Vital Selling steps
Your introduction
The first step in selling is to introduce yourself in a positive self-assured manner and provide your prospect with the opportunity to introduce himself to you. Then briefly explain what you do or offer. De-emphasize you and your business and demonstrate interest in your prospect. Keep in mind the importance of establishing agreements and do so whenever possible.
Uncover and remove barriers
Your prospect may have had a negative experience dealing with a company offering a similar product or service. Ask if he ever purchased or worked with a (your product or your kind of company). If so, find out if his experience was positive. If it was negative, encourage your prospect to discuss it. Just listen in an interested manner and acknowledge his response.
Sometimes dealing with negative rumors or if your industry has many bad apples this now may require the sales person to disprove these notions. This might mean gathering documents, photos, letters, etc. In this case, you must show her evidence that you and your company is trustworthy and reliable. You must have something to show, to prove what you are saying.
You cannot sell your product or service to a client who is not willing to receive communication. You cannot begin to sell anything until you first establish some trust. Never ignore this step if you suspect either of the above scenarios are present.
Discover their need
Next, you must dig down and determine how the use of your product or service will benefit your prospect. One method is to state the key benefit of your service and ask your prospect how this might be of value to him. For example, “This service allows people to get to breathe easier. If you could breathe easier and sleep better at night, how would that be of value to you?” If the prospect cannot see how it will be of advantage, suggest some possible benefits. You must find one that is evident to your prospect in order to have a chance to make the sale.
A similar but equally effective approach is to state all of the benefits of your service and ask your prospect to state how she sees your service benefiting her. Either approach will uncover a need, demonstrate your interest in your prospect and increase her desire to purchase your services.
Demonstrate how the Product or Service will benefit
Now that your prospect has agreed with you that there is a need to do something, you demonstrate how the product or service will bring about the benefit he desires. “The duct cleaning will help you and your family breathe easier, because we will remove 30 years of dirt, dust, debris, and harmful contaminants you can’t get out on your own. You and your family will be able to breathe clean healthy indoor air again and suffer from less allergies”
The most effective method of demonstration is show and tell. Showing the work you’ve done in the past, clients who you helped, testimonial letters, letters of recommendation, pictures and most importantly being able to provide your prospect with a well thought-out presentation you can leave behind. Your prospect will eagerly review it on their own time, thus getting to know and trust your company.
You MUST understand this…
It doesn’t matter if you are the absolute best contractor in your city; if you don’t know how to market your business to attract more high-paying clients, you are going to continue to be the best kept secret in your town, struggling to get by, barely generating any real revenue, and left to compete solely on price alone.
Here’s why:
Having an amazing product or service is ONLY important AFTER the sale…
Before someone buys from you, they only know how good your MARKETING is
The above sentence is so profound that I recommend you go back and read it again. Unfortunately, the best man DOESN’T always win. Even the greatest contractor in the world will struggle, go broke, and close their doors without a steady flow of new customers.
Final comments
You need to build a case for you and your business, that makes it clear to your prospects they’d be fools to go with anyone else but you. Just like a trial attorney does when they prepare for a case. If you follow this procedure properly, your prospect will be sold, objections will be minimal and closing will be a snap. Failure to close a qualified prospect means that you have not carried out these steps properly.