No Guessing in Sales!

When my sales staff used to come and tell me about a new prospect, I would always have several questions for them.  I knew a cardinal rule had been violated if their answers began with ...

• "I guess..."
• "I think..."
• "I believe..."
• "Um"

What is that rule?  No Guessing!

The reason for no guessing is that the question unasked and the answer assumed are the primary causes of poor conversion rates (the ability to move prospects through the sales process and to make sales).

Don't guess...

• What problems your prospect may have!
• What opportunities your prospect may have!
• What resources they have available to solve their problems or take advantage of opportunities!
• How they want to work with your company!
• What criteria they will use to evaluate your solutions!
• What the ultimate value is to solving a problem or capturing an opportunitiy!
• How and who will make final purchasing decisions!
• Whether or not thee are competing perspectives inside a prospect company!
• What is the timeline for finding a solution?

If you are indeed focused on helping your prospects succeed, then you are obligated to not guess.  After all, how can you propose the best solution if you don't know the answers to those things mentioned above as well as many other things?

What are signs of guessing?  The prospect...

• does not return your call at some point during the process
• rejects your proposal and you do not know why
• chooses a competitor and you do not know why
• keeps telling you they have not made a decision (which is worse than no)

Of course, the biggest sign of guessing is that you don't feel confident that your prospect will like your proposed solution.

The best advice I ever got was to be bold enough to ask everything I need to know to serve my prospect.  Here is why this is such brilliant advice.  We don't ask because we are afraid the prospect won't want to divulge too much information.  But when we ask something sensitive, the prospect must decide right then and there if they are going to trust us.  For those who are truly sincere about helping their clients, the prospect will almost always choose to trust.

How have you been surprised by how open prospects are when they know you are sincere?

Photo on flickr by misallphoto