Symptoms SellWritten by Kendall Summerhawk
If you are a solution type of person like me, then concept that symptoms sell may not be intuitive at first. "What do you mean symptoms sell? I'm hired to offer a solution!" Yes, that's true. But selling symptoms and offering a solution are not mutually exclusive. The trick is in your timing. You see, until your almost-client feels you understand their problem, they are not going to listen to a solution you offer. The funny thing is, when you spend time asking questions to uncover their problem and dig deeply to find out what they've already tried to solve it, it naturally prevents you from jumping in too soon with a solution. This means you are following my golden rule: It's Not About You, It's About Them.Asking about symptoms takes pressure off of you to sell. You are just engaging your almost-client in an in-depth conversation with one purpose in mind - to find out how bad problem is, and what happens if they don't fix it. You don't have to spend hours engaged in this type of a conversation, even as few as 5 minutes can reap huge rewards. Precision questions make this easy. Now I realize that if you are a dyed-in-the-wool solution person this take a bit of awareness and practice. Here are 2 reasons why adopting this practice is worth it: #1 You can help more people if they feel you understand their situation. And helping people is probably why you do what you do, isn't it? #2 The greater problem is, less important money will be to your almost-client. Think about this for a moment - more important problem is, easier it is for an almost-client to find money to hire you. This means you have little-to-no-quibbling about your fee. So why not prepare 2-3 precision language questions this week that will help you unearth symptoms your almost-client may be experiencing? Get comfortable hearing about their problems and don't be satisfied until you've discovered what consequences are in not resolving them. Dig deeply and you will find incredible treasures in your conversations!
| | How to Deliver Your Price Quote with ConfidenceWritten by Kendall Summerhawk
In this highly competitive market, it's easy to worry that once you state price for your service, your prospective client will vanish. Even most brazen of us may gulp when we finally have to say a number. Let's look at delivering your price from a different angle. With these 3 "What if..." scenarios in mind, delivering your price quote takes on an entirely different meaning. Instead of a daunting task, it becomes a way to deepen communication between you and your prospective client. 1. What if...you summarize what was important to your client (you did ask them what was important, right?!)? For example: "I remember you said you were looking for least expensive, highest quality, fastest delivery XYZ - do I have that right?" Now you are building a case for results thinking!
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