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3. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Prospect's Reluctance to Communicate

3. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Prospect's Reluctance to Communicate

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.





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Dave 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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Linda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website

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John 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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Harry Frisch
(Visit Harry's Website) Harry Frisch is the author of the popular new sales training book, available at www.HowToSellClearAndSimple.com Mr. Frisch has won numerous awards, selling a remarkably wide range of products and services to all levels of business and industry, as well as retail to the public. (Partial list includes: ReMax real estate, Saturn automobiles, audio-video equipment, specialty clothing, Honda automobiles, self-improvement courses, big ticket in-home sales, fine art by phone sales, door-to-door book sales... just to name a few.) In addition to being a Master Salesman, he is an accomplished writer and humorist, an inspiring educator, an in-demand business consultant, and an expert in the field of human behavior. Mr. Frisch earned his B.A. from Boston University and did his graduate work at the University of Michigan and Hunter College, and has additionally been affiliated with City College of New York (CCNY) and New York University, (NYU). Mr. Frisch is also the author of HOW TO BE A SUPER SALESMAN…and Still Respect Yourself in the Morning, and the powerful HOW TO SELL -- Clear and Simple Course. To receive his newsletter of sales tips, write Newsletter@STIPublishing.com

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