Sales Essentials by Stephan Schiffman

Author:Stephan Schiffman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epub, ebook
Publisher: Adams Media
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

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Take Responsibility

I'VE DISCOVERED ONE PARTICULAR TECHNIQUE for rescuing a blown presentation that has worked for me more times than I can count. I've taught it for years in my seminars and one-on-one training sessions and gotten nothing but positive reactions. This book would not be complete if I didn't tell you about it.

I call the method “taking responsibility.” I know that may sound like a novel idea at first, because it's so easy to let someone else — the company, the production department, whomever — assume responsibility for the ultimate happiness of the customer or prospect. But I think if you stop to reconsider, you'll probably realize that your best customers now have come to rely on you in an important way, and that much of your relationship with these kinds of customers is based on trust. Earning trust is really the same thing as accepting responsibility, and assuming personal responsibility for the sale as it progresses is a remarkably effective sales tool. It works so well that, if you're like me, the first time you hear about the technique, you'll probably wonder why you didn't incorporate it into your sales routine long ago.

Convictions

So how does it work? Well, to begin with, you have to be utterly, completely convinced in your own heart that you can offer your prospect the best possible solution to his or her problem. If that confidence isn't there, the technique I'm about to describe simply won't work. If the prospect (or anyone else) asks you to talk about your firm, you have to be able to reply with sincerity that you work for a one-of-a-kind, customer-first company and are proud to do so.

Now then. When you're on a sales visit, and you come to the closing stage, you simply say something along the lines of “It sounds good to me; how does it sound to you?” (Again, that may seem audaciously simple right now, but this method of closing can be adapted to just about any close.) One of two things is likely to happen. Either the prospect will answer your question receptively — and thereby start down the road to becoming a customer — or the prospect will back off and say “No” flat out.

If you find yourself facing the second scenario, you take responsibility for whatever problem has arisen.

What do I mean by that? Well, at this point, the salespeople I know of who use this technique successfully are genuinely taken aback — even shocked. And it's no act. They believe in their company so completely, and know so much about the prospect by this stage of the game, that they are legitimately concerned to see any evidence of a negative response to the proposal they've made. And they state that concern in no uncertain terms. You can too.

What you say will sound something like this: “Mr. Prospect, I'm really not sure what to say. I am so convinced that we have the best service, the best pricing, the best customization, and the

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