3. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Prospect's Reluctance to Communicate
3. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Prospect's Reluctance to Communicate
In Penetration Selling, Opening is defined as getting the prospect into open, trusting communication. That is to say, getting the prospect willing to communicate openly and honestly with his salesperson.
In order to successfully lead your prospect through the final three steps of the sales process, which will hopefully culminate in a completed sale, it is essential for the prospect to have enough trust in his salesperson to give the salesperson the data he asks for, and to give it to him accurately. And so, it is crucial for a prospect to be properly opened, before the salesperson leads the prospect into the final steps of the sales process.
The key barrier you will need to penetrate, in order to open your prospect, is the general tendency for many, if not most, people to resist open communication with someone they have not grown to know and trust over a reasonably long period of time. And even more so if the person asking them questions is a salesperson they just barely met!
We often hear a salesperson starting off with the ill-advised opening question, “May I help you?”, which is too often answered by a reluctant prospect’s “No thanks. Just looking.”
In Penetration Selling, we learn that it is not only what is said to the prospect that determines how quickly and thoroughly the prospect will open, but how and when it is said, as well.
Among the keys to penetrating the prospect’s tendency to resist getting into honest, open communication with his salesperson is the answer to the question: What do you do next, when the prospect resists the salesperson’s attempt?
In Penetration Selling, if the prospect resists going into open communication, the salesperson … lets him resist! The salesperson, allowing the resistance, thus acknowledges the prospect’s right to refuse communication… and then, at the first appropriate opportunity the salesperson can create, the salesperson re-approaches the prospect and again attempts to open him.
There are many ways to go wrong in attempting to open a prospect, which will, almost all, result in the prospect having more resistance than ever to being opened -- thus delaying, or altogether blocking, the sale from moving forward.
The good news is that there is a simple formula -- so workable, that when implemented, opening becomes a fairly effortless endeavor.
The keystone of effective opening, guaranteed to penetrate a prospect’s resistance, and put him into immediate, honest communication with his salesperson, is for the salesperson to sincerely demonstrate himself as a person who is:
• Helpful,
• Interested,
• Safe, and
• Caring
The precise rules of how-to demonstrate oneself as Helpful, Interested, Safe and Caring are thoroughly covered within the Penetration Selling system -- as fully detailed in the book, HOW TO SELL – Clear and Simple; www.HowToSellClearAndSimple.com
Once the prospect gives a sure sign that he is now willing to communicate openly with his salesperson, the opening step should be considered complete and the salesperson should move the selling process forward.
(c) 2007, Harry Frisch, STI Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Penetration Selling is a trademark owned by STI Publishing.
3 Penetration Selling Penetrating the Prospects Reluctance to Communicate - To learn more about this author, visit Harry Frisch's Website.
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Once your prospect is “located”, the Prospecting step is complete and you are ready to begin the “Opening” step.
In Penetration Selling, Opening is defined as getting the prospect into open, trusting communication. That is to say, getting the prospect willing to communicate openly and honestly with his salesperson.
In order to successfully lead your prospect through the final three steps of the sales process, which will hopefully culminate in a completed sale, it is essential for the prospect to have enough trust in his salesperson to give the salesperson the data he asks for, and to give it to him accurately. And so, it is crucial for a prospect to be properly opened, before the salesperson leads the prospect into the final steps of the sales process.
The key barrier you will need to penetrate, in order to open your prospect, is the general tendency for many, if not most, people to resist open communication with someone they have not grown to know and trust over a reasonably long period of time. And even more so if the person asking them questions is a salesperson they just barely met!
We often hear a salesperson starting off with the ill-advised opening question, “May I help you?”, which is too often answered by a reluctant prospect’s “No thanks. Just looking.”
In Penetration Selling, we learn that it is not only what is said to the prospect that determines how quickly and thoroughly the prospect will open, but how and when it is said, as well.
Among the keys to penetrating the prospect’s tendency to resist getting into honest, open communication with his salesperson is the answer to the question: What do you do next, when the prospect resists the salesperson’s attempt?
In Penetration Selling, if the prospect resists going into open communication, the salesperson … lets him resist! The salesperson, allowing the resistance, thus acknowledges the prospect’s right to refuse communication… and then, at the first appropriate opportunity the salesperson can create, the salesperson re-approaches the prospect and again attempts to open him.
There are many ways to go wrong in attempting to open a prospect, which will, almost all, result in the prospect having more resistance than ever to being opened -- thus delaying, or altogether blocking, the sale from moving forward.
The good news is that there is a simple formula -- so workable, that when implemented, opening becomes a fairly effortless endeavor.
The keystone of effective opening, guaranteed to penetrate a prospect’s resistance, and put him into immediate, honest communication with his salesperson, is for the salesperson to sincerely demonstrate himself as a person who is:
• Helpful,
• Interested,
• Safe, and
• Caring
The precise rules of how-to demonstrate oneself as Helpful, Interested, Safe and Caring are thoroughly covered within the Penetration Selling system -- as fully detailed in the book, HOW TO SELL – Clear and Simple; www.HowToSellClearAndSimple.com
Once the prospect gives a sure sign that he is now willing to communicate openly with his salesperson, the opening step should be considered complete and the salesperson should move the selling process forward.
(c) 2007, Harry Frisch, STI Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Penetration Selling is a trademark owned by STI Publishing.
3 Penetration Selling Penetrating the Prospects Reluctance to Communicate - To learn more about this author, visit Harry Frisch's Website.
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan 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 and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
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