That was a statement I made to our newbie rep today. We were discussing a potential order that he was looking for guidance to close. I forget what he said, but I chimed in with, don’t be afraid to ask why?
Why: Adverb 1. for what? for what reason, cause, or purpose?
Years ago, I learned the hard way of not asking why because I did not have a mentor to turn to when I wasn’t able to move the sales process forward. Prospects would tell me that they weren’t ready to purchase yet. With that, I stated “OK, I’ll follow up in a few months, bye!”
I had no clue about sales back then and I did have a problem with asking why? I was afraid to put the prospect on the spot and ask why. It finally clicked that if I didn’t start asking why, I wouldn’t last long in sales.
Once you ask why, prospects will answer you (you’ve made this far in the process and they expect you to ask why), and in most cases you’ll find out the true reason for not moving forward with the order.
The reasons over the years have included, we’re moving in a month and don’t want the added expense of moving the new system, or the price is not in our budget, or we had a problem with your company in the past, or I’m not the right person to make that decision to my all time favorite, we don’t like you!
All of those statements are objections as to why they won’t do business now, and in most cases you can overcome all of those objections and more. You’re probably not going to overcome the “we don’t like you” objection. Just think, if you do get the “we don’t like you,” then consider yourself lucky because in my 35 years, I’ve only heard that statement once. Odds are you’ll never hear again because from every sale you’ll learn and hone your skills to close more sales along with getting better with handling objections.
If you’re a newbie or even if you need a refresher (we all do at times), print or write the word ‘WHY’ on a large sheet of paper and take it to your cube. It will be a constant reminder of how we need to finish.
Good selling!
