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Security Alarms are Sounding!

Guest post by: Brian Sullivan

Article Overview: How YOU Can Become a Financial Closer.

Security Alarms are Sounding!

Let’s get something straight. Your prospect can love every feature and benefit or your product or company, but unless you convince them the cost justifies the benefits, you will not get a sale. Too many salespeople do a fantastic job of convincing their prospects of the benefits of their solution only to completely blow it during the financial discussion. If you sell products or services that cost tens of thousands of dollars, you may be presenting several different financing options. With these different options often comes different paperwork that needs to be authorized by the prospect. Never enter a sales call without all the necessary financial paperwork. This can destroy the flow of the call and prevent you from getting the order. Bring all of it with you.

It’s not only important to bring your order forms, leasing agreements, sign up sheets, or whatever you may call them, it is also crucial that you become intimately familiar with every word on those sheets. Know every detail (and where every bit of customer information needs to go) as well as you know every detail of your product itself. This can’t be stressed this enough. Too many sales are lost because the sales rep didn’t feel comfortable with the tools necessary to close the sale. As a result, indecision sets in for both sales rep and prospect, which often leads to the dreaded, “Let me get some paperwork together, and I will get back to you.” UGHHH! I can hardly stand to write those words. The sales rep that makes this sentence part of their every day selling vocabulary might as well just say:

“I am unprepared to close the sale today and pray to God above that you will still be interested when I fax or email over the quote and information. And I hope you understand the paperwork or leasing agreement because I sure as hell don't. You see…I'm a product guy. I leave the finances to someone else.”

Being PRECISE is about providing a solution. It is impossible to do this without a comprehensive knowledge of the financial options that are available for them. I will say it again…the BENEFITS of your solution must justify the COST. That's it! So if you only perform well at presenting your solution BENEFITS and perform poorly at the COST discussion, you only get a 50% on the “sales test.” Where I come from, that's an “F.”

When Financial Security Alarms Sound, Run for the Door

Watch your prospect’s behavior and listen closely to how they respond to your financial package. If they give you Positive Financial Security Alarms, it is time to ADVANCE the sale. Positive body language and security alarms should be enough of a green light for you to try to gain commitment. So don't feel the need to ask if the finances make sense if the alarms already told you they do.

He who moves not forward, goes backward.

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

German author and poet

To ADVANCE the sale out of the presentation phase and into the post sale phase try a “Detail/Two-Choice” Question. An example would be:

“Great John. I’m glad the finances make sense. Then with your permission, I would like to get a date scheduled in my planner when it would be most convenient for your staff to become trained on the use of our system. Would next week, or the following week work better for your people?”

Let's break it down:

“With your permission.”

These are very important in helping you to keep the customer feeling pressure free. They must always feel as if they are in control, and these three words help you do this.

“…date scheduled”

This is ADVANCING at its finest. It is an attempt to turn your presentation into a concrete order. Much SECURITY comes from getting you or your company’s name into their scheduling book for a follow-up, post sale visit. In the case where it is a multi-call sale, and where your objective is not to get an order but instead to get a commitment to take the decision to the next level, these words are equally effective. It takes commitment on your customer’s part to schedule a time to see you again. They only do this when they feel SECURE. (If your solution does not require a follow-up visit or an installation, then feel free to ignore the last paragraph. But thanks for coming anyway)

“…become trained…”

These words take your prospect mentally away from “considering your solution,” to mentally “using your solution.” When their mind begins using your product, the rest of their body is not far behind. These are two more words that are effective in ADVANCING your sale.

“Would next week or the following week…”

This is your classic Detail/Two-Choice question. If your customer is accepting of your ADVANCE, they will answer your question with one of the two choices that you presented. Or neither one of your choices might make sense for him, so instead he provides a third choice. WHO CARES! YOU LOVE THEM ALL! They all mean the sale is advancing. Make a habit of reacting to financial security alarms in this way. When your mind is trained to ADVANCE at the first sound of the alarm, it will do so on every sale. There will be no indecision, no floundering, and no “Do you have any more questions?” When the alarms go off, they sound a lot like this:

I LOVE IT, I WANT IT, AND THE BENEFITS JUSTIFY THE COST. SO DON’T ASK ME IF I HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS, AND DON’T ASK ME IF I WANT TO BUY IT. JUST TRUST WHAT MY ALARMS ARE TELLING

YOU AND MOVE IT SISTER!

But what if the COST is weighing more than the BENEFITS? Well, then something has to give. Either the BENEFITS need to weigh more, or your COST needs to weigh less. PRECISE Salespeople prefer to pump up the BENEFITS long before adjusting COST. You know the old saying, “You’re customer is #1.” It’s CRAP! Your family is #1. Keep your margin up and buy a family member something nice with the extra dough. And remember:

Discounting is taking the easy way out!

But if you HAVE to give up a little something, make your customer feel as if it is the most painful thing you have ever done. And never give without getting; otherwise your gifts will have no worth.

So as you head into the second half of the year, make it your objective to be the best in your company at delivery the financial presentation. And while everybody around you is unconfidently cutting price and killing their margin, the only other security alarms you will be hearing will be the sounds of financial security…as your retirement account growing fatter

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Article Tags: advancing, closing, communication skills, discounting, financial security, insurance sales training, medical sales training, paper work, precise selling, sales tactics, sales training



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