There is an old saying in football that when you throw a pass, three things can happen and two of them are bad. Some people might say pretty much the same thing about making a sales call. During any given sales call, you will almost always encounter one of five customer reactions, and three of them will at least look bad or feel bad when they happen. However, if you don’t panic or fold, each of these reactions can actually become a bridge to something good. You just have to know which strategy to employ in response to each type of reaction. The five possible reactions are: apathy, doubt, resistance, casual interest or agreement. Obviously, the first three are the toughest to deal with. Here are some tips for building the bridges you need to come up with something good.
Apathy is fairly easy to recognize, because the customer sends you the clear message that he has no interest in what you have to say. Maybe he is satisfied with his current supplier; maybe he doesn’t see that your product offers him any value; maybe he is just irritable and not feeling well. In any case, he is initially not receptive to anything you have to say.
You know you are dealing with apathy when you get responses like: “We’ve been using your competitor for years, and don’t see any reason to change.”
How do you respond when you encounter this level of apathy? The key to handling this reaction – and it applies equally to doubt and resistance as well – is to tactfully and politely as a few direct questions, like: “Is there any area where you wish things could be improved? For instance, if I could show you a way to speed up delivery and get better quality for the same price, would you be interested?”
You see, in each of these first three areas – apathy, doubt and resistance – the customer does not seem to have an active motivation to buy. Asking good questions allows you to begin to awaken a possible motivation in your unresponsive customer. Those motivations are lurking inside all of us. A set of well-placed questions may cause them to “wake up and smell the opportunity.”
Doubt is at work when the customer at least gives you a hearing, but at the same time doesn’t agree that what you are offering will meet his needs or deliver on the promises you are making. Doubt sounds like this: “To be honest, I have never even heard of your company. I just feel like it would be smarter to stick with someone I know.”
When a customer has doubts, what he really needs is proof. He doesn’t hate you or your company. He just isn’t convinced that you have what he needs. Start by asking something like this: “Would you be interested in seeing the latest research data that has just been published by Consumer Reports? I also have a set of references from Ajax Company. Would you like to review them?”
Proof can be any of the following: brochures, contracts, data from research studies, product demonstrations, magazine articles, journals, references, etc. Nothing resolves doubt like legitimate evidence.
Resistance is a little more complicated to deal with, because the customer has a criticism or complaint about your product, your company, may even you! Whether or not his opinions are justified, he believes them and is resistant to the idea of doing business with you. He will express himself like this: “Your material is almost 30% more expensive than the product we currently use, and frankly, I don’t see any difference between the two”
How do you proceed after a reaction like this? The same way should always proceed; you ask tactful, direct questions until you can realign the conversation along more cordial lines. One of the best things to do is to rephrase his complaint as a question. Like this: “If I understand you right, Mr. Walker, you are concerned that our product offers no perceived advantage over the one you currently using, especially since it is more expensive. Is that correct? Would you give me just about two minutes to cover three important advantages that we offer, which we believe helps the product more than pay for itself over a period of six months?”
Asking polite, constructive questions is a vital, powerful part of any sales process. Any time you find yourself in an awkward, even adversarial situation, your best chance of turning the conversation toward a more helpful, hopeful direction is to ask good questions that demonstrate to the customer that you understand his position and you want to find ways to work with him.
When you encounter Casual Interest, that is usually a good sign. It doesn’t mean the sale is in the bag yet, but you might not have to fight through the negative tone that the previous three reaction styles presented to you. Casual Interest is just that; the customer seems at least mildly open to talking with you. The reaction may sound like this: “Last month I read an article about your product in our regional trade journal, and it sounded like just what we need to improve our customer service program.”
Before you jump for the sales contract, get a grip. You may just be talking to a friendly person. Before you shift into sales mode, ask a few more questions: “Yes, we were really pleased about that article, especially since they came to us for permission to do a story. And since you already know a little bit about us, could I ask you a couple of questions about the needs you are seeing in your customer service program?”
Depending on the answers you get to your follow up questions, you will know if you are moving toward a deal or whether you are about to drop back into one of the previous three categories.
The last reaction category is Agreement. The customer is on board with your ideas and suggestions, and has expressed confidence that your products and services will be helpful to them. Maybe you caught them at a good time, or maybe you have been patiently working this account for months and have successfully worked through all four previous reactions. Just remember, this still isn’t the same as closing the deal. There may a few important details to resolve. Don’t skip any of them.
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November Sales Quick Tip of the Month – How to Take No For An Answer
Sometimes you do everything right but things still turn out wrong. Sometimes the contract goes to someone else. When that happens, instead of slumping away, disgraced and discouraged, see if you can learn something that will help you next time. Ask for a frank assessment of the reasons your proposal was not selected. Sometimes the truth hurts, but it may also help you get valuable insights that will pay off big at a later time. Find out when the next opportunity might be to get their business. You could be up to bat again as soon as the next quarter. And stay in touch – don’t be a pest, but don’t hesitate to check in with your contact every few weeks. Keep communications open and continue to learn the relationship ropes that drive their business decisions. Above all, don’t take their decision personally. It probably had nothing to do with you. Try to see all the hard work you did on this project as a down payment on the success of the next one. Keep smiling and stay in touch. You are still in the game unless you take yourself out.
