Summit Group International
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Management & Sales Training Newsletter
“From Conversation to Appointment – Advancing Your Sales Conversation”
When you’re in an initial conversation with a potential prospect you, at some point, should attempt to move the conversation towards an appointment. It’s not appropriate for instance to start to do an in depth analysis of needs and wants and/or to present your product or service when socializing at a party. If your prospect demonstrates an interest, you can move to the next step by saying, “Why don’t we set up a day and time to get together for a few minutes and if you like what you hear and meet the qualifications we’ll talk about the next step. If not, no hard feelings. Fair enough? What’s the best number to reach you?”
Take note here of how you ask for the advance. You’re asking for the next step, which in this case is to set up another day and time to get together for further discussion. It’s very important here not to discuss the situation any further. Why? You want to be able to control the environment so that you have the highest probability for success. Is your prospect likely to whip out his or her credit card or sign a contract while you’re standing at a social function or on the sidewalk? Of course not.
The words used to move to an appointment are simple yet effective. Notice when you move for the advance, you start out by asking, “Why don’t we set up a day and time we can get together…” This will lead to either one of two answers you want. Why? They may tell you it’s OK to go ahead, which is what you want or they may let you know why they don’t want to go forward. Why is this good? It gives you an objection you can deal with.
Also take notice that you say it will only take a few minutes. And why only a few? Well, if your prospect feels it may take a long time, they’re more likely to not want to meet or they’ll want to meet later when they feel they’ll have more time. Guess what, they won’t have more time. So, let them know that it won’t take long and there’s no big commitment. You can always ask for more time once you’re actually in the appointment.
The wording in the advance also is used to qualify your prospect. You relay to the prospect that they must be interested in what they hear and more importantly that they must meet with your qualifications. Why? To give the impression that you aren’t inclined to, and don’t accept everyone as a client and that there is something they must demonstrate to you in order for you to spend the time, energy, effort and emotion that it will take to get them involved with your product or service.
Don’t be afraid to let the prospect, although subtly, know that you’re in control. You also demonstrate that, although they may want to work with you, they may not fit the criteria for you to work with them. Do doctors operate on every patient that wants them to? Do attorneys accept every case that a prospective client brings to them? Of course not. All professionals screen their clients. Why shouldn’t you?
Professionals do an evaluation of the potential client based on certain factors. Some of the factors may be how much money this person will spend and when they’ll pay, how difficult this person may be to work with, and how difficult their particular problem or situation is. Also taken into consideration is the probable outcome of working with this person, the time and effort associated with the case and the potential for future business from this person in regard to referrals and/or repeat business. This is done before any new client is taken on. It’s a subjective call that you set up your own criteria for. Many of us know all too well that dealing with low paying, difficult clients who are very demanding and have little need or benefit from what we’re offering may not be our best use of time, right?
At the end of the advance you simply suggest to them that if the proposed conditions are met i.e., they’re interested and they meet your qualifications, you’ll simply share with them how to move forward. On the other hand, you let them know that if the conditions aren’t met, that there is no resentment towards that person for not moving forward. Many people have had bad experiences with salespeople taking up a lot of their time and when they told the salesperson no, it was obvious that the salesperson may have reacted rudely or defensively. Be honest with yourself and keep in mind that your prospects may have these worries and take steps to counteract them upfront.
The last part of moving from your conversation to the appointment is to use a directive advance and simply ask them what the best number to reach them is. Notice that you’re assuming that you are meeting for an appointment and you simply focus on what number to call them at. You should never ask, “Would you like me to call or would you like an appointment?” Why? Because you have just given your prospect a choice between a negative and a positive. Your prospects do like options because it makes them feel like they’re in control. However, you want to remember to always give them different options between two positives scenarios you’d like to see happen rather than between a positive and a negative.
