Do You Make These Mistakes In Sales?

by Jim Klein

Before I get in to this weeks feature article, let's do a quick
review of what I talked about in the last newsletter.

You created interest with your prospect by making a big promise,
and stated a feature to back up your promise.

You gave them a logical and emotional benefit, and backed
everything up with evidence.

Finally, you asked their permission to ask questions.

Because you did such a great job up to this point, your prospect
says, "If you can do that for me, if you might be able to help me
that way, to create those kinds of results, sure, you can ask me
some questions."

Now you've got their permission to probe.

Before I get into probing and asking the prospect questions, there
is one very important point I want to talk with you about. The
point I want to discuss is how to tell the difference between a
prospect and a suspect, and how doing so will save you valuable
time and unneeded frustration.

So what is the difference between a prospect and a suspect?

A prospect is a potential client who has a need for your product or
service, and is willing and able to pay for them, and has the
authority to make the buying decision.

On the other hand, a suspect is any one who does not meet any of
the qualities of a prospect. A suspect will use up your time asking
for more and more information, without ever actually committing or
planning on committing to a deal. Suspects will leave you hanging.

The way you separate the suspects from the prospects is in the
probing or qualifying phase of the sales process. Before you can
sell anything, you must have someone who has a need for your
product or service, they must have the means and the desire to
purchase whatever it is you are selling, and they must have the
authority or ability to make the decision to purchase.

These are the three conditions you are looking for when you qualify
someone.

It has been my experience that many sales people make three main
mistakes when qualifying a potential customer. Making either one of
these mistakes will ultimately end with the same result, a waste of
the sales person's and the potential clients time, energy, and a
lose of credibility with the potential client.

The first mistake many sales people make is they skip the
qualifying step all together. Some think they know what their
prospect wants and needs without qualifying. Other sales people
skip it because they don't know how to qualify. Or maybe they don't
feel comfortable taking control of the sales process right from the
beginning.

Then they proceed to ramble on about how great their company is,
how long they've been in business and all the wonderful things
they're going to do for the prospect. In no way do they stop long
enough to find out what the prospect is looking for.

The second mistake many sales people make is when qualifying the
potential client; all three conditions for a prospect are not met,
so they really have a suspect. However, they continue with the
presentation and waste their time, energy, and credibility.

Too many salespeople have the belief that regardless of the
situation, the suspect can be convinced to purchase.

The third mistake made is that they don't probe deep enough to
really dig out the emotional reasons why the prospect wants or
needs their product or service. The sales person only scratches the
surface, and then has a difficult time getting the prospect to sign
on the dotted line.

Another reason for a salesperson not qualifying a potential client
is they are afraid they'll hear the word "No". It's the most feared
word for most sales people. However, the top producers want to get
to the "No" as quickly as possible so they can get to a yes that
much sooner.

Any one of these mistakes can be critical to the sales process.

So what I am going to cover in the qualifying process is crucial to
your success or failure in sales, and earning more money in a
shorter period of time.

Make it a GREAT day!