Growth Tips: A prospect needs dimension

Now that all of your salespeople buy in to asking questions and getting information about problems from prospects prior to attempting to make a presentation, here’s a problem for you. If a prospect can live with its problems, the company will likely cling to the status quo. That’s a fancy way of saying they’ll do nothing.

To prevent potential sales from stalling they need to follow a second critical step. The key to moving prospects away from the status quo is to dimensionalize the problem and the pain it causes. This sounds a lot more difficult than it is.

Let’s say the main problem is a drill press that breaks down and causes production to go offline. The sales rep needs to ask how often this happens, the annualized cost in dollars, other costs that affect the company or the prospects’ jobs. Also extend the consequences by asking if having the line shutdown caused delayed deliveries; and if this has cost the prospect customers.

By extending the consequences or pain associated with a prospect’s problems your salespeople make the default (status quo) an unwise choice. This will help reduce no-decision sales outcomes that plague many manufacturers. Remember, a problem is not worth changing if you can live with it.

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