During one of the Sales Project Conversations last week, Eleni played the part of a very difficult prospect. This character was very open about not having any personal interest in the product whatsoever. This made me think about what its like to sell to someone who isn’t interested. In this case, the seller found that this prospect simply wasn’t the correct person in their company to talk to about the subject, which can be the case in many situations, but its often not so simple. Honest mistakes can lead to salespeople contacting potential prospects that want nothing to do with the product. In these situations, best practice is often to quickly go for no. In this conversation however, it became clear that the prospect character simply didn’t have the information to know about or care about the product, meaning that the best way to work with their company would be to try to make a meeting with someone who is more knowledgeable in that area, which is what the seller character did. sometimes this is not possible however, and the seller must either go for no, or try to teach the prospect about the topic.
RMcIlwain
Great post! That is definitely a difficult thing to navigate in sales. I think you did well at explaining what are the best options for dealing with a difficult customer.
I think the seller did a great job navigating the difficult conversation with the prospect. He was able to find that he would benefit in this sale through a conversation with someone who had more knowledge and awareness of a pain, which was the IT guy(s) if i remember. He wanted to sell to the decision maker but also to the one with the most influence to the decision maker.
I think that being able to go for a no sometimes works especially with people who aren’t interested in what you are offering