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Sales Technique Article - Selling Stuff in One Minute

I have often heard colleagues brag about how he or she sold someone something in 60 seconds. It's perfectly possible but when did the sale take place?

For example in a retail environment the sale could easily have taken place before the customer even walked in to the shop, like a can of beans, for example, the need was already there, the buyer needed to locate the product and the sales assistant merely showed the buyer where it was located and thus the 1 minute sale took place.

Although this scenario is pretty common and certainly not worth the brag, it does highlight a sale opportunity sometimes over looked by the professional sales executive.

Needs based selling!

A strong sales person will adopt one of two methods in which to identify the sale opportunity.

Here are the only 2 examples that exist.

The buyer needs a solution or The buyer aspires for something.

These are really the only two possible options available to the sales person.

Your marketing department will take care of the identity of the requirement based on need or aspiration.

Do you aspire to watch TV or need to watch it?
Do you need a car or aspire to drive a particular model?
Do you need a recruitment consultant or aspire to use the services of a recruitment agency?
Do you need a sales job or do you aspire to become a sales person?

Any reasonably good sales executive can determine which requirement drives the potential client inside 10 seconds, a poor one will lose the interest of the client inside 5 seconds.

So the brag about a 1 minute sale is true, but how to get there?

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS.

You may have read other articles on managing expectations, if not, please do and here is one to start with.

"Before we agree to a meeting/consultancy/ sales presentation may I ask you 20 questions?"

This is a simple but very effective use of your time and your potential clients.

Do you actually ask 20 questions?

No, you may only need 5 or 10 but with each qualifying question there may be related questions and 20 questions may not be enough so it's very important you ask easy to answer open questions with limited responses, like what colour or how many or when will or how should etc.

Before you agree on a procedure you will already have a fair understanding of the need or aspiration. The following is even simpler.

A: Repeat the requirement
B: Ask for confirmation that you understand the requirement
C: Ask for an obligation or commitment from the client (appointment time or budget value)
D: OBJECTIONS: This is when you get your first objection "Will this cost me anything?" "How long will it take?" "How much will this cost?". In each case you can expect your objection about now.
E: ANSWER HONESTLY. Do not try to bluff the client with "well that depends" or NO if you really mean YES!
F: Overcome the objection by re-qualifying your client with answers given to you in the "Let me ask you 20 questions" routine.
G: Ask for approval of your understanding again.
H: Close again.

In most cases the potential client is asking for assurances and not really objecting at all. But be ready for it.

And you can do all this in one minute?

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