Sales Tip of the Week from Mike Leeds – Pro Sales Coaching
Don’t Assume You Can Close on the First Sales Call, Unless You're Selling… Girl Scout Cookies!
Except for selling Girl Scout Cookies, your sales approach should be a process. The goal of your initial contact should be to learn about your prospect, begin to understand if they have a need that you can potentially fulfill, and then move to the next step.
Do not assume when you reach your prospect for the first time that they are available to spend time with you. Avoid "selling" your product or service before you understand your prospect's needs.
The next step can be to schedule an appointment when the prospect has set aside time to meet or speak with you. From this point, it is possible to combine the steps of the sales process (data gathering/needs analysis, proposal/presentation and close) depending on your product or service. Always avoid the "feature dump" and share how your prospect will benefit from your solution.
Continuing to the next step with your prospect (forward progress) is a "mini close" and you are on the right track.
With Girl Scout Cookies, the sales process truly appears to be a "single call close" (meaning you want them, or you don't want them). The only questions may be how many do you want, and how many Girl Scouts do you know (so you can divide up your purchase?) There are some other products or services out there that can result in a "single call close" but these are few and far between.
In case you are interested, my favorite Girl Scout Cookie has always been Thin Mints. I like keeping them in the freezer (but they sure don’t seem to last long.)
Have a great sales week!
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