Henry received a call from the COO of a company whose employee benefits insurance business he's pursued for over two years.
The COO said he was eager to see what Henry's company could provide and requested a quote ASAP. Henry believed that his persistence and he had finally paid off. He immediately contacted the company's HR department to ask for the employee data so that he could start working on the proposal.
Do you believe that Henry's persistence has finally paid off? Or, is the COO only in search of a competitive quote to use as a bargaining chip with their current broker?
Imelda asked her prospect if there was funding in place for the consulting project they were discussing. The prospect replied "Money is not an object". Imelda was smart enough that the prospect's comment didn't give her carte blanche but she felt comfortable that she wasn't going to be constrained by financial pressures as she began to build the proposal for the prospect.
Should Imelda feel comfortable? Did the prospect mean that the funds are unlimited? Or, did he mean that "money is not an object" because there isn't any available?
Unfortunately, most salespeople have "Happy ears". They tend to hear what they wanted to hear. Often, shat they believe they heard through those happy ears doesn't reflect the real intent of what the prospect said.
It's the salesperson's responsibility to -
1.) Determime the prospect's intentions and expectations.
2.) Help the prospect be more specific and define any ambiguous terms or phrases that may be misinterpreted.
3.) Tie up any loose ends.
4.) Make sure all parties in a conversation or a meeting, are in sync with what transpired, and what is supposed to happen next.
Make it a practice to recap the conversation after interactions with prospects or clients "Let me quickly recap what we discussed to make sure we're all on the same page and we didn't leave anything out" Then, review the conversation and ask, "Does anyone have anything to add.. Did i miss anything?'
Eliminating potential misunderstandings today reduces the opportunity for unfulfilled expectations tomorrow.
To your success,
Dr. Sales
