The assessing sales stage is where you’ll start doing most of your “traditional” selling. You’re going to build a compelling and urgent case for your product or service. The goal is to show you understand your prospect’s problems.
Show the prospect how your product or service provides them with incredible new capabilities. Help them visualize themselves enjoying the wonderful benefits. And introduce fresh, new possibilities.
But to make selling work–you have to listen.
You have to be intimate with what your prospect is feeling if you want them to believe the benefits. If it’s fear, understand why. If it’s curiosity, feed it, and even hide the solution. If it’s frustration, understand what the prospect is going through. Think of all the ways a prospect can improve with your product. Then probe each area to understand this prospect’s view on what is important.
Then you’re ready for the selling part. Take your knowledge of the prospect and product and create a buying vision for the prospect. Match their problems to your features and benefits. Help them visualize the new capabilities your features provide.
Think about what kind of evidence you would need to persuade your prospect to buy. A happy client? A demo? An article from a major industry journal advocating your solution? Dig deep and see what “allies” you can find.
Use quotes, endorsements, association reports or any other “independent” data to support your argument. You can cite your degrees, experiences or other credentials to support your claims.
The point is, you must show your prospect that you can back up what you say. Benefit claims only become believable when you furnish credible “proof points”.
Finally, you must communicate your information in an open, flexible and non-threatening manner. First, introduce ideas that your prospect is likely to embrace. Move to challenging topics later in your presentation.
Listen and probe effectively during the assessment and matching phases of the sales process. It will give you the knowledge you need to close the sale.