Rather than stand your ground and attempt to explain, justify, or defend your position, fall back.
For example, your company missed a promised shipment date and the customer called to let you know how upset he is. Rather than try to explain about the trucking company's delay, which was out of your control, you could fall back. Here is what that sounds like: "Bill, I know that you must be upset about the order arriving a day late. And, I'm sure it wouldn't do any good to try to explain what happened. I don't know if you've issued a 'shoot on sight' order, or if I should show up in your office, but I would imagine that you've made up your mind never to do business with our company again. Would that be a fair statement?"
It's hard to fight with someone who surrenders up front. In this case, the customer would probably reaffirm his displeasure about the late shipment, but would just as likely back away from "never" doing business with your company. He might even ask you to explain what happened. After explaining the situation and the measures you have taken to make sure it doesn't happen again, you could ask, "Bill, if you were in my shoes, and I know that's the last place you would ever want to be, what would you do to fix the situation?"
By using this technique, you've made the customer part of the solution, and more likely to stick with you.
©2005 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Happy selling!
Marcus Cauchi Managing Director S.A.L.T. (Europe) Ltd The Experts in Lead Generation, Conversion & Retention Sandler Sales Institute, 180◦ From Traditional Sales Training©
Sandler Sales Institute® - Licensed Franchisee Guerrilla Marketing® - Licensed Master Practitioners Mob +44 (0) 7876 616 983 Tel 0845 458 1237 (UK Only)
London1.Sandler.com
Sales Training London: When Under Attack Fall Back - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.
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Marcus Cauchi
(Visit Marcus's Website)
Marcus Cauchi is London's first licensed
Sandler sales trainer. 19 years in direct
sales, he's sold physical products,
services and intangibles with varied
success. Over 16 years he left behind over
£56 million in deals he could have won,
but did because he didn't know any
better. He thought you had to qualify for
needs, present the benefits of your
solution, trial close, follow up with a
proposal or further information and the
close. He learned the hard way that when
you "pitch" a prospect lies to protect
himself. When you present and answer his
questions, he'll steal your ideas. When
you close, he'll mislead you or defer to
a higher authority (boss, wife, CFO) and
then when he's got you to document in
writing (proposals) and give away your
confidential pricing, he'll shop that
around your competitors to get the best
deal. When you follow up for a decision,
he'll give you unlimited access to his
voicemail and hide. Marcus teaches
counter intuitive selling. Average clients
increase revenues by 100-1100% in a year.
He's probably not for you though as it's
difficult and expensive.
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