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Do You Care if History Repeats Itself? If you are selling, you bet! Here's a classic case. A customer pushes back on making a decision, such as: "We just don't want to change suppliers." You then ask the age-old historical question, after using your "OH" (my favorite word.) It goes like this: "OH. You aren't thinking of making a change? Well, let me just ask you one quick question. Tell me about the last time you DID switch suppliers for this service." Then wait. You're going to get a story about who, what, where, and more, regarding their switch.
nce you get the customer talking about their history of change, you get them thinking about the result. Perhaps the change was for the better, compared to their previous vendor. Therefore, the experience was good. (This will help you, just wait...) Maybe the change created pain and the customer hasn't been thrilled with the result. (This spells "opportunity"!) Either way, you are off to getting the customer to THINK about why he/she originally made a change and that perhaps another change is in order. The beauty of this technique is that it focuses on a past experience that requires the customer TELL THE TRUTH about where he/she has been. If you ask about future decisions, it's far easier for a customer to muffle through it using possibilities, innuendo and maybe even deception to either get you to go away (imagine that!) or lower your price; providing a carrot for the customer to reach. Either way, by looking to the future, the customer wins out in the game of selling. If you like this concept of learning about the customer's historical decision making process, add these questions to your repertoire: 1. "So, when was the last time you made a decision for one of these products?" 2. "When you chose a new vendor last time, tell me about the decision making process and who was involved." 3. "Tell me about the last time you evaluated a new service provider and what occurred." 4. "When you made a change the last time around for this product, tell me how the process worked in your organization." See how easy it is? Make sure that after you ask the question, you stay quiet, until after the customer has processed the question and provides you with the historical perspective. Once you know what happened last time, you are in a much stronger position to use that to gain the business this go 'round. The details provided will give you a road map to move forward with a strategy that will close more sales! (c)Renee P. Walkup, SalesPEAK,, www.salespeak.com 678 587-9911 |
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