Reverse selling a sceptical buyer

Suppose you are sceptical about value of buying a Mercedes however, you do need to buy some form of transport. How would you react if Mercedes sales person said you should look at something more practical? You might be offended. If message had been expressed in a disarming way, then you would probably want to know why sales person thought that you shouldn’t buy a Mercedes. Reverse selling means doing opposite of what buyer expects a sales person to do. Done well, reverse selling will entice most sceptical buyer to begin selling themselves.

Reverse selling an eager buyer

Suppose you really, really want a Mercedes. How quickly would you get irritated with a sales person who seemed to be trying to put you off? Sometimes sales people try to withhold pricing information until they have established need and value. When people try this on me, I tend to get irritated quickly. This may be a personal thing however, when I want to buy something, I want to do my due diligence, my way. I expect sales people to help me buy way I want to buy. Those who insist on following their own agenda quickly get to do so without my presence.

Forward selling an eager buyer

Such situations should take place as an entirely natural collaboration between buyer and seller. It should be straight forward for sales person to discover how buyer makes good decisions. Once understood, seller can align his or her efforts with buyer’s purpose and preferences. You would think it should be easy! Sometimes challenge is to avoid getting in way.

The ‘Meeting Tactic’s’ Adaptive Sales Framework diagram helps sales people recognise need for careful observation and flexibility of response, when meeting potential buyers. Learning and practising different styles vastly expands opportunities to help buyers get right results.

Frameworks like this provide tools to overcome greatest challenge to success, a lack of forethought, planning, and preparation. Henry Ford put it better, “Thinking is hardest work there is, which is probably reason so few engage in it.”

Questions and comments to Clive Miller E-mail: clive@salessense.co.uk Web: www.salessense.co.uk Tel: +44 118 933 1357

Achieving sales targets has been the focus of Clive’s working life for twenty-five years. During his time in the field, he has sold a wide range of products, solutions, and services in the IT industry for Intel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Silicon Graphics. He is the author of most SalesSense training material and writes about selling for magazines and newsletters.