How To Respond To "Tell Me About Your Product/Company"

We have often said that salespeople tend to speak about themselves and their product too much when with prospects, but what about those times when prospects ask about you?

Isn’t that the moment where you open up and let them have both barrels?

The answer may surprise and puzzle you.

Here’s the question:

Can you put your need for the sale aside for long enough to determine what your prospect’s self-interest is?

If you’re in hard-sell mode, you’ll never get close to understanding their self-interest.

The gates of resistance will rise up whenever you try to make each step in the sale.

You need to put your own ego on the back burner as you develop the self-interest of the prospect.

Here’s an example of what an average salesperson will say when the prospect asks about your company. 

Prospect: I’m thinking about changing my supplier and I’ve read your testimonials on your site, so tell me more about your company and products.

Salesperson: I’d be glad to. We’ve been in operation for over twenty years and have built up a customer base of over 1000 in this country alone. We’ve worked with many similar-sized companies and have been mentioned in many trade magazines recently.

Prospect: OK, so how much would a solution be for us?

Salesperson: Well, of course, it depends on what you need, but we solved a company’s problems in your industry last month with our system that costs just over ￡12,000.

Prospect: What?! We don’t want to spend that kind of money!

Salesperson: Well, we do have leasing facilities if you want to spread the cost over a longer period. 

See what happened here?

The discussion on the prospect’s side never revolved around price, so when the salesperson brought it up early, it caused the problems that you see evolving here.

There was no emotional connection and the salesperson never built up any belief in what he had to offer before he brought up price.

Instead, let’s look at how the new breed of salesperson would handle the situation:

Prospect: I’m thinking about changing my supplier and I’ve read your testimonials on your site, so tell me more about your company and products.

Salesperson: I’d love to. But actually, to avoid wasting your time, I’d like to ask if it’s ok or me to find out a little about your needs before I tell you about us and our products. After that, I can tell you how other companies have used us. What we can then find out is if we can help you, is that ok?

Prospect: Yes, that’s fine.

Salesperson: There are normally a number of reasons why companies use our products. They try to deal with current problems, or they have past problems they need to get over, or they have opportunities that they can chase in the future, like expanding into new areas. Does any of that sound like your position?

Prospect: Yes, we are definitely losing market share at the moment because of current problems and are in danger of losing a half-million-pound account, so I need a solution pretty quickly.

Salesperson: When you say ‘quickly’, what do you mean?

Prospect: Well, if we can get the solution in place in the next two months, we may be able to save things. If not, we may have to start again with that client.

Salesperson: OK, Let’s take a look at that issue and decide on the best plan of attack. Then we can work out the best products and services that will back you up. I’ll then tell you about us and how we can help you can have trust in us. How does that sound? 

Do you see the differences between the two?

Can you see how the approach in the second scene made the prospect open up and offer information?

It all comes down to the emotional connection that the salesperson is able to build up with the prospect. So the rule is:

Evoke emotion first; educate second.

When you link up with the client and their problems and their challenges or opportunities, you create a bond that makes them feel their self-interests are being solved by talking to you.

This will make them feel confident and open up so you build a natural relationship early on.

Thanks again

Sean

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