Leaving The Prospect In Sales

Tonight we are going to discuss how you leave the sale after you have sold the prospect. As usual I was watching a sales professional close a sale, which I must say went quite well UNTIL the sales person was leaving. Then the wheels fell off, and I mean completely fell off!

As the sales person was leaving he apparently remembered that he failed to leave a business card. Instead of going to his car and getting one he made a catastrophic mistake. He stopped at the exit of the business when the client was high on his new purchase and asked the customer if he left a card with his copy of the CONTRACT. They both went in to look and the end result was he still had to go to the car and get one.

There were many errors he committed at this critical point. First the customer was very happy, then the sales person mentioned the key BUZZ WORD “Contract” and sought to find it. The bad news was that instead of leaving the customer high on his purchase he brought MAJOR attention at the very end back to the CONTRACT! Of course when the sales person left the customer reread the contract and ended up with buyers remorse.

In fact, before we could drive 20 minutes away the salesperson received a phone call with the prospect desiring to cancel. As “The Specialist” I had already started to calculate how long it would take before the salesperson received the dreaded call.

What the salesperson should have done, if he was worried about whether he left a card or not, was to immediately have gone to his car and retrieve one. Then he should’ve told the prospect that he wanted to give the prospect a personal card to keep in his wallet in case he ever needed it.

Remember, after the prospect has finished the paperwork you want it to be out of sight and out of mind. Mention anything EXCEPT the contract! Not only that, he violated a cardinal sin in the industry. You NEVER call the paperwork a CONTRACT, it is always referred by sales professionals as the paperwork or the guarantee…ANYTHING but the CONTRACT!

Everyone has been taught since childhood never sign a contract without consulting an attorney. Putting your OK on some paperwork is a lot less intimidating and a lot less formal. Lucky for this particular salesperson he was accompanied by “The Specialist” who went back to the client and reinforced the sale, eased his concerns and saved the sale. Without incorporating these techniques YOU might not be this lucky.

Charles Kettner, aka “The Specialist”, resides with his family in Virginia Beach, VA, where he is the host of a twice-a-week radio show, The Specialist Radio Hour, dedicated to sales and management training.

He has over 38 years of sales, management and training experience, over 25 years of hard core door to door sales with no leads and no referrals and for 38 years has never had a guaranteed paycheck!

Tags: management, Sales, training

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