Problem: The biggest challenge salespeople face is closing more business. Typically, the problem is not the lack of closing skills per se, but rather the job they’ve done prior to the presentation and close. Would anyone disagree that the better the prospect is qualified, the easier the close will be?
Problem: Jeremy had been selling for 15 years and was feeling a little frustrated lately. He honestly evaluated his job in sales and figured out that there were some things about selling that he really hated. Top on the list were: chasing prospects who don’t return calls, wasting time doing proposals and presentations for prospects who shop around, always having to work hard to convince prospects, dealing with resistance, and handling constant rejection.
Problem: “What am I doing here?” Robert said to himself. He was twenty minutes into the initial meeting with this prospect, and he was clearly fighting an uphill battle. All his attempts to develop rapport were met with apathetic, almost frigid responses. His questions, simple and innocuous though they were, received little more than one or two word responses. “What’s going on here?” he wondered. This guy won’t even crack a smile and yet he gave me the appointment. Is he just having a bad day, or do I have a hygiene problem? He just couldn’t figure it out, yet he kept at it, trying to pump some life into this dying appointment. He wanted to quit, but his ego wouldn’t let him; he felt he should be able to breathe some life into this situation.
Problem: Since closing rates are in the 15-20% range nationally, one of the biggest concerns that management and salespeople alike have is a desire to increase closing rates. Although there are several reasons for this problem, one of the most overlooked is the tendency for salespeople to make proposals without knowing what will happen when the prospect gets the proposal. This is like rolling the dice and hoping for the best.
Problem: “I’m afraid that I’m not going to get a decision when I make my presentation to the fitness store owners next Monday,” Kelly lamented. “I’ve put together a great proposal. I think I’ve covered all the bases and have given them three terrific options for advertising in our newspaper. Surely one will work for them. But something tells me they won’t make a decision, and I don’t know why.” Kelly was on target about one thing. She didn’t get a decision. The fitness storeowners thanked her for the proposal and told her they needed some time to “think it over.”