Yesterday I mentioned that too many contractors were in too much of a hurry to talk about budget. Today, Brian Tracy sent a newsletter confirming that. Here are some comments he included:
The first stage, roughly 40 percent of the sale, is the development of trust. This is best achieved by asking good questions and listening closely to answers. . . The second stage of building high-quality sales relationships, 30 percent of the process, is focusing on identifying the true needs and wants of the prospect.
Just exactly what we were talking about when I said to find out what your customers want to do. This builds trust in your potential customers towards you.
Once you have built a high level of trust by asking questions and seeking to understand how your service can help the prospect in some way, you move to stage three. . . 20 percent of the relationship between you and your customer is presenting solutions . . . In phase four, the final 10 percent of the Relationship Selling Model, you ask for confirmation from the prospect to make a decision and take action on your offering. You close the sale.
So, 70% of your presentation is based on the questions you ask and only 20% is about providing information to the customer. Asking for the order is the final 10% and something too many contractors and salespeople don’t bother to do. Not being negative, but it is true. I have been on many sales calls as an observer/trainer that ended with no attempt by the salesperson to close the sale.
Questions will get you to the contract much, much faster than anything else you can do. For more information, read the book.
