How considerate are you about the person you are going to see? How planned and prepared are you prior to meeting a client / customer?
In this lesson, Simon Hazeldine MSc., an international consultant in the areas of sales, negotiation and leadership, explains ‘the consideration phase of his "Brain- Friendly Selling" process.
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Grant Leboff: You talk about the first phase of Brain Friendly Selling is 'the consideration phase'. Can you explain that for us?
Simon Hazeldine: It's just another way of talking about being planned and prepared and by being considerate of the person who you're going you're going to see. So I think, particularly in our modern internet 'the fingertips phase' you must do your research on the customer's industry or that business or on them as a person. In business to business, say via LinkedIn, but also via social media, things like that. Also considering what do you need to take with you, have you got all the collateral, what's the customer likely to ask you? How are you going to be able to respond to those questions.
So my standard is, you should be able to answer 95 percent of a customer's questions on the spot, in that meeting, with maybe a small number of - if it's a technical question - going back to maybe one of your technical team who has to answer that question. So you really need to show that you know your product inside or your service inside out. Because if, for example, through a lack of product knowledge you ask me a question and, as a salesperson, I hesitate because I don't know the answer, you might misread my hesitation as that I don't believe in my product or service myself, and it's an emotional level in the brain that might cause you to become slightly uncomfortable, and you're going; hmmmm does this guy actually believe his product or service is any good? And that might then create a real barrier. So you've got to be thoroughly, thoroughly planned and prepared. Buyers now have very short time available in the diary, so you need to be respectful and considerate of that and make sure you're absolutely planned and prepped. Have considered all the things before you go in. It maximises your success.
Grant Leboff: Interesting, because you're very prepared. To what extent then, does a sales person use this? How do they use this? What I mean is, you can go in very prepared and almost assume too much, can't you? Is it that you are prepared but you still ask the questions? soyYou're not telling the customer 'Oh well I saw that so I know that already'?
Simon Hazeldine: Absolutely. I would normally say something like 'Well Grant. I was I was taking a look at your Web site as you might expect. And I noticed x y z. I'd be really interested if you could tell me a little bit more about it.' You should never ever make assumptions in the world of sales and don't assume anything. Always ask. It's just prepared to do a great job. For example, if they start to ask - particularly a personality preference, are going to want lots of detail - You can say, 'well here's something, why don't I leave that with you and you can take a look at it' rather than; 'I'll send something to you'. It's too late. It's a particularly a very fast moving world now and you need to be able to get that information to them very, very quickly and instantly.
Grant Leboff: So it's kind of knowing what they're likely to want or need, but then still making sure you ask the right questions.
Simon Hazeldine: It's anticipating not assuming. Professionals anticipate, so they're prepared. Amateurs assume and they often get it wrong.