7 Reasons Why Prospects Dont Buy

Research shows it takes seven contacts within 18 months to win a new sale. But, when the phone calls have been made, the faxes sent and the sales letters mailed, what are the reasons prospects don’t buy?

Some of the reasons are:

The prospect has no need right now
The prospect is happy with their current supplier
Or, for one of the following reasons.
Because the sales person is:

1. Not Asking the Right QUESTIONS
2. Not LISTENING to the prospect
3. INTERRUPTING the Prospect
4. Not Showing EMPATHY for a Problem
5. Trying to Sell Features and Not BENEFITS
6. Not Communicating the VALUE Offered
7. Not Asking for the ORDER

Reason Number One:

Not asking the right QUESTIONS

Asking open-ended questions will get much better information and MORE information than closed-ended questions. With the one right open-ended question, you can get answers to:

WHO does the purchasing?
Which PRODUCTS are purchased?
How OFTEN are they purchased?
What QUANTITIES are purchased?
What PRICE are they paying?
WHERE are they buying?

Reasons Number 2 and 3:

Not LISTENING to the prospect, and/or Interrupting the prospect

A very successful football coach once said:

"I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions and listen to the answers."

Reason Number Four:

Not showing EMPATHY for a problem.

People sometimes just want to VENT if they’ve had a bad experience with your company. LISTENING to the problem and EMPATHIZING will go a long way towards building a successful long-term relationship.

Reason Number Five
Trying to sell features and not BENEFITS.

BENEFITS answer the prospect’s question:

"What’s in it for me?"

Example of a feature statement:

"We stock your products locally."

(So what?)

Example of a feature and BENEFIT statement:

"We stock your products locally, so you get fast, NEXT-DAY delivery!"

Reason Number Six:

Not communicating the VALUE offered

During a recent 15-year study by an Atlanta-based sales organization, it was found that more than 90 percent of sales people VOLUNTEER a price decrease without being asked!

In addition, according to the same study, most sales people do not believe their product or service is actually worth the price they charge.

The FIRST person who needs to be sold on the value you offer is YOU. When you are really convinced you provide value consisting of the BEST products and superior SERVICE at a fair price, you need to communicate this message to prospects.

Reason Number Seven:

Not ASKING for the Order

Results from the same study found another amazing statistic:

80% of sales people fail to close the sale when the buyer is ready to buy!

ASK FOR THE ORDER!

About the Author

Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."


annbarr@sellingsupplies.com
http://www.sellingsupplies.com