How to Qualify Hesitant Customers or Prospects
By Admin | February 10, 2015
Fact: When a customer or prospect says “send me some information” or similar put off, the chances are extremely high they are really saying “go away and stop bugging me” but they don’t like confrontation and they don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they feign interest when in fact, there’s none!
Weaker salespeople hang on to this because it’s less painful than facing up to the grim reality; trouble is though, the “costs of a non-sale” keep mounting as you continue to pour resources into a largely lost cause.
There is a better way; that of qualifying upfront by asking smart questions which seek to expose the prospects real interest level.
Here are a few examples of qualifying questions:
“Tom, may I be candid? It’s a waste of your time and my time, if your interest level is low. Are you really interested or are you simply being respectful of my feelings?”
The key issues of the question are (a) there are huge costs to both parties in terms of time, money and lost opportunity (b) explore the real reason for the delay. If it isn’t a matter of “ducking the inevitable” the real reason might tumble out.
Another example and this time looking to quantify the real interest level:
“Tom, the mere fact that there isn’t a yes or no decision today suggests to me your interest level might be lower than 5 out of 10, would I be correct here?”
Then follow up with a further qualifier: “What actually must happen to get you to make that yes or no decision and when do you think it will be?”
If you do decide to send additional information, qualify them on that as well.
“What particularly are you looking to discover or understand in the additional literature and should it be there to your satisfaction, will we do business in the immediate future?”
Tell them what to expect and what you then expect them to do with the information. “Tom, I’ll send out our information kit today. Can you peruse the information and particularly the comparison chart I will include for you?”
Important: Always put in train the next step. “I’ll call you Thursday afternoon or Friday morning to discuss the matter for a few minutes. Which time would suit you best?”
Then, follow up, follow up, follow up! If you do this last step religiously. Your sales results will automatically improve because this is the one step most sales people and businesses fail to execute properly.
There is a common link in all of this, that of the “smart, timely question” – without doubt the best “tool” any salesperson, indeed any business person, can have in their bag of tricks.
Smart questions get smart answers, imprecise questions get imprecise answers and unasked questions get no answer at all. I dealt more fully with the power of questions in an earlier blog. It’s well worth a read.
For those who see the value in questions in every facet of their business lives, you will be interested in my 482 Powerful Questions Every Business Manager Should Ask Regularly program.
Question: Are you presently dealing with a hesitant customer or prospect where you strongly suspect you are being put off? If yes, take this challenge: look to move this person to yes or no by the end of this week. No excuses.
Here’s to more sales, profits and cash from your business,
Damien Parker
Business Improvement Specialist
www.salesprofitscash.com
Follow my Tweets: @salesprofitcash
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