Yesterday, I was talking with a sales manager about a coaching call that he had had with one of his salespeople. The sales manager was a high performing rep and is still a top producer. The rep asked the manager 'his secret', i.e. the process that he uses to remain a top producer. So, the manager showed the rep his process.

When the rep had his meeting with the manager's director, the rep told the director that he was "underwhelmed" with the manager's 'secret' process. I suggested that the manager never do that again and offered an alternative approach.

But that's not what this article is about. If that's ever happened to you, grab a freebie.

If you've been out trying to do business, you've probably heard something like this.

"You're worth every penny and we need to do this, but we just can't commit until this economy settles down."

Notice the wording.

"You're worth every penny" - if this is true, you've established that the cost of doing nothing is more than the cost of your solution and if that is true, not buying will cost them more than buying.

"we need to do this" - if this is true, the prospect has decided that no other solution will work. They've eliminated all of your competitors including the status quo.

"we just can't commit until this economy settles down." - I can't stress this enough. If you haven't cemented the meaning of the first two parts of the quote, you need to do it. If they 100% agree with your interpretation of the meaning of their words in the first two parts of the quote, keep reading. If they don't, do not. Go back. Do discovery, diagnostic, and whatever other steps in your process are necessary to help your buyer buy with their mind before they buy with their wallet.

Now, say, "I have a question." and wait for them to ask what the question is.

"You're not the first person that I've spoken with that's stuck. Need it. Can't pay for it."

"If we were to get you up and running, would you be in a better place or a worse place 3-6 months from now than you would if we just said, let's revisit this in 3-6 months?"

If they say it wouldn't matter, you are probably done. (There are things you can try, but I'm already over my word limit.) Try this.

If they say better, ask how so?

If their logic is reasonable, ask "That makes sense. How about if we help to make it easier?"

(In this case, the price is $144,000/year. $72K down and $72K in 3 months.)

"What if we could ease you into this so that you could get going, get better, drive the economy and pay us as it works?"

"Here's what I'm thinking. Pay us $8K/month for 4 months. $12K/month for 4 months. $16K/month for 4 months. Would that help?"

This works only if you have commitment on the first two parts of the quote. If you have questions, ask me.

BTW, as you know, I practice what I preach. This is how I do it in my world.