Hi Lynn:

> I
> like dealing with prospects that approach me
> first and already know they want

Don't we all! ;o)

> I get nervous
> approaching and asking for the sale from
> those who don't know me well.

> Suppose I am talking on the phone with a new
> prospect and that they seem somewhat curious
> about my work. Many books say "make
> sure to ask for the sale!", how exactly
> is a person to word something like that with
> tact? I don't want to be a snake-oil
> salesman, I'm a very relaxed sort of softer
> sell.

In my experience, "stress" and feeling like a "snake oil salesman" are results of being manipulative.

Just be totally upfront...

A prospect expressing somewhat curiosity is not expressing a WANT for what you offer. And you could end up spending large amounts of time satisfying prospects' curiosity.

Let me show you with an example...

Yesterday I got a phone call from a guy. The first words out of his mouth were "How are you?" followed by "Is this BusinessName?"

These two openings sent my salesman alarm off.

He started to get into his speil and I stopped him and asked "Are you trying to sell me something?"

He said "No. We are offering you a service that blah blah blah... and it only costs..."

At this point I interupted him and said, "You are trying to sell me something!"

He then admitted he was.

I asked him to tell me about it because I was

CURIOUS.

Did I want his thing?

NO!!!

I wanted to know more about it because I was curious about it. It seemed a novel and unique way to approach something I have no want or use for.

So he spent the next bunch of minutes telling me all about his wonderful service - for which I have no use or want.

But I was upfront with him about it. I told him I am not really interested but am curious about how it works.

This guy spent five or six minutes with me for no return.

If he had approached me like this...

"This is Joe Bloggs with ABC Computing. We offer (what they offer - the features and not benefits). Is this something you want?"

I have to answer Yes or No.

He finds out within thirty seconds whether he should spend any more time with me.

In your case it could go something like this:

"This is Lynn LastName with My Assistant. We provide business research and office assistance. Is this something you want?"

The person who answers the phone will know if they need/want what you are offering and will tell you Yes or No straight away.

If they say Yes, then continue to ask them the necessary questions to get your job done - just like you would ask them if they had called you first.

You could almost call this MacDonald's Selling...

Do you want fries with that?

Yes.

Do you want a large?

Yes.

If you say No, MacDonald's doesn't say... "Are you sure? They are really nice fries. Why don't you want them?" and try to uncover your objections to not wanting fries so they can counter and try to persuade (manipulate) you into buying fries. They accept your answer and move on.

Jaques Werth calls this High Probability Selling. You might want to check out his website at: http://www.highprobabilityselling.com/

He offers an article on Eliminating the Fear of Cold Calling and Rejection (the link is near the top right) as well as the first four chapters of his book.

Without realizing it, I have been using High Probability Selling offline for years. And the reasons were: I found it less stressful, less confrontational, somewhat enjoyable and it generated more sales than other methods.

To see an online example of this low key, low pressure method, click the link below. You will notice a lack of benefits on that page. There are some, but it's mostly features. We allow the reader to turn those features into benefits themselves. And we only get subscribers who want what we offer, instead of those who were talked into it.

Michael Ross


Click Here for a low pressure selling example