Article 101

How To Turn "I'm laying off... have no money" into "OK, I'll become one of your biggest customers".

A recent successful sales call illustrated the following:

1. When you get an appointment, you must take a thorough "Client Needs Analysis" to have any chance of making a major sale.

2. Anticipate an attempt to postpone the follow-up appointment. Be prepared with a strategy to meet again.

3. People buy when they see value. Be prepared to drive home your points when prospects want to talk about other things.

4. Ultimately, in major sales, they prospect buys the salesperson as much as they buy the product and service offered.

We have all been there. A consistently implemented prospecting strategy gains us a conversation with a top prospect. You eloquently communicate three benefits you can deliver and a short list of credible clients and ask for the meeting, within 30 seconds of hearing "hello."

In response to "I'm not buying. My business is surviving on financial oxygen" you are totally prepared and deliver your "That's fine.. I really wasn't expecting anything to happen quickly. We have achieved results for businesses similar to yours and would like to share some strategies with you. When you are ready you'll have good information with which to make the best decisions. Would you have some time in the next week"? response. The meeting is set.

That was exactly the situation I was in recently working on behalf of a client seeking to gain a major auto dealership as an account. Despite protestations to the contrary, there is money there if they can see the value. How do you maximize the chance that you will ultimately be able to communicate enough value to overcome a "They have nothing worth my money" mindset?

Step one: Take a thorough client needs analysis. You must have answers to certain questions to have a shot at a sale. Wimp out at this stage and you are virtually certain to be wasting a lot of time with preparation, proposal writing and meetings that earn you nothing.

Be strong. Make the prospect answer your questions. Don't apologize for being professional. Tell them you must have certain information to diagnose their situation. Get it.

Step Two: Take that information and create something a bit unique, different, that has a little twist to it. If the client has already told you emphatically they have no money, coming back with anything close to a standard proposal is just plain dumb. You have to hit the prospect with something unanticipated to knock them out of their "I know what they have. I have no money for them" mindset.

In this case I was meeting with the owner of an auto dealership. This is big business. Auto dealers have a lot of money. At the first meeting what I heard was " Business is down. Poor me. I'm spending nothing." But, I got the information needed to have a chance at a sale.

In this case you have to be prepared for the brush off when you call for the follow-up appointment. In this case, I called on the date and time agreed on one week prior. "Scott, I just decided on a new round of layoffs. There is no money. Call me next year."

The immediate response. "That's fine. You gave me a lot of information at our meeting. I took that info and did a lot of research on my own.... came up with two unique strategies specific to only your dealership. Summarized them into a nice report in anticipation of meeting. Given the significant amount of time invested, would you grant me 15 minutes to relay this information to you. When things do improve for you, you'll have 2 very unique ideas to consider." His response? "I'll give you ten".

That ten minute session turned into an hour and that auto dealership is now one of my client's top billing accounts. What happened? Have you ever tried to steer an out of control car back onto the road? Well this business owner tried mightily to use my precious sales time to talk about irrelevant things. It took tenacity to steer him back on track. I knew I had something of value for him. To get him to realize that, I had to project preparation, professionalism and value. I also had to push the borders of rudeness to get where I wanted to go. When I was done, he was thrown out of his mindset as he hadn't heard what he expected. He saw that my analysis of his problem was sound and that I knew what I was talking about. He bought.

This account fell into the win column because I insisted on getting answers to my questions at the first meeting. If I had wimped out at this stage and didn't insist on answers I needed, there was no sale in sight. I would have been just another vendor looking for an order with no leverage. Don't let prospects control the first meeting. If you don't walk out of a first meeting with the specific info you need to close a sale you are dead. Know what you need and be firm.

When I called back I was prepared for the brush off and used the lure of something worthwhile (and a little guilt) to get back inside.

Once face to face again, he was going to get the benefit of all my research and analysis whether he liked it or not.

When you are presenting, keep in mind that you have to demonstrate expertise and that you care, if you want the client to trust and believe you. Incorporate those elements into your presentation. Enable the prospect to come to those conclusions.

Best wishes for sales success,
Scott Channell

copyright 2006-2009 Scott Channell

Article 81	Turning around a big money prospect who says " We have no money."
	by Scott Channell