5 Steps To Get To the 2nd Best Answer In Sales: State Your Intention

I’d like to make a couple of clarifications before proceeding with the Getting to “No” series.  First, when I’m addressing salespeople, I’m including you business owners and entrepreneurs in the conversation.  If you’re not doing all the selling in your organization yourself, you’re likely the one managing the salespeople.  You need to pay attention to this stuff.

Second, this series is focusing on the importance of getting to “No” faster and more often in the early stages of the sales process, specifically when prospecting and qualifying.  In the latter half of the process (presentation and conversion), you’re definitely looking for a “Yes” (look for a follow-up series on getting to “Yes” next week).  And if you apply the principles in this series to get more “No”s, you’ll be more like to succed when it comes time to ask for a “Yes”.

That said, thanks for tuning in to part 3 of our 5-part series, “5 Steps To Get To the 2nd Best Answer In Sales”.  The third step in the process is simple: Clearly State Your Intention.

Like many of the suggestions you read in this blog, this is really just common sense.  The idea here is to get an agreement from the prospect regarding the outcome you’d like to acheive right at the beginning of your conversation.  If you state your intention right at the beginning of the conversation, your chances of getting the outcome you’re looking for go up pretty significantly, right?

And what is that desired outcome?  You guessed it: to avoid “Maybe” at all costs, even if that means you’ll get a “No”.

But how do you get your prospect to agree to that?  After all, these folks have been professionally trained in the art of the 1001 “Maybe”s.  They’re Masters of the Hem, and if that doesn’t work they fall back on their trusty old Haws.  They can evade being pinned down to a definite answer better than a stealthy ninja can avoid detection.  How in the world will you get them to agree to giving you a “Yes” or “No” and not a “Maybe”?

First, understand that the reason prospects have such an affinity for “Maybe” is that they don’t like saying “No” to a nice person like you any more than you like hearing it.  They’ve just been trained by all the lousy salespeople they’ve dealt with before that “Maybe” is the safest answer.  They’re afraid to commit, one way or the other, because they’re afraid of making the wrong decision.  Just like you, they are human beings with fragile, neurotic egos and they want other people to like them.  If they say “No”, they fear that you won’t like them (of course, none of this applies to Gatekeepers; they are a different breed entirely, and they thrive on saying “No” and being disliked by salespeople, and eating small children).  So make it easy for them to say “No”.

Just be honest.  Try something like this: “You know Mr./Ms. Prospect, I really appreciate your taking the time to see me today.  I know you’re a busy person, and so I’d like to make you a deal: if what we talk about today aligns with your values or strikes a chord with you, I’d like to explore our opportunity for partnership a little further.  If it doesn’t, though, I don’t want to waste any more of your or my time.  So if you don’t like what I have to say, I’d like for you to let me know right up front.  I promise you won’t hurt my feelings, and I promise to take you at your word.  If you tell me “No”, I won’t be pestering you with pointless phone calls and emails; I’ll only contact you if and when I come across something in the future that looks like it might be a good fit based on the conversation we have today.  Does that sound like a plan to you?”

Don’t try to back the prospect into a corner, though.  Remember: you’re not trying to get the sale at this point.  You’re merely asking that they be honest and upfront about whether they see a match of their needs to your product, and whether they’re willing to listen to more information.  You’re not asking them to commit to anything other than another specific, well-defined conversation (as opposed to a pointless “follow-up call”).  If you try to get them to commit to anything more at this point in the game, you’ll be hearing “Maybe” all the way to next year.

Tune in tomorrow for Step 4: Ask Better Questions.  In the meantime, please leave a comment to let me know what you think of the series so far.  Ciao for now!