How many tie-downs and trial closes do you or your team use during their presentations?
If you’re thinking, “What’s a tie-down? What’s a trial close?” then you’re in trouble…
In an earlier blog, I introduced the term, “Spray and Pray” as way to describe how many sales rep’s presentations go. They get the prospect on the phone, go through a PowerPoint slide presentation, drone on and on for a half hour or more, rarely checking in their prospect—and if they do, it’s a weak, “does that make sense?”–and at the end they might use a tepid, “So, what do you think?”There are obviously many problems with this kind of approach, but the one I want to focus on today is ‘talking past the close.’ In an attempt to throw endless features and benefits at a prospect in the hope that one of them may be the one thing they are looking for, what happens is that sales reps often disclose too much information, and this actually introduces objections.For example, a sales rep may continue pitching and say, “And our warranty covers 90 days of live support, and if you want to continue that afterwards, it’s only $49 a month.”
What?
What we’ve now done is introduce a string of potential objections: “Only 90 days?” and “You mean there is an upsell I didn’t know about?” “What other upsells are there?” “And why do I even need live customer support after 90 days?” And on and on.This is just one small example of introducing and objecting by pitching past the close.So why do reps do this? Why do they talk past the close?
Fear, of course.
Many reps are scared of asking for the sale because they have no idea how the prospect is reacting to the presentation because they haven’t used tie-downs and trial closes throughout the presentation. As such, they are ‘flying blind’ and have no idea what the prospect is thinking throughout and at the end of their demo.Solution?
You must engage your prospectat the beginning of the presentation, re-qualify as much as possible, and use tie-down’s and escalating trial closes throughout your demo so you know exactly when your prospect is ready to buy.
Or, if they aren’t…
And then you need to have the tools, the scripts, the techniques to deal with how your prospect is reacting to your presentation.Related:
Sales Practice Doesn’t Make PerfectThe last thing you want to do is keep talking past the close. Because if you do, you’ll be in danger of introducing more objections and getting even further away from the sale.If you need help in understanding the sales process and improving your skill set so you can avoid this, then search my blog, or invest in my new
online training program for yourself or your team.Remember: Sales is a set a recurring situation, and when you apply a proven approach to them you not only succeed more of the time, but it becomes easier and even fun to do.And when was the last time you heard those two words, “easy & fun” in the same sentence as “sales”?
