Are you killing your momentum at the end of the B2B sales process? I present an argument for bold, unabashed salesmanship:
Buyers tend to be skeptical and distrusting of sales people. They can tell when you’re selling just to sell; that’s why becoming a trusted advisor is a key step to closing that deal. Trusted advisors know how to listen and make the customer feel understood. That works up to a point, but trusted advisors need to learn to assert their influence when the time is right.
Alice Kemper of Sales Training Werks had this to say about one of the most common sales mistakes:
“In my thirty five plus years of training sales people, there’s one common reason they don’t close more sales. And because the reps don’t do this one thing, the competition is the beneficiary. What is it?
Sales people are not asking for the decision.
Yes, they actually forget to ask… as strange as that sounds. Reps are so passionate about the presentation, that when they finish they are quiet. Reps think the ‘ask’ is implied and the customer will miraculously say, ‘Wow, that was great, let’s go!'”
What ever happened to the time tested sales mantra “ABC — Always Be Closing?” If we fail to ask for the decision, what’s the point at all?
A friend once pulled a small stone out of her pocket and asked me what I called it. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “a pebble?” She told me that’s fine, but she preferred to call it a “little boulder.” She carried it around with her everyday as a reminder to be “a little bolder” than she naturally would be.
This lesson changed the way I look at opportunities, how I meet new people, and how I communicate. We shouldn’t shrink from our natural power and ability, we should embrace it!
It’s the same with the B2B sales cycle.
If we chicken out of actually inviting buyers to make the decision we want them to make, we’ll fail every time. By the time we have trust with our buyers, we need capitalize on it and extend a bold invitation that results in closing the sale.
See how Consensus enables salespeople to understand and communicate effectively with buyers, Click on the orange “Watch Demo” button below.
