Tweet

Listen to What Your Prospect is Saying to You

Written by: Wendy Weiss

Article Overview: Occasionally, you will come across a prospect who asks questions or offers objections that you have never before encountered, so you don’t have an ideal way to deal with them. Even so, you need to respond to your prospect appropriately. If you ignore their questions or statements, you will end up with a prospect who is seriously annoyed.

Listen to What Your Prospect is Saying to You

I just hung up the telephone after an annoying conversation with someone who called to inquire if I would be interested in a joint venture. You see, yesterday I had received an email from Jane, the marketing director, describing their program and asking if I would be interested in promoting the program to my list. I took a look at their web site and it looked like they could have something of value to offer. While the program Jane wrote about in her email did not seem like a great fit, I am interested in finding joint venture partners that would add value for my subscribers, so I replied to the email:

"Hello Jane,

"Thank you for your email.

"I am not sure that we have an ideal fit formy list with this program, however I am looking for joint venture partners to work with.

"My list is entrepreneurs, business owners, sales professionals, service professionals and network marketers. I currently have 9600+ subscribers."

We agreed via email to have a telephone conversation.

At the beginning of our conversation, I reiterated that I was not sure that their current program was right for my list. However, I was interested in finding potential joint venture partners. I asked what other types of programs they offered.

Jane responded by asking me about the market that I serve. Since I'd already given her that information in my email ("my list is entrepreneurs, business owners, sales professionals, service professionals and network marketers"), that was a bad first question. I pointed out to her that she already had that information.

Next, Jane began to give me details of their program offering. I let her talk for a minute or so, then said, "Jane, I just told you that I did not think this program is a fit for my list and asked you about other programs you plan to offer in the future. Why are you telling me about this program? It's not a fit."

She then offered to tell me about their principal, Mr. X, and his background and credentials. As I never promote any programs or products to my list unless I am familiar with them, I agreed to hear her out. Jane told me that, "Mr. X was a renowned and award-winning author and expert in his field. He had helped thousands of business owners with his unique and amazing programs..." I interrupted the hype and told her I didn't see a fit, but I thanked her for her time. End of conversation.

So, what are our lessons learned today?

Jane sounded "on script." That is, she'd been given a script, and a hypey one at that, and she was hell-bent on delivering it no matter what. She paid no attention to the information in my email, hence her first bad question. She didn't listen to or question me when I told her that I was not interested in the program she was promoting but wanted to talk about other possibilities. She could have asked me, "What types of programs are you looking for?" or "What types of programs would be of value to your list?" Unfortunately, she did not.

While I am a true believer in scripting, that is not the way to use a script. While you always want to craft your presentation so that you are prepared, you also must listen to what your prospect says to you. Sometimes, despite all of your preparation, you may not have exactly the right script. Occasionally, you will come across a prospect who asks questions or offers objections that you have never before encountered, so you don't have an ideal way to deal with them. Even so, you need to respond to your prospect appropriately. If you ignore their questions or statements (the way Jane did), you will end up with a prospect who is seriously annoyed (as I was).

If you encounter a question or an objection that you have never before heard, listen to your prospect and respond to what they are saying to the best of your ability. You may not be perfect, but that's ok. After you hang up, write down exactly what your prospect said to stump you so that you don't forget it. If you thought you had a good response, then write that down too so that you don't forget it. Otherwise, go looking for better responses. Talk to your manager, colleagues, coach, read books, attend teleseminars or seminars - do what you need to do so that you don't ever get stumped by that particular question or objection again.

You must pay attention to what your prospect says to you. In the above instance, if this was the only program that Mr. X produces, and the only program that Jane was interested in promoting, then I was not a qualified prospect for them. I very clearly told Jane in my email that, "I am not sure that we have an ideal fit formy list with this program..." If she had nothing else to offer me, she should have responded to my email, told me that was their only program and thanked me for my interest. She would have saved us both time and aggravation.

© 2007 Wendy Weiss

Related Articles
  Eight Steps to Nailing a Sales Call
  How to Listen like a Detective
  The Most Important Button on Your Phone
  3 Ways to Improve Your Listening Skills
  Are You Asking the Right Questions to Increase Your Sales?

Article Tags: backgrou, business owners, conversation with someone, email, joint venture partners, marketing, network marketers, principal mr, sales professionals, service professionals, subscribers, telephone conversation



Related Forum Posts
Re: What inspires you? - Inspiration is nothing it is what you called to do? Some work for money, some work for satisfaction, some work because they have priorities in life. It is the passion to do something for achievement or to show that you can do it by using one's talent. I know there are people who are doing great things with their limited skill sets. So, my view point about inspiration is to Dream Big and try to achieve it. I would rather add "Listen to your self". Listen to Inner guide and follow it. You will reach great heights. Robert
Re: What inspires you? - [quote="KH_Global":2o5p0kh7]Inspiration is nothing it is what you called to do? Some work for money, some work for satisfaction, some work because they have priorities in life. It is the passion to do something for achievement or to show that you can do it by using one's talent. I know there are people who are doing great things with their limited skill sets. So, my view point about inspiration is to Dream Big and try to achieve it. I would rather add "Listen to your self". Listen to Inner guide and follow it. You will reach great heights. Robert[/quote:2o5p0kh7] so true
Re: Ideas on Using Twitter for Business - As some of you may or may not know. I've been following EvanCarmichael authors on Twitter for about 2 months now, and I've gain some insights I'd like to share: 1) Go easy on automation and be human! 2) Use @ messages to build relationships and start conversations. 3) Offer your customers value up front for following you. (limited time promotions etc.) 4) Listen, listen, listen! A few people who I think really use their Twitter well: Paul Kedrosky (@pkedrosky), Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki), Cori Padget (@k0zm0zs0ul) etc.
Re: Cash up front ... or Royalties? - [quote="MississippiInventor":t87yhw82]Inventors tend to get greedy when they face this opportunity. Don't be greedy. Listen to your professionals. More than one person has lost it all because of greed in this stage.[/quote:t87yhw82] Hi James, So which professional(s) should an inventor pay the closest attention to when it comes to taking advice about royalties or cash up front? e.g. His/her lawyer, accountant, network of small business owner friends, etc?
Re: Hiring introverts vs. extroverts - [quote="Evan":37xmbjab]It's generally hard to be a good salesperson if you are an introvert.[/quote:37xmbjab] Evan, I was thinking about the same right? Then I was put in charge of training sales teams and found out interesting traits among the successful ones. Often times, the extroverts talk "too much" and kill a sale. They attempt to overcome every objection by giving answers while NOT understanding they are not hearing true objections. When objections are answered but the buyers aren't proceeding for transaction, they're not telling you the real objection. When that happens, there is a psychological shift occurs that the more you appear needy to sell as a salesperon, the less attractive your sales team becomes because people like to be facilitated instead of being sold. So the hybrid of both characteristics will serve best in sales. The tone of your voice, posture, attitude, all work well... and you want to look confident, mature, calm and not attached to the end result of the transaction. It's like saying.... Mr. Prospect, I certainly would love to welcome you as a customer, but even if you don't proceed, it wouldn't be my loss... but saying this through your tone of voice, look on your face and everything else instead of in words. And some extroverts ones have hard time expressing these messages through unspoken communications, seeking approval for their answers to customers objections by speaking too much. Interesting isn't it? Warmest Regards, Takuya


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

Induction – your first management job

10 Steps to Excelling at Franchise Sales

Presenting Yourself With Impact at Work

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.