Tweet

Dealing with Time Wasters

Written by: Thomas Young

Article Overview: Time is money. One of a sales professional's worst nightmares is the time-waster. These are prospects, or customers, who do not say yes, or no, to your offer, but rather delay or drag-on the sales process and waste valuable time. Time spent with these individuals is like throwing money away. The difficulty is that many of these prospects seem to be seriously interested in buying and most sales reps realize they are time-wasters after it is too late. Here are a few tips on recognizing time-wasters and how to deal with them.

Dealing with Time Wasters

Time is money. One of a sales professional's worst nightmares is the time-waster. These are prospects, or customers, who do not say yes, or no, to your offer, but rather delay or drag-on the sales process and waste valuable time. Time spent with these individuals is like throwing money away. The difficulty is that many of these prospects seem to be seriously interested in buying and most sales reps realize they are time-wasters after it is too late. Here are a few tips on recognizing time-wasters and how to deal with them.

Prospect Your Target Market

Prospect the right way and know your target market and their parameters for doing business with you. This helps you cover the bases and avoid time-wasters who are not in your market. It is important that you have an ideal customer profiled and you understand how to find more customers that fit that profile.

Qualify with Solid Questions

Be ready with solid probing questions that help qualify the buyer. This may weed out the time-waster before you spend hours on follow-up and research. Ask the customer, "What would you do if you were in my shoes?" If possible, talk to others who know this prospect. Good probing questions, early in the sales process, can help uncover a time-waster. If they ask for the same information repeatedly, they may be a time-waster and you need to probe and find out the true story.

Lack of Objections is Not Good

If there is a lack of objections, then it could be a time-waster. Objections are buying signals and generally a part of the selling process. Objections come from prospects that are serious buyers and are looking to find ways to make the sale happen. Handling objections is a part of closing; if they are absent it could be a red flag. If the sale seems to be too easy, it could a time-waster.

Develop Your Intuition

Develop your intuitive abilities so you can read a time-waster before they waste your valuable time. This is difficult to do; yet the best sales people are excellent at this intuitive skill. Maintain balance in your life to reduce stress and help you give energy and attention to others. This helps you learn what people are thinking. Take time for yourself and develop your mental, spiritual, mental, physical and emotional parts of your life. High-level selling is an understanding of human psychology and developing intuitive abilities.

Give People a Way Out

Many time-wasters waste your time simply because they cannot say no or do not want to hurt your feelings. Give them an out and let them feel comfortable in saying no. These people may seem to be too nice, or overly concerned about your feelings. The primary goal is too help people, not make a sale. If they do not need or want help then it is time to move onto the next prospect.

The Authority to Buy

Oftentimes, you may be wasting time with an individual who has no authority to buy. Probe carefully here to determine if the sale is going nowhere. Ask questions about how purchases are made and who is involved in the buying decision. Attempt to determine who is the economic buyer and meet with her. If access is denied, find out why. Your sale may be lost at that point, or you may have to change your approach.

Know When to Stop Selling

Professional sales people must know what they can control and what they cannot control. This is why it so important for you to remain in control and know when to stop selling to a time-waster. Let the prospect know that you are ready to move forward when they are and the time for a decision is needed. Then move on to the next customer.

Related Articles
  5 Tips to Kick Your “Time-Wasters” Habits
  5 Ideas to Reduce the Biggest Time Wasters
  How Beneficial is a Customer Support System to Your Online Home Based Business?
  CAN TWO SALESPEOPLE REALLY BE THAT DIFFERENT?
  How do I spot prospects that are actually time wasters?

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - We've also expanded the list for Contest and All-Time Leaders. It's great to now see David and Yinka on the All Time list and recognize the contributions they've made to the forums!
No B.S. Time Management - A great book I read on Time Management is No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy.
Young Entrepreneur in International trading - I just turned 21 last week, and I currently own a international trading company doing trades between China, Taiwan, Thailand, and west coast of US and starting out in Canada soon. Dealing with gift items and general merchandise. We are also trying to sell some of the stuff we import as retail and wholesale products on the internet and to retail venders as we do have a lot of extra pallets that gets left over from our buyers.
Depressed Entrepreneurs - Thank you for your feedback. It seems to be the weather, isolation and some unfavourable projects getting my clients down. I personally find myself feeling quite grey with the weather. So much so that I spend as little time in my Vancouver office as I need to - it so slow and depressing there for me. In any case, thank you. Perhaps this is an issue we should be more proactive about in our entrepreneur resources. Dealing with the emotional issues of entrepreneurship. Thanks Kevin for the articles. The one was the exact one I was looking for. Must of been having a blonde moment in my searches
Books that should be written - [quote:1m0dcpd7]"The Idiots Guide To Sticking With One Thing At A Time and Not Doing Something New All The Time" [/quote:1m0dcpd7] I myself am a 'constructive' procrastinator... I don't know if I'm alone in this. I have about six or seven projects I'm working on at any given time. I get one project almost done... then my interest is piqued by another project and I work on that... I get burnt out and move to another...I know I do this so I have it arranged such that once I get bored or burnt out with one project, I can step right back into project 1 - or 2 or 3, and get that a little bit more done before moving on to something else. As long as you're organized and know where all your reference material/idea sheets are when you're ready to get back to work on each project, it should be fine. I also find that by stepping away from a project - I still work on it in the recesses of my mind so that when I go back to it - it's with some good ideas that I wouldn't have had if I'd continued on with it originally. Maybe I should write a book on how to Procrastinate Constructively... I've actually thought about doing that...because most people procrastinate, don't they...and very few are ever able to stop.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Stress: What Causes It and How To Deal With It

How do you keep it together on a daily basis?

Top 5 Qualities in an Outsourcing Company

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.