Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Sometimes, when your salespeople are trying to close a sale, the deal stalls, gets put-off, or simply doesn't close. This is followed by, well, follow up, leading to more put-offs. There are many reasons why this happens but for the purpose of this article, let's simply assume that the prospect has every reason to buy and the salesperson did not do anything glaringly wrong along the way. Simply a closable opportunity that hasn't closed yet. In situations like this, there are usually two things going on:
- The prospect has some unresolved fear, discomfort or risk;
- The salesperson is trying too hard to close.
The fascinating thing about these two scenarios is that the harder the salesperson attempts to close, the more fear, discomfort and risk it creates for the prospect. Their resistance gets stronger.
The solution? Stop trying so hard!
The strategy? Lower the resistance.
The tactic? Acknowledge their fear, let them know you understand it, and lower their resistance. Get them to admit to it and then you can ask them why they are afraid, and what you can do to resolve it.
This new information is not an objection or even a reason. It is simply a new problem for you to solve and your solution should be revised to address this problem. If you can do that, you'll close the sale.
