As a customer I get annoyed when the sales person wants to move faster than I am ready.
This is bad for the sale because:
- it signals to the customer you are not listening to them. It also implies that you also don’t understand them.
- it implies that you are only in the transaction to make money, and you don’t care for them.
- and finally it gives the impression that the customer is getting “sold” to. That by far is the worst impression you want to make!
You can counter these problems and make more sales if you ask many simple “find out” questions in the first meeting such as:
- how does your organisation make decisions?
- when do you need to start realising the benefits of this proposal (then work backwards to determine when they need to buy)?
- what are your timeframes?
By asking these simple “find out” questions you will understand the customer’s buying behaviour.
You will know when to use the customer’s reasons to put the pressure on, and when to back away!