Repost – How to Win the Sale Not the Argument

One thing I hear often from sales agents in the field is, “The prospect is just blowing me off.” or “The prospect doesn’t take me seriously.” or “The prospect doesn’t value my time at all.”  This prompts the sales agent to say things to the prospect like, “Are you actually serious about moving forward?” or “I have come here over and over again and I am starting to feel like I am wasting my time.” or “Don’t you realize who you are talking to?”

All of these statements will prove your point but, they will lose the sale.  If you want to get a lot of sales, you have to make this your only goal.  When I meet a business owner, my goal is to sell them my service.  My goal isn’t to get them to like me, respect me or even to have them treat me with dignity even though they usually do all of the above, my goal is to get the sale.  If that means I have to pretend I believe them when they say they forgot the statement for the third time, or if that means I realize they are a strong personality and I need to act like I work for them, I will adjust my attitude and behavior immediately without even a second thought because I want the sale.  If you find yourself constantly feeling like the customer doesn’t appreciate you or that you are being used by your prospects, step back and realize this is only your pride speaking and your pride will not make you any money.

Serve your prospects and your customers.  Let me repeat that again, Serve your prospects and your customers.  If they want something, give it to them.  If you need to be a different person to make the sale, become that person.  If you have to swallow your pride, swallow your pride.  Here is what you will find.  If you consistently do what the prospect wants with a possitive attitude, preserving your relationship with them, you will eventually get the sale.  Once you have the sale, you will feel all the pride and respect you could want.  You will feel like your time investment, no matter how great, was worth it and you will continue to improve your ability to adapt to each prospect so you can win the sale every time rather than just winning the argument.  Let’s take a quick look at how this sounds in the field:

You have stopped by a business 4 times to get the statement and this is your fifth visit.  You walk in and the merchant says:

Merchant: “…I forgot that statement again, sorry about that.”

Agent Responds with a big smile and easy attitude: “No problem at all, I was in the area today anyway (even if you just drove 20 min. to get their statement only!) I will swing back another time, do you think you could have it for me tomorrow?”

Here is another scenario, A manager has told you 3 times that the owner is in on a certain day and they have never shown up.  You now walk in the 4th time and the manager says:

Manager: “Bob is here but, he is actually really busy right now, can you come back another time?”

Agent Response: “Sure, no problem at all, could I talk to Bob real quick just to reschedule?”  When Bob walks out, you say, “Bob, I know you are really busy today so I will not take any of your time, I am just looking at my schedule for next week and wondering if there is a good time for me to meet with you for 15 minutes?”

Your odds of getting these two sales are still probably 60% or 70% but, if you said something like, “I just drove 20 minutes to get the statement, are you serious?”  or “Tell Bob I have already been here 3 times so I need to speak with him for a few minutes.”   Your odds of getting those two sales would probably be 10% or less if that.  So again, it all comes down to what you want to win.  Do you want to win the sale or do you want to win the argument?

Good luck in the field!

James Shepherd

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