Tweet

6. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Barriers to Commitment

Written by: Harry Frisch

Article Overview: The fifth and final step of the Penetration Selling process is “Closing”. Closing is defined as getting a firm commitment from the prospect to acquire the product or service which is being offered. The key barriers that need to be penetrated in order for the close to be successful are often referred to, among sales-trainers, as “Objections”. This is a catch-all term which includes any and every thought a prospect might present, or action he might take, that acts to block the completion of the sale. In the Penetration Selling system, we discover that all variations of customer concerns and objections fall into only two categories, and the handling for both categories is very similar. The two categories are...

6. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Barriers to Commitment

The fifth and final step of the Penetration Selling process is “Closing”. Closing is defined as getting a firm commitment from the prospect to acquire the product or service which is being offered.

The key barriers that need to be penetrated in order for the close to be successful are often referred to, among sales-trainers, as “Objections”. This is a catch-all term which includes any and every thought a prospect might present, or action he might take, that acts to block the completion of the sale.

Some of these objections are rooted in sales-resistance, where the prospect himself becomes somewhat unwilling to make the purchase and is resisting the salesperson’s efforts to close the sale. And some of these objections are simply logistics problems that the prospect has, which require some practical steps to be taken, in the real-world, in order for the prospect to be fully ready and able to complete the transaction.

An example of sales-resistance is: A prospect who needs and wants to purchase new roofing because his current roof is leaking badly, who is perfectly cooperative and fully willing to proceed through the early steps of the sale, but, who, when the salesperson asks him to make his commitment (to put down some money and to sign a contract), has an irrational fear-of-making-a-wrong-decision creep up on him, and the prospect begins to invent a flurry of reasons, or objections, why he can’t close the sale.

An example of a real-world objection is: A prospect sees a boat that he very much wants to buy, but at the last minute realizes that the boat might be too wide to fit through the doors of his storage garage, and so he wants to put off the decision until he can measure the doorway to confirm the workability of owning that particular boat.

There are almost as many theories among sales-trainers on how to handle objections as there are objections. Many schools of sales-training offer a long list of “types of objections”, each with its own unique name and a different formula for how to handle each type.

In the Penetration Selling system, we discover that all variations of customer concerns and objections fall into only two categories, and the handling for both categories is very similar. The two categories are:

1) Those objections which can be successfully handled with communication alone, and

2) Those objections which require a Real-World handling.

There is a powerful, four-step formula in Penetration Selling which fully handles any kind of objection. The formula is based upon highly workable techniques which allow the salesperson to neutralize the objection, at its source, before the objection can manage to sabotage the sale.

The proper application of this four-step formula allows the salesperson to successfully penetrate any objection a prospect may put in his path. When an objection is addressed with this powerful formula, the objection is reduced down and out of the way of closing the sale.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The unique, approach of the Penetration Selling system, and what makes this prospect-friendly system so powerful, is that the key barriers of each of the five steps of the sales process, are clearly identified, and the proven and effective techniques for penetrating, deflating and evaporating these barriers are simple and precise.

Penetration Selling is a simple, highly effective selling system, in which the road is laid open wide for the successful closing of the sale – to the satisfaction of both the salesperson and the customer.

(c) 2007, Harry Frisch, STI Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Penetration Selling is a trademark owned by STI Publishing.

Related Articles
  1. Penetration Selling -- The Five Steps -- An Overview
  2. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Marketplace
  4. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating Your Prospect's World
  5. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Barriers to Understanding
  3. Penetration Selling -- Penetrating the Prospect's Reluctance to Communicate

Article Tags: acts, differe, doors, doorway, early steps, firm commitment, irrational fear, last minute, logistics, money, objection, objections, penetration, real world, roofing, sales resistance, salesperson, storage garage, workability, wrong decision



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin's Case Study #10 - When to become an entrepreneur? - When the bug bite you. A lot of successful entrepreneurs started in their teens or at school. Selling sweets to fellow students or lemonade to firends in the neighbourhood.
Re: This is Marketing Warfare! - Hey GT, I guess this was from a while back, and it'll test your memory a bit but could you possibly elaborate on Unique Selling Proposition? Can you give us some examples of good USPs?
Blog pinging - Thanks Martin - yes, I do ping and it has been very effective. I'm currently on the first page of Google for Mastermind Group and on the second page for Selling to Small Business.
Business magazines - Fast Company is pretty good if you're into technology although it can be very on the edge. Entrepreneur has become one giant advertisement and I cancelled my subscription. Selling Power also has some useful content if you're looking at improving your sales skills / presentations.
New Guy Here - Automobile Industry - Hi Everyone, My name is Ray and I work as a sales trainer in the automobile industry. I have just completed a new training curriculum for automobile salespeople in the industry. It is called The Baby Steps of Selling Automobiles. I am beginning my marketing efforts through press releases and seminar formats. I joined the community due to my continued desire to work independently creating my own happiness and growth. Thank you for having me and I look forward to more correspondence in the future.


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

Business Coach Explains To You How To Add Value

Ten Twitter Tips For Work-at-Home Moms

The five pillars of internet marketing strategy

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.