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Prospects Are Like Children

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: When telling stories about our son, I usually write in the context of Salespeople are Like Children. However, with this article, I'm writing in the context of Prospects are Like Children. When prospects want something badly enough, they can become quite resourceful. Think about what you've been willing to do when you wanted something - really badly - that you couldn't afford.

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Prospects Are Like Children

Our six-year-old son identified a STAR WARS light saber - make that five light sabers - that he wants for Christmas. However, unlike the three he already has, which cost around $20 each, these "replicas" were going for $89.99.

I attempted to explain the concept of "expensive" and he seemed to understand.

Then he said, "Why don't you just get the money from the bank?"

I attempted to explain the concept of "banking" and he seemed to understand.

Then he said, "I have a great idea.

I asked what he had in mind.

He asked, "What if we didn't have to pay for them?"

I asked how we could do that.

He proudly said, "The Internet!"

I attempted to explain the concept of Internet shopping and he seemed to understand.

When telling stories about our son, I usually write in the context of Salespeople are Like Children. However, with this article, I'm writing in the context of Prospects are Like Children.

When prospects want something badly enough, they can become quite resourceful. Think about what you've been willing to do when you wanted something - really badly - that you couldn't afford. Did you consider leasing, credit cards, financing, borrowing, putting something else off, going deeper into debt, budgeting for it, trading, anything - in order to get it? It's when prospects aren't particularly motivated to buy that it becomes so difficult to get them to take action, spend money or agree to buy.

If you agree that a motivated prospect will find the money, the question becomes, how do you get them that motivated to buy?

That's where compelling reasons come into play. There are two kinds of compelling reasons and you need both of them. The first are the compelling reasons for them to buy what you sell. The second are their compelling reasons to buy from you instead of from someone else.

If you effectively identify their compelling reasons to buy, your prospects will find the money and take action almost every time. If you successfully identify their compelling reasons to buy from you, them you'll get the business almost every time.

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Home > Sales > Dave Kurlan > Prospects Are Like Children
Article Tags: christmas, credit cards, internet shopping, light sabers, money, prospects, replicas, salespeople, star wars, star wars light saber, two kinds

About the Author: Dave Kurlan
RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website

Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development.  He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).

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Re: Character Design - using it effectively in marketing Re: Character Design - using it effectively in marketing - Hi Russel, I like your conclusion on when a good character is needed: Children related Boring products and services I do often find myself looking at a site and saying, "I don't know what it is but it just looking boring." I also liked that case study when the answered why did Mario have a mustache....because they couldn't draw a mouth with 8bits....pretty funny. Thanks for the good info. Jeff
Re: Email Etiquette Re: Email Etiquette - [quote="jvprosperity":24jznj58] The P.S. suggestion is good but it depends on the type of communication (e.g. Autoresponder series verses one off emails to Clients or Prospects)[/quote:24jznj58] Andy, You are right. I was mainly referring to Auto Responder emails. To end a normal email, I attach signatures. Takuya
Simple way to avoid Cold Calling Simple way to avoid Cold Calling - Gary, A chiropractor I work with hates cold calling (me too!) and he uses a technique to warm people up to using his services - it's so simple! In Sales your dealing with 3 pools of people: 1. Strangers 2. Prospects 3. Returning Customers You need to move people from one pool to the next. We'll concentrate on #1 and #2 as it's most relevant to your question. My Clients does the following (you just have to tailor it to your situation - be creative). My Client (we'll call him Bob) Bob leverages his time and resources to only get people that need his offer (pain relief) to put their hand up. Dealing with Strangers can get expensive and they don't like to be told what to do as they have no trust or relationship built with him. So to get Strangers to put their hands up he writes up an offer with a free report on a particular pain relief - let's say lower back pain (note: he can simply just change lower back pain to neck pain and have a new report). and uses multiple marketing vehicles to promote the Free report - magazines, newspaper, forums, postcards, private clinics etc. The only people picking up this information are the very people Bob would like as customers as they have Lower back pain. Bob's Free report ends with him stating his services and includes a Free in-house Consultation with no obligation. You'd be surprised at how easily Bob converts Strangers into Prospects. Note: They become prospects when they ask for the Free Guide and in exchange provide their contact details. This gives Bob unlimited opportunity to contact them for the Free in-house consultation with no obligation to continue using him. At this stage Bob's ability to close the sale lies in his office providing good customer service, Bob's ability to help the prospect and provide value at the free in-house consultation. Notice, he hasn't had to pick up the phone to COLD-CALL his Stranger pool or his Prospect pool. Hope that example helps to increase your prospecting!


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