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SALES MOVES: Sales involves the power of engagement
By Jeffrey Gitomer
The purpose of “engagement” in sales is to involve a prospect in a way that he is interested enough to think about you in a positive way, trust you, want to buy from you, and engage in some form of relationship. Engagement is achieved through questions. Everyone is familiar with the ultimate engagement question: “Will you marry me?” Positive response to this question commits the buyer. Big time.
Your initial approach to the relationship determines if you will ever get a chance to pop the question. If your initial approach is phony (Socially: “Don’t I know you from someplace?” Workplace phony: “Are you interested in saving some money?”), you’re dead before you start.
Your prospects may be polite on the outside, but they have checked you off mentally, will say anything to get rid of you and never call you back. Sound familiar?
Courting the relationship has before, during and after steps. Some stops are diversions, some are delays, some are obstacles, some are wonderful and some are bad, but all are choices you make, and some are prospect reactions to your words and deeds.
The self-confident approach works best. Be attractive, polished, approachable, humble, well-mannered and prepared. Make people want to know you, want to talk to you, want to be approached by you, want to be engaged by you.
The object is to gain interest with a question of engagement. “Will you marry me?” is a question that will engage you in more ways than one. First, it is an emotional question. Second, it’s a thought-provoking question. Third, it’s a question about you that makes you answer in terms of me. In short, it’s an engagement question.
Examples:
– To sell life insurance or investments: How much money will it take you to retire? How much of that do you have now?
– To sell long distance telephone services: How is your present carrier teaching you to use your phone in a more productive manner?
– To sell temporary employment services: When your receptionist calls in sick on Monday, how do you ensure that there is great morale, full productivity and no loss of service to your customers?
– To sell accounting services: If you were paying 20% more in taxes than you had to, how would you know it?
Questions of engagement:
– Make the other person stop and think, and answer in terms of you.
– Uncover wants, needs and desires.
– Uncover real feelings.
– Reveal dreams.
– Uncover problems, past experiences.
– Boost ego and make the other person feel good or proud.
– Uncover truths or motives.
– Gain commitment.
– Help you better understand your prospect and their situation
– Get a response beyond a simple “yes” or “no.”
If you are asking someone out on a date, asking to borrow a cup of sugar, asking for the sale, or even asking for a hand in marriage, the key word is “ask.” And the way you ask can be the difference between a good or bad response—a “yes” response and a “no” response.
You choose whom to question and you choose what you put in your questions. That will often determine the answer. There’s an old sales adage: “If you’re not prepared for the answer, don’t ask the question.” There’s another: “If you ask, they buy. If you tell, they avoid.”
In sales you become known by the questions you ask. If you ask smart questions, they think you’re smart. If you ask dumb questions…
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless, is president of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer. E-mail him at salesman@gitomer.com.
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