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That’s Incredible
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Face it—although sales as a profession is a high calling, salespeople as
a whole, must overcome an initial perception that is not so glamorous.
There is work that needs to be done before anything good is going to take
place. The prospect has to begin to trust you, and may even test to see if
you are true to your word. The best way to deal with the image and
credibility issue is to be proactive and take matters into your own hands
by creating credibility.
One skillful way for beginning to build trust is to exchange information.
It is something you can easily do while on your first appointment as you
ask qualifying questions to learn about their company. See if you can
incorporate a brief history about your company and service as you weave in
and out of qualifying questions with the prospect. You might ask, “What
have you found to be important in the past about your check-guarantee
service?” When they answer, mention how long your company has been in
business and how they do what ever it is they mentioned in the response.
Be prepared to tell them a story. Having a story (either one of your own
or a “borrowed” one) of what a great salesperson you are or how
wonderful your company is can work to take you a hundred miles toward
credibility. “We had a customer once who needed a new terminal
immediately. Instead of making the customer wait for a new one to be
shipped from headquarters, we drove a ‘loaner’ to him that
morning-which kept his sales processing easily.” Note: At the end of the
story try making sure there is a positive result that the action in your
super story produced. But a successful sales professional can’t get by
on company history and stories. Ultimately it is your actions that will
create your reputation as being a great sales professional. Remember to do
what you say it is you are going to do: 1. If your appointment is
at 9:00 AM, don’t show up at 9:02. Arrive five minutes early and be
willing to wait. 2. Don’t make promises
to the prospect that you can’t keep. It is better to stay within the
confines of what you can do than to fail in the impossibilities of what
you cannot. 3. Follow-up with all of
your customers. After the sale is complete and they are signed up, a ton
of good can be done with a phone call or by stopping by to make certain
that everything is the way you hoped it would be. And this is also an
excellent time to ask for a referral!
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