Sell Specific ➠ General

“Oh, so you sell from the specific to the general!”

Background

A customer service consultant, who had only been in business about a year, asked me: “How do you sell everything that you do?” At the time I was offering fractional CFO services and he was aware of the broad array of business issues that involved.

I explained that I didn’t try to sell everything I did. Instead, I identified the issue that was most important to the prospect and focused exclusively on that issue.

Once I was in the door and could see other opportunities to improve the company’s bottom line, that’s when I sold additional services.

Common selling mistake

One of the most common mistakes salespeople make is trying to make the prospect aware of all the offerings the seller has available. This approach is one of the quickest ways to get invited out of the prospect’s office. Here’s why:

• Prospects are only interested in solving one or two specific problems, while the salesperson appears to be throwing darts at the wall hoping something will hit…an accurate perception.
• The salesperson seems more interested in his company than the prospect’s company, also accurate.
• The salesperson is doing most of the talking, which prevents him from learning what’s really important to the prospect.
• This hit or miss approach causes the prospect to lose interest early in the meeting, which means he’s stopped listening well before you may actually hit upon his concerns.

Specific interest

The key to a successful sales call, which includes quickly discovering that you don’t have the solution the prospect seeks, is learning early in the meeting specifically what the prospect’s interests are. Here are some sample questions you can use to get to the specific:

• If you could change anything about your business, what would it be?
• What result would you like to get, that you’re not currently getting?
• What is one of the most frustrating aspects of doing business?
• What is it about your business that keeps you awake at night?

Once you get a response to any of these questions:

• Realistically assess your ability to help the prospect deal with their issue.
• Assuming you’re able to help, share a similar situation you faced and the result that you got.
• Do NOT share the process; that’s what you want them to buy.
• Do NOT discuss anything other than this specific issue. It’ll confuse the prospect.
• Wait for a buying signal. Prospects hate to be closed.

By selling the specific, and only the specific, you’ll dramatically increase your close rate.

Takeaways

While you may have, as most businesses do, an array of services that will help your customers, you need to identify and focus exclusively on the prospect’s immediate interests. That’s true regardless of whether they’re trying to alleviate pain or pursue a dream.

Once you’ve gained them as a customer, then you can sell them additional services…one at a time.

If you enjoyed this insight, please share it with friends and colleagues. They’ll appreciate that you’re thinking of them.

Resources

For a complete overview of Greater Profit/Fewer Sales concepts, check out Dale’s books, Pricing for Profit and Generate Greater Profit With Fewer Sales:

Even More Profitable training programs assure that your organization enjoys the benefits of being a Greater Profit/Fewer Sales organization.