Housing Giants - April 24, 2008 - (Page 14)

SELL pressure. Today’s customer is more knowledgeable and sales savvy than ever before. Ten years ago they needed you for information; today they don’t. Customers need you for specialized information, not generalized. The last thing they want to hear is the blah, blah, blah about your cabinets, countertops and insulation. And when you make that presentation, you’re saying the same thing they just heard across the street and will probably be hearing next door too. Which brings us back to an image problem. THE CLOSING IMAGE Closing the sales is the most popular sales training topic in our industry today. But have you ever wondered what influence closing has on your customer — and what effect it has on your image? How does your customer feel about being closed early, closed often and closed a lot? Does it make them comfortable? And are they all right being lead? Closing the sale directly rates to image. WHY DO WE BELIEVE IT? Have you ever wondered where all of our selling ideas come from? It has evolved from a flawed premise. Close early/close often advocates preach what they do. “Ask and you shall receive,” they say. A study by Huthwaite says that’s not the 14 HOUSING GIANTS.2.7.08 right approach. Huthwaite associates are the foremost sales research experts in the world. Their results show that the more you close when you’re selling a high-ticket product, the less you sell. The customer who has lots of choices, lots of things to think about and is downright confused by the sales process backs away. Such a customer will also vow never to work again with such an unprofessional salesperson. Which means we’re back to the image problem. WHAT DO WE DO? To be successful in today’s market, we need to make some changes. We need to train our sales associates to be able to use the product knowledge we provide to them. Next, we need to understand what closing the sale really means. There’s too much proof that asking for the sale doesn’t work. Good closers do everything they need to do make it easy for customers to say yes. We don’t teach that, and we need to. And if we do those things, we’ll have a good image! HG Rick Heaston is president of R.A. Heaston and Co., a salestraining and marketing firm. You can reach him at rick@ touchpointselling.com. WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/page003.html http://www.huthwaite.com/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=12 http://WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Housing Giants - April 24, 2008

Housing Giants - April 24, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News and Moves Sell Workforce Housing The New Housing Demographics

Housing Giants - April 24, 2008

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