Let customers know they ARE the ground floor, your foundation, not getting in on the ground level. Be proud, share your enthusiasm and you’re excited they chose you to partner with! They had a choice, you must’ve done something right!

If you look back and study all your previous sales, you’ll probably find the completion of this particular step as a common thread in your success.

What is it?

Overcoming objections.  Think about it.  When you overcome your prospect’s objections, you are essentially persuading them to buy.  You are convincing them that your offer is the best solution for them.

So how do you know what their objections are going to be prior to your appointment?  You don’t.  You might have an idea if you do your homework about the company (which you already do anyway, right?), but unless you’re psychic, you won’t know every single objection your prospect is going to have.

Your best bet is to anticipate EVERY possible objection about your offer…and provide an answer that will present your product/service in a better light than your competitors’ – without competitor bashing, of course.

Try selling the product to yourself.  Compare it with the competing products.  What would your major concerns be if you purchased the product for yourself?  Take a good, long, hard look at it and write down any objection you might have.

When you can’t find anything more that you might be concerned about, take a look at each objection in your list and answer them in a way that places your product in a positive light.

Is your product superior in quality, price, service, support or anything?  Find something that your product or service displays superior benefits than the competing products and run with it.

If you truly cannot find something that makes your product shine maybe it’s time to sell something else.

Did you ever think and wonder why you continue to attract difficult and bad customers? It’s because of the types of sales people they are attracted to.

Here at The Salespreneur we have all seen our fair share of businesses with bad sales people. Once you dig deep into their businesses we always seem to find that the bad customers come to them because of their bad sales people. It is not to say that every company who has incredible sales people has amazing customers. However you will find that good sales people attract good customers.

Bad sales people are often focused on features and pricing. They end up attracting the kind of customer who is not interested in the value of a product but is solely focused on price.

When you wind up focusing on those two things, the customers you do end up attracting  are buying based on price and not on the value of what the product or service can bring them. This can create a customer who wants to bargain and has certain expectations as well as demands for pricing. This often also means once this type of customer has made the purchase, they are the ones who call and hassle you for months after.

Bad sales people without a doubt will not only cost you sales, they will cost you time and will attract the wrong customer.

1.) Get the deal in writing as soon as possible

2.) Create a sense of urgency

3.) Use a threat of competition to make sure your client understands that you can move on to the next person if they are not serious about the deal

1) “I need some time to think about it.”

2) “I am interested, but I’ve already spent my budget.”

3) “Give us a call in three months, and we’ll be ready to buy then.”

4) “I’m only interested in the cost.”

5) “I have to converse with my colleagues.”

6) “Your competitors’ prices are lower than yours.”

7) “We already have that covered by an existing vendor.”

8) “We can do that in-house and keep the cost down.”

9) “We’ll need to get a few other bids before considering your proposal.”

10) “We’re aware of your product/service, but it’s not the right fit for our needs.”

You always want to engage your prospects and it isn’t just about the sales pitch, you nee to find out about them too. Well don’t take the route of politics or religion. That could lead you down a very slipper slope quickly with any prospect. You need to stay on neutral ground and find out information about your prospect that let’s you bond with them and creates a story.

Ask your prospects about:

- Their favorite sports team
- Where they love to vacation
- What they do
- What their interests are

Be creative.

• Everything you need to know one hour to update the way you analyze, position and evaluate technology investments for your company.

• Learn how to speak in terms of ROI to the C-Suite and board of directors; how to turn vendors into champions for your IT goals.

• The questions most asked by CIOs about planning long term in a quickly evolving technology universe; five questions CIOs need to ready to answer from their CFO on cash flow regarding potential significant IT investments.

• Specific case studies of IT investments that had demonstrable positive ROI in 2 years and how that created a cycle of more effective budget and planning; how to most effectively show ROI on technology expenditures; the most effective tips, techniques and important lessons learned from other CIOs.

And lots of other tips, click here and sign up today.

Become Allies; Treat the gatekeepers with respect, compassion and humor. Their job is difficult so bare with them.

Calling; Call at different times if your first call isn’t a successful one. Make sure you learn the Decision Maker’s schedule as well as their moods.

Establish Rapport; Be kind and personable with every person you come in contact with along the way.

We want to hear from you, share your successful “getting past gatekeepers” stories.