Finally getting to ‘yes’
Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Selling Points August 2011
These three questions will get you started on the path.
Get your prospect talking about what he’d change with his current solution.
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So enough about “no” already—it’s time we take a look at the four steps you can follow to get to “yes” with those prospects whom you’ve effectively qualified as good candidates for partnership.
If you’ve effectively avoided any treacherous “maybe”s along the way, your shot at getting a “yes” is starting from a much higher place already. Now comes the fun part!
Any attempt at getting to “yes” with your prospects should start with a complete NEADS analysis (yes, it’s spelled wrong on purpose). NEADS is an acronym I borrowed from Tom Hopkins. Hopkins presents the sales process as a series of questions leading to a logical conclusion—the proverbial close or conversion of the sale. This article discusses the first three letters of the acronym: N, E and A.
The N stands for now, as in “How are you dealing with [insert specific challenge uncovered during discovery] now?” The point of this question is to set a baseline for the rest of the discussion. Finding out how the prospect is currently handling the problem you’d like to help them solve also helps you establish the thought process behind how they make decisions.
In fact, you might ask something like, “Out of curiosity, how did you come to the decision to use that solution?” This information will be critical later on when building your solution.
In the meantime, you should be aware that sometimes the answer to the now question is—nothing. Sometimes, you will be the first at bat, the first one to take a stab at curing the prospect’s pain. Of course, other times you’ll be up against a deeply entrenched incumbent. Both situations have their particular challenges, so you have to know up front what you’re dealing with. Thus the importance of the now question.
The E stands for enjoy, as in what does the prospect enjoy about their current solution? Sometimes we get so excited about sharing our solution that we don’t take the time to find out whether the prospect really wants a radical change. Find out what the prospect enjoys and plan to give them more of the same.
This is pretty basic when you think about it. If a prospect really enjoys certain aspects of the solution they have now, who are you to rock the boat? Wouldn’t it be better to find a way to integrate those aspects into your offering, maybe even improving upon or enhancing them in some way? Remember, people aren’t always fond of major change, and past buying habits will have a significant impact on future buying decisions. You’ll get your chance to be creative in the next bit.
The A stands for alter. In other words, what would the prospect like to change about his or her current solution? Would she like it in a different color? Perhaps he prefers a sleeker design? Maybe friendlier customer service reps? Listen to everything your prospect has to say and take copious notes. This will be the core of the solution you’ll eventually present!
What happens, though, if you ask the A question and your prospect says, “Nothing. We like it just the way it is?” At that point, you may have to do a little coaxing to tease an answer out of them. One of the best ways I’ve seen to do that is the technique presented by Randy Schwantz in his book
How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them).
Schwantz tells salespeople to come up with something they do better than their competitors and then use that difference to create a question that will drive the thin edge of a wedge between your prospect and their current vendor.
You might ask something like, “When your current vendor comes out to review your monthly oil analysis numbers, do those meetings happen here or off-site?” knowing full well that the prospect’s current provider doesn’t review monthly oil analysis numbers. Suddenly, the prospect has discovered that there’s something they’d like to alter about their current solution after all!
These three questions will form the basis for the solution you’re going to create for the prospect, but you’re not quite there yet. First, you need to understand the D in NEADS: how your customer makes decisions. That is the topic of our next article.
Jerry Kennedy is owner of Inside Out Business Solutions, a sales and customer service training organization. To learn more sales strategies, visit Jerry’s blog at http://jerrykennedy.com or you can reach him at jerry@jerrykennedy.com.