Sell on Commitment Not on Understanding

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/increase-sales-get-customers-commit-little-time-frank-cespedes

Sell on Commitment Not on Understanding

“It’s too expensive”

“I’m okay with the way things work right now”

Any salesperson knows that the worst time to get an ‘objection’ is in the close. When a prospect gives an objection, or reason not to buy, in the close it generally means the salesperson did not do a good enough job of getting that prospect to commit to the product or service. Seeking belief in your product from a prospect is the best way to close a deal and gain the sale. So why is it that prospects will not give that commitment? As Frank Cespedes of Harvard explains, it is because salespeople fail to properly execute the sales process.

Instead of dumping all the information at once and hoping the prospect believes that your product is better, the more effective process is to explain things incrementally, this process allows the prospect to digest more information and get all the objections out earlier. As Frank explains, “reps are taught to listen for phrases from prospects such as “that makes sense” or “that’s a valid point” or nonverbal signals such as head nods. But these cues mean only that a prospect is comprehending what you’re saying. They’re analogous to the conversational si in Spanish and many other languages, which means “I hear you,” not “I agree with you.” (paragraph 5). Using a ‘traditional’ approach, reps are trained to make the prospects understand their point…not to convince the prospects. Approaches like these lead to objections in the close, the prospect understands but does not agree. As Frank explains, these objections, may in fact be phony: “This is why the end of a sales process is the worst time to handle objections — prospects typically contemplate their objections long before “close,” and, to avoid conflict, often cite a socially-acceptable rationale such as price, which may not be the real barrier to buying. To better address this reality, sellers should ask prospects to make incremental commitments throughout the process.” (Paragraph 3). As Frank explains, a rep can exponentially increase sales by selling based on commitment rather than on understanding. By doing this, a rep will discover and overcome authentic objections earlier in the process, therefore, in the close prospects have already committed and are ready to buy. Approaches like these are beneficial for sales but can be applied broadly for many different uses. For example, “Along with improving sales results, research has shown that incremental commitments can boost charitable giving, increase show rates for blood drives, and reduce smoking.” (Paragraph 8).

Using incremental sales approaches will allow sales reps to boost their numbers and build more successful relationships with their client base.