See exactly what causes cold callers to fail before
they even have a chance of success, AND what you should
do instead. 
My Mind Was In the Gutter, and He Got the Sale
By Art Sobczak on Apr 9, 2009 in Closing, Following Up
I needed my home gutters cleaned, so I went to the classified section of the paper and called four of the advertisers and told each that "I needed my gutters cleaned."
I did NOT say I was shopping, or looking for the lowest price.
Each gave me their price, then was silent.
The first one who asked for the business was going to get it.
Which happened to be the last one.
“It will be $65. I can be there tomorrow, OK?”
OK.
If you handle calls where inquirers call for information such as availability and price quotes, make it a point to always ask for the sale before you hang up. They are going to buy from someone. Why would they call otherwise? It should be from YOU.
Too often I’ll hear reps handle calls, burn trails through the company looking for specific information, and then provide it to the caller. The rep waits passively, then they hear,
“Oh, OK, well, I’ll get back to you. It looks pretty good.”
Instead, make it a habit to say,
“Yes, we have that in stock. It’s only $496. How many should I ship you.”
Or, if the request requires work on your part and you’ll need to get back to the caller, ensure you’re not working
for free.
“I’ll be happy to check this for you. Tell me about your project. How does this fit in?”
Get them talking about their situation. After learning more, should you even decide the work will be worth the effort, ask them,
“Great, after I find this for you, assuming it’s satisfactory, how many will you be getting from us?”
Then you can ask, “So, what would be satisfactory?”
It’s tough enough to find opportunities. Be sure you are taking advantage of the ones that show up at your door with money to spend. Help them get what they want–from you.
2 Comment(s)
By Skip Anderson on Apr 9, 2009 | Reply
Art, great post. One of the fundamentals of selling is to ASK, but I can’t figure out why salespeople don’t just do it.
Art Reply:
April 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Thanks Skip, I am sure you see it all the time. Anyone selling directly to consumers needs to go to your site for great info http://blog.sellingtoconsumers.com/
By Kyle on Jan 21, 2012 | Reply
Great Post, Art! And I One Hundred Percent Agree. Although, I do believe that literally asking for the sale -sometimes- is counter-productive. In the Book “Spin Selling,” by Neil Rackham, Rackham suggests to tell the person what to do, as opposed to asking them. However, you should only do this once you are truly confident that you have met and fulfilled their Explicit Needs.
As an example of this (and tell me if you agree), I’ll use something from a sales experience I’ve had. For the sake of relating, though, I’m going to change my example to a B2C sale, as opposed to what it actually was, which was a B2B sale.
Buyer comes into store asking me for assistance. I reply, “How may I help you?” Buyer then tells me that he is looking for a flat screen television. I go into my investigating stage of the sale, asking him about his situation, and if he currently owns a Television. He then informs me that he does but it is an old television that is not flat, and does not show in color. I then begin to show buyer a barrage of televisions that we currently have on sale –while still investigating what sparked his sense of urgency. (I usually can get carried away with stories, so I’m going to get to the point.) I show the buyer a Television which is one of our store’s best models, however he tells me that it is priced too high (About $300.00 higher than he wants to spend), and that he will have to go home and think about it. Using your advice which you suggest in “Smart Selling…” I then reply, “I Understand, did you plan on purchasing with cash or credit?” Buyer says, “Cash. I usually pay cash.” I retort and ask him, “I see, and in the past you have purchased items on credit, correct?” He said, “Yes.” I then replied, “Great! So as you know, with credit you don’t have to pay for anything right now. You said that you have (fill in number here) in cash today, and you will probably have that same amount in a week or in a month or two from now. And when you do have it, you can pay the remainder off on your credit card. So I’m going to bring this Television to the front, and you’ll pay the cash that you have. Then we’ll put the rest on your credit. Come with me this way, Sir.” Then the buyer followed me and I got the sale.
As you instanced, as opposed to literally asking the buyer for the sale, I told him what to do after he had the adequate amount of information to encourage him to listen to me. But with all of that said, I wonder: When and where would you say that a seller ‘literally’ asks for the sale, and when would you say that a seller should instead tell the buyer to buy?