How to Make a Sale without Selling
Career Management Series
By Laura Lee Rose
Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies. I help busy professionals and entrepreneurs create effective systems so that they can comfortably delegate to others, be more profitable and have time to enjoy life even if they don’t have time to learn new technology or train their staff. I have a knack for taking big ideas and converting them into smart, sound, and actionable ideas.
At the end of the day, I transform the way you run your business into a business you love to run.
For the past few weeks, I have been evaluating several project management tools for one of my client’s company. Last week, I had a very frustrating demonstration by one tool’s sales person. It didn’t take me long to realize the reason for my irritation.
He was so intent on showing me what the product could do, that he didn’t hear what I wanted the tool to do.
Selling without selling
Here is a quick list of what do to make a sale without selling.
1) Understand the problem the client is trying to solve
a. Let your customer talk about themselves.
b. Ask your audience questions related to your brand or create a poll and let them participate.
c. Immediately increase engagement by learning who your audience is, what they’re interested in, and what they’re looking to learn from you.
2) Ask the client how they want to proceed
a. In this example, I wanted to experience “the day in the life of a team member by using this tool”; then “the day in the life of a team leader using this tool”; “the day in the life of a project manager” and finally “the day in the life of an account manager using this tool”. But the sales person just wanted to show me the flow of a job request – and how it passes through many hands (which the video had already illustrated).
b. Since I had already watched the demo before calling, I understood the that path. The tool covered that area very nicely. I was interested in everything else that the demo didn’t provide.
3) Follow the direction of the client – let them drive.
a. Even after requesting a change in user scenarios, the sales person continued with his script.
b. Even after stating that I had watched the workflow demo video, he continued to repeat those same features.
c. This made me suspicious that the tool could not accomplish my other requests. After an hour of butting heads, the sales person admitted that the tool was weak on the project management features.
Finally – allow them to test drive.
One last this that this current sales person didn’t do, was to provide a trial or test drive. His reasoning was that he was only interested in people that were truly interested in the tool. People would have to pay for the tool and if it didn’t work out, he would negotiate a refund.
This was disappointing, because I was evaluating several tools and this was the only tool that did not allow me to “try before investing”. How many people would purchase an expensive vehicle without a test drive? And who would purchase a company tool for many employees without fully trying it out?
Be aware of how the other competitors are selling their products/services. If other tools allow a no hassle trial period that is what you are up against. If you want to deviate from that convention, make sure your reasons are convincing and client beneficial.
As the consumer
As the consumer, I had already documented all the things I needed in the tool. I had always documented the steps/duties of each employee’s role. I knew exactly what I needed to see in the tool. Because I was prepared, the above interchange was even more dissatisfying.
For additional information on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally. It’s easy to sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ