One of the longest standing, most respected and basic presentation methods is F.A.B. Selling. I do not know who first identified this method, but I learned it from Larry Wilson in a Sales Sonics course in the late 1960s. The abbreviations stand for Feature, Advantage and Benefit. Many salespersons would tell you that they understand F.A.B. Selling. My 40+ years experience in sales training has taught me that this is not necessarily so. When salespersons say they understand it, what that has usually meant is that they know that prospects do not ...
There are times when a prospect will give us an objection that catches us off guard. We may not have heard this objection before. We may have heard it before but did not handle it well in the past. We may have heard it before but do not recall how to respond. This is when a great sales technique of stalling for time is very helpful. For example, a prospect gives us an objection and we immediately are aware that we are not prepared to handle it well. We need some time to think … and … ...
Regardless of what we sell, we will often find that when we ask for the order we meet with some resistance. Sales Pros know this comes with the job and never take it personally. Following is a basic, but very effective, formula for responding to an objection from a prospect. The objection handling formula is: Cushion, Technique, and Close. Here is how it works. It is important to remember that the prospect knows we do not want to hear the objection. The prospect knows we want to hear agreement. Therefore, when a prospect gives us an objection, they are expecting us ...
As salespersons we know that occasionally (really more often that we like) we are going to get an Objection. The question is, “When do we handle those objections.” For many years professional salespersons have followed a practice of handling objections at four different times in the sales process. Understanding exactly which objections should be handled at which places in the sales process is another of those great sales techniques. The four times to answer an objection are: (1) before it comes up, (2) immediately when ...
Do Great Closers Have a Closing Instinct? Yes! How Did They Get It? What must we know even before we meet our prospect that will help us make the close of the sale more natural and comfortable? Tom Hopkins can probably still hear his mentor, Doug Edwards saying, “All great salespersons have a ‘closing instinct.’” When asked if these great salespersons were born with these “closing instincts?” He said, “Of course not! They got their ‘closing instincts’ by closing too soon and too often rather than closing too seldom and too late!” (That is an excellent phrase to ...
What Causes a Qualified Prospect to Buy … and to Buy Now? A prospect buys all products/services on emotion! However, there must be a “logic safety net” in place when he reaches the “Buy Zone,” so he can justify his emotional decision. What causes a qualified prospect to buy and buy now? The answer is: a professional salesperson has taken a prospect into the “Buy Zone” and then closed. What is the “Buy Zone?” The “Buy Zone” is that point in time when our prospect has bought our ...
Why Doesn’t a Qualified Prospect Buy Now? It is not uncommon for a thoroughly qualified prospect to stall on making a buying decision after he has heard a perfectly delivered feature, advantage and benefit presentation on a correctly priced product/service that is exactly what he wants/needs. Read on and find out why? Often after a prospect has heard a presentation and has been asked to buy, he puts up some resistance to buying at that time. Very often what he says has a tendency to cause the salesperson to lose momentum and ultimately bring the sales process to a halt. ...
Zig Ziglar, one of the most well known sales authorities of all time defined selling. Zig said, “Selling is the transference of feelings. If I can get my prospect to feel about my product or service the way I feel about my product or service, he will not only want it … he will demand it.” To persuade someone, it is not nearly enough to get them to think as we think, it is imperative that we get them to feel as we feel. Getting a person to feel the ...
Once we have found our prospect, it is important to understand why and how to qualify him to determine his level of interest. What are the different levels of interest? Does this prospect Require (need) a product/service like ours? For example, if the prospect is a nurse, he or she would need a watch with a highly visible way to see the seconds in order to take a patient’s pulse. Does this prospect Desire (want but not need) a product/service like ours? For example, if the prospect has a watch that is ...
Often we as salespersons become disheartened due to the number, frequency and sort of objections we receive from prospects. Some salespersons may even begin to feel a form of personal rejection. In an attempt to help clarify what is really happening when a salesperson is given an objection, I would like to begin by getting rid of the cancer of personal rejection. I was fortunate to learn at a very early point in my sales career exactly why I should never take an objection as a
