May 13, 2016 by Jim Cornelius in Professional Development
Have you ever been in the middle of delivering a presentation to a prospect … when you noticed that he or she seemed to have completely tuned out of whatever it was you were saying? If you were delivering the proposal in person, maybe you noticed that the prospect’s gaze was elsewhere, or that his or her body language was closed-off. If you were talking to someone via Skype or join.me, perhaps you noticed that the prospect didn’t pick up on your persistent verbal cues to join the conversation, or only offered short, polite responses.
What did you do?
Did you “sell harder”? Did you give up?
Dealing with a prospect who is noticeably disinterested in your presentation is one of those situations that salespeople often mishandle. The most common response offered in this situation -- to turn on the charm, press forward to the bitter end, and hope for the best -- carries a number of disadvantages. First, it (further) alienates the prospect. Second, it wastes precious time, and thus increases the likelihood that the meeting will conclude without any meaningful dialogue between the two of you. Third, it doesn’t give you any information about what the problem is.
In many cases, you may not have to complete your presentation. Some prospects will make their decision, pro or con, before you complete your presentation. Others will want to hear every last word.
To determine to which group your prospect belongs, stop about two-thirds of the way through your presentation and take your prospect’s “temperature” to determine how close or how far he or she is from making a positive buying decision. The prospect may have already been “sold.” (It happens more often than you think.) Alternatively, you may still have some work to do—in which case, the prospect will tell you exactly what you have to do to close the sale. The “thermometer” with which you will measure your prospect’s temperature is graduated from 0 to 10. Zero represents “no sale,” and 10 represents a “done deal.”
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