Close More Sales by Pushing Back
Shawn Casemore
Keynote Speaker, Sales Kickoff Speaker, Sales Training, Sales Coaching. ?? Enabling B2B Sales Leaders and Sales Teams to Achieve Unstoppable Sales?. ??Author of The Unstoppable Sales Machine.??
A study released by LinkedIn a few years ago discussed how today’s B2B prospects want to buy from Trusted Advisors, not salespeople.
When you think about Gartner’s finding that over 45% of a buying team’s time is spent researching their buy, then it kind of makes sense they need someone they can trust to help them wade through the mountains of research.
Here’s the thing.
If you sell services, then you likely get the idea of being a trusted advisor.
Most good mortgage brokers, insurance agents, real estate agents and recruitment firms view themselves as trusted advisor to their clients.
But what about those who sell products?
Everyone from manufacturing reps to distributors to machine shops.
Ask them if they view themselves as a trusted advisor and the answer is often “no, we sell products.”
I’m here to tell you that if you aren’t acting and behaving as a trusted advisor, regardless of what you sell, then you are making a huge mistake.
Customers buy from those they can trust, and at a time when people are inundated with information, trust isn’t always easy to find.
If you agree, then the bigger question is where to start as a trusted advisor.
Counterintuitively, you start by pushing back.
You see, your prospects are researching what you sell online right now (or at least recently).
They’ve met with, and heard from, your competitors.
They’ve attended trade shows and seen displays and demonstrations.
Maybe they even have your product in their facility already but need an upgrade.
When you do connect, you must have the confidence to push back on any false or unrealistic expectations they have.
Maybe they read that your product should cost less than what you sell it for.
Possibly they expect a longer warranty period because they received one from your competitor.
In every situation where the customer is unclear or simply wrong in their assumptions, you need to correct them.
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Don’t be rude about it.
View it as re-educating them around what is true, versus what they’ve understood to be true.
Those are two very different things.
And when you do this consistently, people will start to view you as someone they can trust.
It takes practice, and finesse, yet you can do it.
Best,
Shawn
P.S. Are You a Sales Vice President, or Director of Sales?
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