Trainee who doesn’t use scripts as she wants to have a natural conversation and not appear salesy tell me a story. Great high-value prospect takes a meeting as the current rep is AWOL, hard to reach and communication is poor.
So non-salesy rep and her boss wine and dine (her words) multiple times over the course of a year waiting for the current contract to end so they can take over.
Big day comes, contract ends, prospects calls to say the AWOL rep had called them, they had a good conversation and that they would be renewing with their current firm. Yikes.
So I pointed out that after one year of meetings and dinners and non-salesy natural conversation…
– Prospect did not get their value
– Prospect did not see enough reason to change
– All it took to crumble the sale was one phone call from a supposedly poorly performing rep.
This trainee had no scripts written.
This trainee had no “Pile of words.”
This trainee did not have stories of improvements experienced by new clients at the ready.
This trainee did not have proofs and examples how they could improve their business condition prepared and organized for potential use.
This trainee did not have questions at the ready that would help the buyer see the differences.
This trainee had not prepared to weave these into these conversations, so when decision time comes, the prospect can understand the difference you bring and you can close a deal you deserve.
I asked the trainee to think back of all the interactions and opportunities there were to bring up issues, tell stories, offer examples and proofs, very naturally of course, so that the buyer could see your value. To think of all the things that could have been said but were not. To think of all the questions unasked. To think of all the topics that could have been discussed but were not.
Knowing what you are NOT going to do, say or act is not enough.
What are you GOING TO DO AND SAY that enables prospects to appreciate your value.
Is what you have prepared enough to win more close decisions?
That takes preparation, practice, writing things down and thinking things through so that you can serve the best interests of your prospect.
Those who are not adequately prepared to do these things, lose a lot of close decisions unnecessarily.
If you need more meetings, check out the Sell the Meeting Sales Script Sprint. The sooner you signup, the sooner you get help.
If you have meetings but want to win more close decisions, look at the Sell the 2nd Meeting Sprint, which is about how to best conduct those discovery calls and subsequent meetings.
The business is out there. Go get it.
