The Psychology of Selling: Increase Your Sales Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible pdfdrive com

Allow Silence in the Conversation. Salespeople must become comfortable
with silence. This is critical to selling success. Most salespeople are a bit
impatient, sometimes nervous, and eager to make the sale. As a result, they feel
that they have to say something, anything, when a silence develops during the
sales conversation.
Remember the saying, the selling takes place with the words, but the buying
takes place in the silence.
Customers need time to process the sales conversation. If you do not allow
silence, which permits what is being said to soak into their minds, they cannot
process your sales message. At the end of your time together, they will have no
choice but to say, “Leave it with me; let me think it over.” And when they say
this, you have in all likelihood lost the sale completely.

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3. Question for Clarification
Third, question for clarification. Never assume that you know what the
prospect really meant by what he just said. Instead, pause and then ask the
question, “How do you mean?”
This is one of the great, all-purpose questions for sales success. No matter
what the prospect says or no matter what his objection, you can always follow it
up with “How do you mean?”
“It costs too much.” How do you mean?
“We can’t afford it.” How do you mean?
“We are happy with our existing supplier.” How do you mean?
“We don’t have it in the budget.” How do you mean?
Each time you ask the question, “How do you mean?” the prospect will
expand on what he just said. He will give you more detail. And each elaboration
increases the likelihood that he will tell you what you need to know to help him
make a buying decision.
Questions Equal Control. Let me repeat this all-important principle in
selling and communication: the person who asks questions has control. People
are conditioned to respond to questions from early infancy. When you ask a
person a question, he or she almost automatically gives you an answer.
When you are talking at about 100 to 150 words per minute, the prospect can
process words at the rate of 600 words per minute. This means that the prospect
has three-quarters of his time available to think of something else while you are
speaking. Very often, prospects drift off into their own thoughts because they
have so much thinking time available to them when you are giving your
presentation.
But when you ask a question, 100 percent of the prospect’s attention will be
focused on answering you. It is almost as if you grabbed the prospect by the
lapels and jerked him toward you. When you ask a question, the prospect cannot
think of anything else but the answer until it is given, giving you the control.