Tag: Prospecting & Qualifying

How to Qualify for Interest

by mike

Today it seems to be harder and harder for sales reps to qualify for interest and to identify buying motives.

One thing making this so difficult is the decision tree: often there are many different levels of decision makers (committees, bosses, regional managers, corporate, etc.), and sales reps often just skip any attempt to qualify for interest.

Instead, they just send their information or schedule their demo and hope for the best.

As you might suspect, the way around this is to be prepared with scripted questions that are assumptive in nature and that lead your prospect to reveal what the buying motives (or motivation in general) are for the various other departments and decision makers.

Use the following scripts (or customize them to fit your product or service), so you can gain an understanding of what the buying motives are and how to tailor your pitch to each group to close the sale:

Qualifying Question #1:

“ _________, why did you (or corporate/manager/boss) choose the solution you’re using now?”

Layer:

“And what are you (they) looking to improve upon now?”

Qualifying Question #2:

“If you were to pick one thing that would be a deal killer if it weren’t there, what would it be?”

Qualifying Question #3:

“What have you heard they’re (corporate, their manager, boss, etc.) specifically looking for in the next (your product or service)?”

Qualifying Question #4:

“Besides price, what else is important (to you, them, etc.)?”

Qualifying Question #5:

“I know that these (your solution) may seem to be all the same, but tell me, what will stand out for you…what’s the one or two things you’re really hoping to see?”

Qualifying Question #6:

“_________, what have you heard in terms of what the priorities are for adding this (your product/service)?

Layer:

“And what is the timeframe you’re hearing for implementation?”

Qualifying Question #7:

“Out of all the companies you’ve (or corporate/manager/boss) has seen so far, what looks the best to you?”

Layer:

“And why is that?”

Qualifying Question #8:

“If you had to pick one thing that this is going to come down to – you know, one thing that you think will be the deciding factor as to who you’ll (corporate/manager/boss) choose, what do you think that will be?”

Layer:

“Besides price, what’s next?”

Qualifying Question #9:

“__________, you haven’t made a change so far, just out of curiosity, what is motivating you to consider doing so now?”

Qualifying Question #10:

“__________, I know I called you out of the blue; I’m glad you’re interested in seeing what we have. Quick question for you, though: What do you think it will take to convince the (corporate/manager/boss)?”

I bet you can think of some of your own, can’t you?

The key to any sale is getting your prospect to tell you how to sell them. If you can do that, you’ll make your job much, much easier.

Ten Ways to Soften the Price Objection and Keep Pitching

by mike

Many sales reps get thrown off their pitch when a prospect objects to something early on during the close.

For example, if when talking about the price of a product or service, the prospects says something like, “Oh, that’s way too much,” many sales reps don’t know how to respond – and often do the wrong thing.

The wrong thing in this case is to stop and try to overcome the objection. Instead, a sales rep should retain control of the call, soften this objection and move on to build more value.

Here’s an example:

If a price or price range is given (say, anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000), and the prospect objects with, “That’s more than we want to spend,” then instead of stopping and trying to overcome the objection (which only gives control to the prospect and throws you off your momentum), you should respond with any of the following:

Response One:
“That’s only a range, and I’ll explain how that works in just a moment…”

Then continue on with your pitch.

Response Two:
“There are some other options, but first let me explain how this works and how it can impact you (or your company or other departments, etc.).”

Then continue on with your pitch.

Response Three:
“Based on what you know now, it may seem like a lot, but let me get through exactly what you get for this…”

Then continue on with your pitch

Response Four:
“_________, you obviously don’t have to go with this at all, and I’m not asking you to make a decision right now. Instead, let me finish explaining how this works, what you get, and how it might work for you (or your company, etc.).

After that, you’ll be in a position to decide what to do next, fair enough?”

Response Five:
“Let’s put the budget aside for a moment and first see if this is a solution that would even work for you. What I’ll do is explain everything to you, answer your questions, and then we can address whether or not it provides the value to justify the investment, O.K.?”

Response Six:
“The budget and the value this provides is quite worth it – as you’ll see. Let me finish explaining how this works and what my other clients are getting out of it, then you can decide what – if anything – you want to do. Now…”

Continue on with your pitch.

Response Seven:
“Let’s put budget aside for a moment and let me show you how this can positively affect what you’re spending now…”

Back to your pitch

Response Eight:
“I know at this point it might seem like a lot, but I guarantee once you understand the whole picture, you’ll easily see the value here…”

Back to your pitch

Response Nine:
“_________, those are only the price ranges and what you decide to ultimately spend will be entirely your decision and based only on whether you see enough benefit to move forward. Let me show you…”

Back to your pitch

Response Ten:
“_________ until we qualify your business, we won’t know what your payment options are, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What I recommend is we go through the approval process and then you can decide if this is worth it for you or not – fair enough?”

Remember, the point here is not to get thrown off early in your pitch just because a prospect objects to the price. Instead, you want to maintain control, build value and get buy in during the close.

And you can do this by using one of the rebuttals above to soften the objection.

How to Handle the “Status Quo” Objection

by mike

As you know, I often get emails from readers of my ezine, “Secrets of the Top 20%”, asking me how I would handle various selling situations and objections.

Someone sent in a request asking me how to deal with the, “We are used to the status quo and don’t want to make waves” objection. This reader also wrote that he had been told by another training company that he needed to, “Make them painfully aware of something they don’t see coming at them (like a freight train) and develop a more compelling message.”

As you might imagine, he wasn’t able to come up with anything that was working.

By the way, I must comment here that I frequently hear this about other “sales training” companies: they are quick to offer what sounds like good advice, but they don’t provide the specific solutions to back it up.

As you know from reading my ezines, watching my YouTube videos or reading or listening to my books and CD’s, I not only tell you what to you, but also how to do it.

In this case, I think the reader was having trouble with this technique because, to begin with, it’s not a good approach.

Trying to convince someone that what they’re doing is a bad idea and it’s going to lead to big trouble (so you can say, “I told you so” later), isn’t going to endear you to anyone. What I recommend instead is to find a way to bypass this obvious initial resistance and find a way present your product or service in a non-threatening way.

Your goal on the prospecting call isn’t to overcome objections (which this isn’t, by the way), but rather, to qualify and set a date up to demo your product or service.

Here are some sample scripts to help you do just that:

Objection: “We are used to the status quo and don’t want to make waves…”

Approach One:

“I’m completely with you and believe me, I don’t want to rock the boat. But because things change all the time, there might come an instance when you need to consider your options. So let’s do this: I’ll set a time to give you a brief demo of what we do and how it might help you.

After we do, you can then decide if you want to do anything with it now, or keep it in your back pocket in case you ever need to consider a different source – sound good?”

Approach Two:

“I understand and I’ll try not to make too many waves here. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you did compare services and pricing – you know, just to keep current on what’s available to you?”

Approach Three:

“I’m with you and believe me – I’m not here to cause trouble. But let me ask you this: isn’t it wise to at least know about your options just in case you need to make a change at some time in the future?”

Approach Four:

“I’m with you. So tell you what: instead of me trying to sell you something, let me just educate you on what’s currently available in the marketplace – you know, so in case you need something further down the line, you’ll know who to call – make sense?”

Approach Five:

“No problem, I fully understand. Let me ask you this though: If something were to happen to your current provider, wouldn’t you at least want a dependable backup plan so you didn’t miss a beat?”

The point of these rebuttals is to bypass this resistance so you can get in front of a qualified lead and pitch your product or service. Obviously, once they agree to do a demo with you, you’ll want to ask other qualifying questions.

As always, I encourage you to practice, drill and rehearse your responses so you can internalize them and deliver them in a natural way.

How to Qualify an Influencer

by mike

If this were a perfect world, when prospecting and qualifying we would always get to speak with the decision maker and, while questioning them, we would discover that they were looking for our solution, and that they have the budget and authority to make a decision. Furthermore, when asked about their timeline for making a decision, they would reply, “Can you get it here yesterday?”

Too bad we don’t live in a perfect world…

Instead, it’s more likely these days that we don’t get right through to the decision maker – or to that mysterious “committee” that is going to decide at some undisclosed point in the future – instead, there are usually some layers to go through first, before our product or service can finally get to the right set of eyes.

Usually the person standing in the way of the final decision maker is an influencer – someone who might weigh in on the decision but who doesn’t have the final authority to make the ultimate decision.

Now here’s the key: just because an influencer doesn’t have the authority to make the final decision, that’s not to say they don’t know other crucial information that might help you navigate the decision tree and ultimately make a sale.

Unfortunately, many sales reps are terrible at vetting or qualifying the influencer, so they just send their information and then hope for the best.

If you follow the advice below, you will not only know how to get this crucial information, but you’ll also separate yourself from 90% of the other sales reps who just don’t know how to qualify influencers properly.

Questions to ask: Even though your influencer might not be the final decision maker, they often have some insight into what the decision is looking for, or what their interest in your product or service is.

Because this is true more times than it isn’t, you must always ask any of the following questions to get this insight. If the person you’re talking to is hiding behind the real decision maker, then ask things like:

“_________, you probably work quite closely with (the decision maker), tell me, how open are they to adding (your product or solution)?”

OR

“_________, in terms of what you know, what is their (the decision maker or committee’s) timeline for putting something like this into effect?”
OR

“What other solutions are they considering right now?”

AND

“How do you get involved in the decision on something like this?”

OR

“How much influence (or input) do you have on the final decision?”

AND

“How closely do you work with (the decision maker or committee)?”

[If they are involved]:

“What are you recommending they do?”

OR

“From what we’ve just gone over, do you think this is something that would work for them?”

AND

“Give me your thoughts on how (the decision maker) is going to decide who to pick for this”

OR

“From what you know, what is (the decision maker) looking for in a solution like this?”

AND

“Given what you know about the urgency for making this decision, how soon do you think they will decide on a solution?”

AND

“In terms of budget, what are they thinking?”

AND

“From your perspective, what is involved in their decision process?”

OR
“How many other vendors are they going to look at before they make a decision?”

AND

“From the other companies they’ve looked at, who are they leaning towards now?”

AND

“Is the company they’re using now still in the running?”

AND

“How likely do you think they’ll just use the same company they’re using now?”

AND

“What do you think it will take for them to choose a different solution from who they’re using now?”

AND

“Is there any reason you can see that they wouldn’t move forward with something like this?”

AND

“Is there anything you can think of that I should know that’s important for them in making this decision?”

AND

“What do you think I need to do to have the best shot of earning their business?”

As you can see, there are many areas and many questions you can ask which will give you tremendous insight into the sales process – if you just ask.

Is the influencer going to know any or all of this? Of course not! But, again, more times than not, they’ll know a lot more than you might think.

And if you begin asking some of these questions, you will know it, too!

How to Overcome the, “Market, Industry, Economy is bad…” Objection

by mike

You hear it all the time: “I/we can’t do anything now because the _________ (fill in the blank with market or economy, or company, or industry, or budget, etc.) is down.”

And the crazy thing is that sales reps actually buy into that objection! I guess if you’re not prepared to overcome it with a good script, and you keep getting it day in and day out, you’re susceptible to buying into it.

I’ve even begun hearing sales teams jump on the “Oh, things are terrible, the world is coming to an end…” objection and actually agreeing with their prospects! As soon as a sales rep gets this objection, I’ve heard them pile on with, “Oh, I’ve been hearing that a lot and things are bad out there! Some of our clients have even closed down their offices, and let people go – oh, it’s terrible!” And then add:

“Well, if things turn around, then definitely give us a call…”

Empowering, huh?

Remember: on every call somebody is going to be sold. The only question is: Are your prospects going to sell you on why they aren’t buying (from you), or are you going to sell them on why they need you more than ever right now?

Because your product or service can almost always save them money or time or energy or manpower, OR produce more and better results which will mean more revenue or business to them, then let’s face it: they can’t afford not to listen or meet with you!

Here’s the only script you need to overcome the “Everything is terrible” objection and earn the right to meet or do a demo with your prospects:

The next time you get any variation of the, “I/we can’t do anything now because the _________ (fill in the blank with market or economy, or company, or industry, or budget, etc.) is down.” objection, you simply say:

“Well, because of that reason, I’m sure it’s more important than ever for you to (reduce costs, save money, get more results, etc.) and that’s exactly why other companies are meeting with us to see how we can do just that for them. You’ll be happy we met, too. Here’s what I recommend we do…”

You have to be prepared with a positive, upbeat message to overcome their negativity – you have to believe in what you’re selling, in your solution enough – to earn the right to meet with your prospect.

Use the script above as it is, or adapt it to fit your personality and your product or service, and start closing your prospects – rather than letting them closing you…

Qualifying for Budget

by mike

Nowadays, there seems to be a raging debate about when – and even whether or not – to qualify for budget. The new thinking seems be driven by the fear that “until we give the value of what we’re offering (meaning the demo), it’s too soon to talk money. Prospects will just say they can’t afford it.”

Given this thinking, companies are stressing just setting an appointment with anyone who will listen, and then relying on the presentation being so strong that anyone with half a brain would jump all over it and buy.

Well, if you’ve ever tried setting demos and appointments that way and then calling these “prospects” back to close them, then you know how that goes….

Not properly qualifying – up front – on the six basic qualifiers (buying motive, potential objections, decision makers, timeframe/decision process, competition, and budget) means that you’re just hoping and praying when it comes to the closing presentation.

And I can tell you from personal experience, that’s an exhausting and highly ineffective way of running your sales career or company.

So here are some scripted ways you can qualify for budget up front – without the fear of having your prospect turn you down before you get to tell them how great your product or service is:

On the prospecting call:

Option One:

“_________, I’ve got you down for a brief demo of this on (confirm day and time). Now, as you can imagine, if you like this there are various ways you can engage with us – and at different price points.

So let me ask you: If, after we go through everything, you think this can seriously help you (or drive customers/revenue to your business), would you be in a position to make a monthly investment in your business of between $200 to $400 – again, if you believed it would help you?”

Option Two:

“Well _________ obviously, there are several ways for you to participate in this if you like it, so let me ask you: if, after our presentation next week, you really like what you see and think it can drive the revenue you’re looking for – would you be able to allocate $X amount towards it?”

Option Three:

“And ________ I know you haven’t seen this yet, but if after you do you think this can be a benefit for you, could you make the budget available to get involved for just $X?”

Option Four:

“________, most of our new clients who decide to put this to work for them usually start with an initial investment of between ($X and $Y). Again, if you think this solution would work for you, where would you be along those lines?”

Option Five:

“And _________, after we go through the demo on this and you decide it’s something you’d like to take advantage of, we have three packages: Our Starter Kit for $X; our Professional Package for $Y; and our Elite Deluxe Package for $Z. Where would you see yourself, again, providing you like what you see?”

As you can tell, there are various ways of qualifying for budget, but they all have one thing in common: They qualify your prospect for budget! And you should, too. Don’t fall into the trap of “spraying and praying” as one of my companies put it.

Make it a point of thoroughly qualifying your prospects and only spending time with buyers who are able – and likely – to make the decision to do business with you…

How to Handle the Wife Stall

by mike

If you sell B2C (or even B2B) and you get the “I have to convince my wife,” stall, how do you handle it?

If you’re like many of the sales reps I’ve been listening to lately, the answer is: Not very well.

So let’s start at the beginning. The first thing you need to do with this stall/objection is to isolate it. You begin by qualifying that the prospect you are speaking to is sold on your solution regardless of that the wife would say. You use:

“I understand completely – let me ask you: if your wife says she is fine with whatever it is that you want to do, would you move forward on this right now?”

If you get buy in with a “Yes I would!” then you have several courses of action to take. I like to then qualify what it would take to sell her (in other words, find out in advance of speaking to her what her concern is), so I would then ask:

“O.K., and what do you think it will take to convince her?”

OR

“All right, and what do you think is holding her back?”

OR

“What are some of the concerns she has?”

OR

“And what do you think she would need to hear to say yes to this?”

OR

“And how can I help you convince her on this?”

After you’ve gotten some input on what the potential objections of the wife are, and/or gained insight on what her possible buying motives are, then you can set up a time to speak with her (with the husband on the phone, of course) and move to close the sale. You can say either of these:

“Is she available now?”

OR

“Why don’t you go get her on the other phone now?”

If she is not available, then you need to set up an appointment to speak with her at the soonest possible time:

“How about first thing evening, what time would be good?”

To reiterate the steps above:

1) Make sure the husband (or whatever spouse or decision maker you’re speaking to) is on board.
2) Find out what the concerns or buying motives of the wife are.
3) Move to speak with her right then or at the soonest opportunity.

When you then get the spouse on the phone, you can open the call in many different ways. Here are a few:

First, use the information you received from questioning the husband:

“Hi _________, your husband has been telling me that he likes the XYZ and that you like it, too, but you just need a little more information on (whatever the concern is). Can you tell me what you’d like to know?”

OR

“Hi __________, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve been talking to (her husband’s name) and he’s quite interested in moving ahead with XYZ. What might it take to get you onboard as well?”

OR

“Hi _______, this is ______ _______, and your husband wanted me to reach out to you about the XYZ he’s been looking at. I’d like to answer any questions you have so you can feel as confident about it as he is. What would you like to ask me today?”

OR, if you know what the concern is and have a good response to it, open with:

“Hi ________, this is ______ _______, and I’ve been talking to your husband about XYZ. He tells me that you’re concerned with (go over reason), is that right?”

Now Listen….then,

“I’m glad you brought that up – you’re not the first person to have that concern. But the good news is that …” (overcome objection, then ask): “Do you see how that works? Does that make you feel better?”

If and when you get buy in, you simply close the sale with:
“Well, I guess you can see why your husband likes this. Here’s what I recommend we do…”

And ask for the deal. If she is not ready to move, repeat the above steps all the while ending with asking for the order.

Adjust any of these scripts as necessary, but then commit to using them – they’ll work for you as long as you’re willing to use them!

Ten New Ways to Handle, “We’re all set”

by mike

I receive emails from my readers all the time asking me how to handle various objections and resistance statements. A common request I get is how to handle the initial resistance statement “We are all set.” A variation of this is anything along the lines of:

“We are O.K. with our present system”

OR

“We’ve already got a company that handles that”

OR

“We’re fine for right now”

As you can see, these are all basically the same, and, more importantly, they aren’t objections – rather they are initial resistance statements or blow offs. Essentially they are saying something along the lines of: “I’m not interested in being pitched right now, please go away.”

Now here’s the thing: Because this is simply resistance and not an objection (it’s not an objection because you haven’t pitched your product or service yet. It’s like when you walk into a department store and the sales rep asks if they can help you and you blow them off with, “I’m just looking.”) Again, “We’re all set” is not an objection, just sales resistance.

And the key to handling resistance is NOT to try to overcome it (remember it’s not an objection) but rather you simply want to bypass it and get into your pitch.

So, with that in mind, here’s how you handle the “We’re all set” blow off or/and any of its variations:

“We’re all set”

Response One:

“That’s great, and I’d just like to see if we could get on your vendor list for the next time you’re in the market. Let me ask you…”

Now get into your qualifying questions…

Response Two:

“Most companies I speak with are ‘all set’ and that’s why I’m reaching out to you now – I want to give you an option for the next time you’re in need of this. Let me ask you…”

Back to qualifying…

Response Three:

“No problem. Let me ask you: the next time you’re in need of this, what’s number one on your wish list?”

Response Four:

“I understand – I didn’t expect to catch you in the market right now. Instead, let me get an idea of your perfect profile, and then I’ll send you some information you can keep on file next time you need this…”

Now re-engage by asking a qualifying question.

Response Five:

“Got it. Let me ask you: the next time you are in need of this, are you the right person to speak to about it?”

If yes, then qualify them for that next time – especially asking about timeframe, budget, etc.

Response Six:

“Understand, and let me ask you: When is your next buying season for this?”

Then keep the conversation going by asking additional qualifying questions…

Response Seven:

“That’s fine; I totally understand. And let me ask you – the next time you’re in the market for this, how many companies are you going to reach out to?”

And then ask how you can become one of them, what their budget is, who the decision makers are, etc.

Response Eight:

“No problem. What you might find helpful is to know about our special pricing and the additional services we provide. Did you know that….”

Then pitch one or two things you do that others don’t – and use a tie down!

Response Nine:

“I’m glad you said that. What I’ve found is that those companies who are already using a vendor for this are surprised to learn that….”

Give them a shocking statement about how you’ve just been rated number one, or that you give free delivery, etc. Something that will peak their interest…

Response Ten:

“No problem. Could I be the next in line company you call the next time you’re in the market for this?”

If yes,

“Great, let me get your email and send you my info…”

Then:

“And just out of curiosity, what would have to change for you to even begin looking at someone else?”

Look for an in here…

So there you have it – ten new ways of handling this age old blow off. Just remember, your goal isn’t to try to overcome this – rather, it’s to sidestep this resistance statement and get information you can use to create value and continue the conversation.

Two Great New Year’s Questions for Your Clients

by mike

Welcome back to the office, how do you feel? Overwhelmed? Under pressure already?

If so, then you’re not alone. Most company’s management and sales teams are under immediate pressure already to begin accomplishing their new goals and sales targets. In fact, this pressure is also felt in the accounting department, the marketing department, and everywhere else. You can probably feel it in your company, too.

As you speak with your clients and prospects this week, realize that they are all feeling this pressure as well. While this may seem like a bad thing, it can actually present a great opportunity for you. Here’s how I handle the companies and contacts I speak with this month:

After talking briefly about the holidays and New Year’s celebration, I always start with question number one:

“So ________, what are the top 3 initiatives for your department has this year?”

Then I hit mute and take notes.

If they need a little help here, I use layering questions like:

“What was your revenue like last year?” Or,

“What percentage increase are you asked to produce this year?” Or,

“What are you doing differently to accomplish this?”

“What do you think is most needed for you to succeed at that?”

After I’ve listened and asked layering questions and taken notes on the three initiatives, I ask question number two:

“And how can I help you accomplish that?”

Once again, I hit the mute button and take notes.

If I get an, “Ah, I don’t know,” then I once again use layering questions like:

“Have you heard of my new automated Core Inside Selling Skills Webinar Program?”

Or I ask a good assumptive question like:

“How much of a budget do you have per quarter for sales training?” Or,

“How big of a role do you think increased sales training is going to play?” Or,

“If you could wave a magic wand and get three resources to help you accomplish your goals, what would they be?”

Now I’m sure you can come up with a few of your own questions here, but you get the idea. The point is to ask questions and LISTEN to your prospect’s response. If you respect the pressure they are feeling and truly offer a way to help them, then they will engage with you – and many will even put you to work for them…

Softening Statements to Get Prospects Talking

by mike

One of the objections I always get from sales people who don’t want to use scripts is that they sound so, well, like scripts. I tell them that if they sound like they are reading them, sure, but if they internalize them and then deliver them naturally, then they don’t sound like scripts at all.

The other objection I get about using scripts is that many scripts sound very salesy. They sound too direct and pushy. Again, it’s all about how you deliver them. For example, are you matching the pacing of the person you’re speaking with? Are you using timing properly? Are you hesitating and adding the right inflection at the right time?

You see, the great thing about scripts is that they afford you greater flexibility in not only what you’re going to say, but, more importantly, how you say it. And let’s face it: inflection, pacing and tone are everything when you’re selling over the phone.

The other great thing about a carefully crafted and delivered script is that you can use softening statements if you sense your prospect is getting irritated or short or is in a hurry. If you have to ask for some sensitive information – like who your competition is, or what their budget is, or how they figure into the decision making process – you can preface your question with a softening statement to help bring the defenses of a prospect down, and to make yourself sound more natural, more real.

Here are a variety of softening statements you can weave into your opening and closing scripts to help you connect with your prospect and to get them talking:

For opening scripts:

“If you don’t mind me asking, can you tell me what you paid for that previously?”

AND

“And _________, obviously you’re going to run this by others there – do you mind me asking how you figure into the final decision process?”

AND

“ _________, don’t take this the wrong way – and I’m only wanting to know for comparison purposes – but when you got (X product or service) last time, what did you end up paying for that?”

AND

“ _________, the only reason I’m asking is that if you purchase (more than the normal amount or add on to the order) then I may be able to offer you a discount. Hey, we all like to save money, right?”

AND

“ __________, I don’t want to go above your head, but I also don’t think it’s fair for you to do my job for me – so do you mind if I ask if it’s O.K. to speak with (the boss) briefly and answer any questions he has?”

AND

“ _________, do you mind if I ask you just a couple of quick questions to see whether or not this might be a fit for you?”

AND

“I promise I won’t take a lot of your time – I know you’re busy. Can I ask how long you’ve….”

AND

“I don’t know about you – but I usually hate talking to sales people I don’t know…..Just so I can be respectful of your time, do you mind if I ask you….”

AND

“ __________, you and I haven’t spoken yet, and I hate to barge into your day, so do you mind if I take just 2 minutes to see if this is something you’d like to learn more about?”

For Closing Calls:

“Before I show you all the in’s and out’s of this, do you mind if I ask you again: what specifically are you hoping to learn today?”

AND

“Our price for this is $_____ — do you mind if I ask how that compares with what you’re spending now for all this?”

AND

“ __________, I know you want to think about this and that makes perfect sense. Do you mind if I just get an idea of what part of this is not resonating with you right now?”

AND

“ __________, please don’t think I’m being too forward here – but after we’re done and you’ve learned everything about this, is it fair that I ask you for a simple yes or no?”

AND

“ _________, would you mind if I asked you: ‘If the price on this was closer to what you felt comfortable spending, would this be the solution you’d want to go with?’”

AND

“I totally understand, believe me I do. In addition to that, though, what else might be standing in the way of you saying yes to this?”

AND

“Hey I get it – you have options and you want to talk to others. But let me ask you: from what we’ve just gone over and from what you understand about this – are we even in the ballpark for earning some of your business?”

AND

“ __________ if at any time this isn’t sounding like it’s for you – would you be willing to let me know?”

AND

“ __________ what I don’t want to do is talk your ear off. So do me a favor – if you’ve heard enough and it sounds like it’s for you – would you let me know?”

AND

“ __________ do you mind me asking why you’re still considering other companies for this?”

AND

“ ___________ I know you have a lot of options out there – would it be O.K. for me to ask you what the deciding factors will be for you?”

AND

“ __________ you know we’re not for everyone, and if we’re not for you that’s O.K., Obviously, I’d like your business, but I’d rather do what you think is right for you. Do you mind telling me what you’re really thinking about right now?”

AND

“Is there anything I can say or do to get you to reconsider?”

AND

“ _________ I know we’re not the cheapest option out there – and there are reasons for that – but is it just the price on this or are there others things keeping you from saying yes to this?”

AND

“I know I’ve given you a lot of information on this – could you give me an indication of where you’re leaning?”

As you can see, many of these responses are down to earth and real world responses – something you might say to a friend or family member. The more real you are, the more your prospects will feel it – and the more they’ll be honest with you and reveal what it might take for them to move forward with you.