How To Make Qualifying Your Prospect So Much Easier

Jan 24
12:20

2009

Jim Klein

Jim Klein

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What’s taught in most books, courses, and by sales managers all over the world, is to start asking questions and probing your prospect for answers to your questions.

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You’re sitting in front of your prospect. You’ve spent time building a deep level of rapport,How To Make Qualifying Your Prospect So Much Easier Articles trust, and making them your best friend. They’re smiling and very at ease with you.

So what’s next?

What’s taught in most books, courses, and by sales managers all over the world, as you probably already know, is to start asking questions and probing your prospect for answers to your questions.

However, I’ll bet you have run into resistance from your prospect when you do start to ask questions, haven’t you? You know what I’m talking about. You start to ask the prospect questions, and either you’re struggling to get answers, they’re really not opening up, and they’re not giving you a lot of real good workable information.

Has that ever happened to you? I’m sure it has if you’ve been in sales for any period of time. It certainly has happened to me until I understood the one step I was missing, which I’m going to share with you now.

If you’ve ever gotten resistance in the past, it’s because you haven’t effectively been able to create interest. What I mean is you haven’t gotten the prospect to say “Tell me more.”

If you can get the prospect to say, “Tell me more”, they are going to want to answer all your questions and give you real honest, in-depth answers.

Then you’ll really understand their problem. You can then tailor your presentation, and show them how your product or service will solve their problem.

How do you create interest with a prospect so they are begging you to tell them more?

Make a Big Promise

You need to break your prospects PREOCCUPATION, and make a big promise. A big promise is something you know you can provide, or you believe you can help them achieve, and you know there’s probably a pretty good chance they want it.

Your big promise needs to be simple to understand. For instance, if I were talking about my personal sales training program, “Make Your Living in Sales”, “I can show you a way to increase your sales 30 to 50 percent guaranteed in the next three to six months or less”.

If I talk to most salespeople, or most business owners, they’re going to be pretty excited about that, and want to know how I do that. Don’t you agree?

Next…

State a Feature That Backs Up Your Big Promise

What is a feature of your product or service? It’s something that your product or service has to offer your prospect. Let me give you an example using “Make Your Living in Sales”.

You are going to learn the process used by top sales professionals who achieve consistent incomes in excess of $100,000, and it’s a proven process that will allow you to do it every single time.

The feature should be a major feature of your product or service, and preferably one your competitors do not have. In other words, fire your big gun, if you know what I mean. Hit them with the biggest and best feature you can offer.

Don’t save it till the end of your presentation, because if you don’t get their interest, this will be the end.

Now I want you to…

Give Them a Logical Benefit

Step three is to give them a logical benefit. People buy products or services based on emotion; however, they justify their purchase based on logic.

So give them a real strong logical benefit to justify their purchase. Something you’re sure that most of your target market and your ideal clients would want.

For instance, with “Make Your Living in Sales” you’ll be able to close more sales and make more money faster and easier. That’s a logical benefit that most people want.

Give Them an Emotional Benefit

I’m sure you already know, as I stated before, people are driven by emotions. They make decisions, especially buying decisions, based on emotions. So, you want to give them a real strong emotional benefit they will receive by buying and using your particular product or service. An emotional benefit they will feel at the very core of their being.

There are 10 emotional triggers to make people buy.

Here they are:

1. make more money
2. save money
3. save time
4. look better
5. learn something new
6. live longer
7. be comfortable
8. be loved
9. be popular
10. gain pleasure

Some other emotional benefits are feelings of luck, success, recognition, security and freedom.

Using “Make Your Living in Sales” as an example: you’ll have the level of success and freedom you really want.

Back Everything Up With Evidence

Talk about how you’ve done the same for other people or companies just like them. If you have worked with someone they might know or recognize, maybe a top person or company in their industry, then get specific and use the name.

You want to show them you understand the industry, and you’ve been successful helping other people or companies with your product or service.

If possible, let them know the exact results you have helped others attain.

An example using “Make Your Living in Sales” would be: we’ve done it for thousands of people and helped them grow their business not just 30 or 50 percent, but one hundred, two hundred and three hundred percent.

Ask For Permission to Ask Questions or Probe

Many salespeople will just jump in and begin the qualifying process, assuming the prospect knows you are meeting, so you can ask questions about their situation.

However, its common courtesy to ask the prospects permission to ask your fact finding questions, and it will put the prospect at ease. It also shows respect, and sets a positive tone for the sales presentation.

Furthermore, because many of your competitors will not employ this simple courtesy, asking the prospects permission will set you apart from your competition, and will continue to build deeper rapport and trust with your prospect.

Your lead in to the fact finding portion of the sales process can be as simple as: “Now I would like to ask you a few questions, is that okay”?

So what would my interest statement look like all together?

“I can show you a way to increase sales by 30 to 50 percent or more within twelve months or less because in “Make Your Living in Sales” you’re not going to learn the same old tired sales skills; you’re going to learn the proven sales skills that are implemented by the most successful sales people in the world.

Which means you’ll close more business and make more money faster and easier, and you’ll achieve a level of success, freedom, and security you really want.

The reason I say that is because we’ve done this with literally thousands of sales people all over the world for the last three
years. My purpose at this time is to get you to answer a few questions, is that okay?”

By creating interest before you start probing for the problems you can solve with your product or service, you put the prospect in a ‘tell me more’ mentality. You will create excitement and willingness in your prospect that will allow you to dig deeper to uncover their true motivation to buy.