When you are working to get that all important first meeting with a prospect and you have done a good job of getting a prospect on the phone and have used a pretty good value statement or curiosity making statement – are you ready for the next step? You know, the next step where the prospect says…
Tell Me More!
Now the moment of truth arrives. You will choose the next course of action by the respond to this little question with the huge impact. That’s right – huge impact. You will either lose the prospect completely or open the door for the next meeting. It’s your choice.
So what choices do you have you might ask? I have seen b2b sales people shot themselves in the foot, and admire their marksmanship rather than do the right thing! It is painful to watch as the prospect who was ready to take the next step in the sales process – become bored and uninterested when the most common answer falls out of the b2b sales person’s mouth.
You do not want to answer this outstanding question with a brief history of your company, your personal history including how great you are, or anything about a process or product or service details. This answer is a self-serving response and decision makers with limited time on their hands DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT!
What they do want to know is how successful you have been regarding an issue they have not been as successful dealing with or fixing in their company. They want to hear a related success story – a story so compelling they place themselves into the main character having their problems or issues fixed by you. Or, they want some insider information on how things get done – outcomes they can visualize and desire.
Anything else you do at this point in the b2b sales process is just plain old bragging about you or your company. Control your aggressive emotions and remain on the straight and narrow of sharing information in general terms with your prospects. Details will come later in the b2b sales process when you have more information about both the current and desired levels of performance for the prospect.
Remember, the first contact is all about you getting an appointment with the decision maker – not to sell them on the first call. B2B Sales processes take time and patience. And, aggressive sales techniques more often turn off your prospects rather than turning them on for you.
Voss Graham
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