you should avoid at all costs. Maybe you think “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the best strategy for keeping people happy and managing client relationships.

In the sales world, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, client or prospect concerns are the window into their thinking that can give you the advantage over your competition. When you take the time to find out what your client wants, what his likes and dislikes are, then you can address the situation and take away the prospect’s concerns. When you do that, you open the door to making the sale because the customer will believe that you understand him and you value his business.

You have to ask a lot of questions if you want to identify the prospect’s core concerns. Here are a few examples of the types of questions that can yield a lot of valuable information:

1. Yes/No Questions: Do you like this? Do you think this will work for you? Then follow this with Why/Why Not Questions. Why is this not the best solution?
2. Loaded Questions: Describe a common situation that happens when people use your product. Has this ever happened to you?
3. Reversal Question: If you were me, how would you design the product? How would you set up the account?
4. Best/Worst Questions: What do you like best about your current provider? What is missing from that relationship?
5. Perfect World Questions: If you had the perfect vendor for this product, what would that relationship look like?
6. Closing Questions: If you had A, B, and C would you buy from me today?

These are just some of the things you can ask prospects that will illuminate what they are thinking, what they really want, and give you the opportunity to provide it. When you take away a client’s concerns, you are showing them that working with you is a winning proposition.

If you want to learn more about how to handle customer concerns, listen to The Business Beat, Wednesday, May 19th at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on http://www.healthylife.net/. We’ll be talking about how uncovering client concerns can help boost your closing ratio and win the game of sales.

Are you ready to win?

Handling Objections - Clearing the Hurdle

“You can’t make a great play unless you do it first in practice.” - Chuck Noll, Hall of Fame NFL Football Coach

Every salesperson knows that handling objections is an important skill to master if we want to close the deal. It sure would be nice if customers bought from us without hesitation, but in fact, that would reduce us to being order-takers, and where’s the fun in that?

Price is the source of most customer objections. They say they can’t afford your product or service. What they are really saying is that they haven’t heard that the value of what you’re selling is worth the price. When they say “no, I can’t afford it,” that is a cry for help that you need to answer. Give them more benefits and reasons that there is value in working with you.

Always be open to objections; it’s there that you can distinguish yourself and show that you will provide good customer service. In fact, ask for the objections up front, because there will always be some. You don’t want to leave the sales call not knowing where the prospect’s hesitation lies. If you don’t know what’s standing in between your customer and the sale, you can’t address the problem.

It’s important to acknowledge the objection so the client knows he’s been heard. Then be clear about how you will solve the issue. Anticipate common objections and be ready with answers. If the client presents an objection you don’t know how to answer, don’t panic! Again, acknowledge the objection, make sure you’ve heard it correctly and tell the client what you will do to handle it. Follow up so the client knows you can be counted on to respond. Your attitude in handling these objections does a lot to show your prospect how you will handle the future relationship.

Learning how to effectively deal with objections takes practice. In our Sales2Win course, we will spend time talking about objections and practicing what to say when they arise in the sales conversation. You must be able to fly over the objection hurdle if you want to close the deal. Register today for Sales2Win and learn the skills that will get you to the finish line every time.

Remember, objections are your chance to shine. Instead of dreading the questions and doubts your prospects have about your product, shift your thinking into how you can beat the competition and be the best person to buy from every time.

Are you ready to win?