Throughout my career, I’ve always had mentors, and there’s a simple analogy that explains why:
You wouldn’t attempt Everest without a Sherpa.
Having someone on hand who knows the route is hugely valuable, can stop you heading off in the wrong direction, and make sure you go the most direct way to your desired destination.
Anyway, one of my most highly regarded mentors is the Kiwi media legend, Doug Gold.
I’ve been consulting and speaking with Doug for over 20 years now, and every time we talk, he has something useful to share with me.
It was no different when I spent some time with him a couple of months ago. What he explained to me was hugely valuable, specifically in relation to face to face advertising campaign sales.
It’s something I was already familiar with, but it stirred an acute awareness of the concept for me.
His point was simple: if your prospect leaves that sales situation uncertain about anything, you’re highly unlikely to close the sale.
You see, when people go away from a sales meeting with unanswered questions and concerns, the chances are that those questions and concerns will grow in significance.
They’ll try and figure the answers out for themselves, in a vacuum, without you there with them to provide the facts. Worse still, as humans, we have a tendency to err towards the negative, which means the chances are, your prospects will conclude the worst.
And as soon that happens, your sale is most likely scuppered – it’s very difficult to bring those people back, on the phone, or via email.
The antidote to this? Two simple things to get all their problems and issues out on the table, when you are in a position to retain control of the sales conversation:
Ensure that you know the most common questions and concerns that prospects are likely to have, and make sure you cover these off in your sales presentation.
More importantly, before you end the meeting, be sure to ask this question: “Before we finish, is there anything else you’re uncertain of?”
Do both these things and you’ll reduce the chances of uncertainty killing your advertising campaign sale. In fact, you should start to close more sales!
Give it a go and let me know how you get on.
