Often in the selling process you reach a point where the prospect tells you that they would like to buy your product but there is a real reason why they simply can't do that at this point in time. In most cases this is not actually true, although the prospect may genuinely believe that it is.
Here are five questions that can help you blast through this stalemate and get the order.
When you reach such a stalemate you will hear the prospect say things such as; "I can't ......", It's not possible ...", "I can't do it now ...", and so on.
The mental process that is occurring here is that the prospect is shutting down possibility -- often due to fear. While they remain in that mindset they will never be open to see that acquiring your product could in fact be a good solution for them. Your first task is to snap them out of that stalemate mentality and put them in a frame of mind that is open to accept the possibility of a solution that involves your product.,
One way to do this is to take the "unspecified" roadblock and bring it into reality so that it can be addressed and hopefully overcome. You can achieve this by this simple question:-
Question 1: What stops you?
Have you ever noticed that in frightening movies the thing that you don't really see, or don't see clearly, is usually a lot more frightening than things you can see clearly? This is a natural, human mental process that also applies to buying. Once you can bring the buyer's stumbling block into cold, hard, specific reality quite often it is not as big a stumbling block as the buyer thought it was. Also you can then "get on his side" and help him brainstorm solutions. All of a sudden he is working side by side with you to remove the objection.
Sometimes it is not an unspecified stumbling block so much as an unspecified consequence that the buyer thinks is stopping him from going ahead. This unspecified consequence is shutting down the possibility of a sale. You can reopen possibility here with:
Question 2: What would happen if you did?
You would be amazed how often they stop, think, and then say something along the lines of "well I suppose nothing really." Then you say great and proceed to complete the order form. Of course if they do specify a consequence then now you have a specific objection you can overcome.
Perhaps the problem is not that there is a roadblock at all, it is simply that you haven't qualified them well enough and now you are finding out that they are saying "I can't" because they don't actually have the authority to say "yes" but their ego doesn't want to admit it..
You can flush this out at this point by a surprise, very direct question such as:
Question 3: Who can?
Often they will simply tell you who the decision maker is before they have realised they are saying it. Other times they will remain guarded but you can follow up with "Who in addition to yourself would usually be involved in such a decision?"
Another cause of the supposed roadblock could be that they have slipped into problem focused mode and need to be shifted into solution focused mode before they can see the solution. There are two really effective questions to help you do that for them:
Question 4: What's the best way to change that?
Then, LISTEN carefully!
And the whopper question 5: What if you could? (or "What if it were possible?") How would you go about it?
This is even more powerful if you first agree that it is not possible, then induce a vision of the possibility by an open-ended question. For example: "I understand that you can't do it now. But, just for fun let's briefly pretend that it IS possible. How would you go about it?
This allows them to switch into solution focus without having to let go of the (often habitual)crutch of "impossibility."
With practice you can become very skilled at using these five questions and at knowing witch is best (or the best combination) to use in any particular circumstance. Give them a try and you will be surprised how often the stalemate vanishes.
Here are five questions that can help you blast through this stalemate and get the order.
When you reach such a stalemate you will hear the prospect say things such as; "I can't ......", It's not possible ...", "I can't do it now ...", and so on.
The mental process that is occurring here is that the prospect is shutting down possibility -- often due to fear. While they remain in that mindset they will never be open to see that acquiring your product could in fact be a good solution for them. Your first task is to snap them out of that stalemate mentality and put them in a frame of mind that is open to accept the possibility of a solution that involves your product.,
One way to do this is to take the "unspecified" roadblock and bring it into reality so that it can be addressed and hopefully overcome. You can achieve this by this simple question:-
Question 1: What stops you?
Have you ever noticed that in frightening movies the thing that you don't really see, or don't see clearly, is usually a lot more frightening than things you can see clearly? This is a natural, human mental process that also applies to buying. Once you can bring the buyer's stumbling block into cold, hard, specific reality quite often it is not as big a stumbling block as the buyer thought it was. Also you can then "get on his side" and help him brainstorm solutions. All of a sudden he is working side by side with you to remove the objection.
Sometimes it is not an unspecified stumbling block so much as an unspecified consequence that the buyer thinks is stopping him from going ahead. This unspecified consequence is shutting down the possibility of a sale. You can reopen possibility here with:
Question 2: What would happen if you did?
You would be amazed how often they stop, think, and then say something along the lines of "well I suppose nothing really." Then you say great and proceed to complete the order form. Of course if they do specify a consequence then now you have a specific objection you can overcome.
Perhaps the problem is not that there is a roadblock at all, it is simply that you haven't qualified them well enough and now you are finding out that they are saying "I can't" because they don't actually have the authority to say "yes" but their ego doesn't want to admit it..
You can flush this out at this point by a surprise, very direct question such as:
Question 3: Who can?
Often they will simply tell you who the decision maker is before they have realised they are saying it. Other times they will remain guarded but you can follow up with "Who in addition to yourself would usually be involved in such a decision?"
Another cause of the supposed roadblock could be that they have slipped into problem focused mode and need to be shifted into solution focused mode before they can see the solution. There are two really effective questions to help you do that for them:
Question 4: What's the best way to change that?
Then, LISTEN carefully!
And the whopper question 5: What if you could? (or "What if it were possible?") How would you go about it?
This is even more powerful if you first agree that it is not possible, then induce a vision of the possibility by an open-ended question. For example: "I understand that you can't do it now. But, just for fun let's briefly pretend that it IS possible. How would you go about it?
This allows them to switch into solution focus without having to let go of the (often habitual)crutch of "impossibility."
With practice you can become very skilled at using these five questions and at knowing witch is best (or the best combination) to use in any particular circumstance. Give them a try and you will be surprised how often the stalemate vanishes.
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