This comes as a request form one of our readers – I hope it answers your question.!
It seems that whenever there’s uncertainty in the mind of the consumer and their failure to proceed with our proposals, we often look everywhere for answers – except ourselves. How often have we heard from our sales team a litany of excuses paraded before us as fact? And let’s be honest sometimes we even offer these as our own excuses! In an article written by Sue Barrett, Managing Director of sales coaching company, Barrett she writes about her top tips, these are my favourite five from her list:-
- 1. “I left a voice mail. She never called me back.” Do you know why the prospect never called you back? Because it’s your job to pursue her, not the other way around
- 2. “It’s not me, it’s them.” Salespeople who consistently waste their time complaining about what prospects are doing or thinking, rarely take the time to evaluate and improve their own performance
- 3. I’ve already hit quota for the week.” The focus should be on where you’re going, not where you’ve been. If you’ve hit quota, why not shoot for the next bonus level? Long-term, ambitious salespeople earn more because quota is nothing but a sign along the road to them.
- 4. “The competitor offered a lower price. What was I supposed to do?” The one thing prospects and salespeople always agree upon is that long-term value is much more important than price.
- “I have no control over that.” Stop focusing on what you can’t control, and consider the situation from the perspective of what you can control.”
So how do we as business owners and designers change the mindset and close the next deal, and the next one?
- Give a guarantee – we’ve talked before that one of the fundamental roles of selling is to get the consumer to want to buy from you, this can be done in many ways. One standout way is to guarantee that if the customer isn’t happy with the service you give, you will refund their deposit. This will allow potential customers to feel at ease with the service you are about to offer them and remove the “buyer beware” factor from their thoughts.
- Understand their needs and budgets – a very close friend of mine told me that they weren’t in the business of selling bathrooms, they solved problems. Ask a lot of questions and ensure the consumer knows you are on their side, and at the same time fully comprehends what the end product is going to cost. Many sales fail because the designer failed to correctly ascertain the budget and the consumer was too embarrassed to spell out the reason they didn’t proceed.
- Be confident enough to ask for the sale – there are many good designers out there, but not enough of them possess the correct skills to actually ask for the sale. Don’t be embarrassed or afraid to ask for their business – confidence plays a huge part in your ability, you have it in design, you need to have it to sell.
- Chase, chase and chase again – never underestimate the importance of being enthusiastic and persistent in the pursuit of a deal. Many clients complain because that’s what didn’t happen!
- If the answer’s “no” – ask why, as Sue Barrett says “we all learn something new at least once a day, if you receive a no from a client, you owe it to yourself to find out why”. Was it the design, was it the business itself, was it you as the designer? – you need to know. And often that can lead to business as a referral from that one client who didn’t proceed.”
And finally one last tip – don’t miss the buying signals. Sometimes you can get so excited about the design you have created and the endless benefits this will bring them, you fail to see or hear certain remarks that are in fact the clients desire to buy.
Give, understand, be confident and chase – they will help you close the deal.
