When it comes to making sales, sometimes the deal gets stalled for one reason or another. As a business owner or salesperson, you want to get the prospect to move the sale along, but you don’t want to come across as too pushy or confrontational and risk the deal. Phil M Jones is a master of influential communication. He wrote a book called Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact that I have read several times. The following are two sets of powerful words that every business owner or salesperson can use to resurrect a stalled sale.
When would be a good time…
Often, we encounter prospects that would really benefit from our offer. Frequently, they may have shown some interest in an initial discussion but failed to act as they committed. The reason for their inaction is most often not because they didn’t like your offer or because they changed their mind but because they just got busy.
As a small business owner or salesperson, you may want to resurrect the sales process, but you want to avoid the deal killer response, “I just don’t have the time.” When you contact them, and they are engaged with something else or look busy, if you try to pitch them again at that point, they will probably not listen to you. To avoid the deal killer response, begin with the powerful words “When would be a good time…” followed by your request.
There are a couple of things that are very powerful about that set of words. For one, the words “When would be a good time…” presupposes that there is, in fact, a time in the future when it makes sense. Moreover, it also presupposes that no time is not a good answer.
A couple of ways you might think about using the powerful words “When would be a good time…” could be:
When would be a good time to take a look at my proposal?
When would be a good time to get my crew out to start painting your home?
When would be a good time to speak next?
When you use the powerful words “When would be a good time…”, you show respect for the prospect’s time. The prospect will often tell you when is the best time to pick up the sales process when they are not too busy, so they can really hear what you have to say.
I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to…
As small business owners, we’ve always had this problem. You talk to a client, and they commit to getting back to you by a certain date. And now, that date has come and gone. Most small business owners and salespeople will simply give the prospect more time to do what they committed to do, so they don’t come across as too desperate. However, giving the prospect more time can also cause the client to hear a pitch from your competition and cause you to lose the deal. Moreover, many business owners and salespeople don’t want to address the issue head-on by saying something such as, “Hey, you said you were going to get back to me about your order by Tuesday. It’s now Wednesday, and I still haven’t heard from you. What’s going on?”
A simple set of powerful words you can use to disarm the prospect is to appear fearful by saying, “I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to…” followed by their commitment. These powerful words allow the prospect to save face. By expressing your fear in the negative, “I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to…”, the prospect will often rise to the positive.
If they have not met their commitment, most prospects will be very embarrassed about it, and they’ll likely say how sorry they are and make you a new promise. Since they failed once, they will make the new promise a priority. This is because most prospects are people of their word and feel bad if they have broken a commitment.
A couple of ways you might think about using the powerful words “I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to…” could be:
I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to speaking to your partner about the deal we proposed?
I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to reviewing the contract we sent you?
I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to deciding if you want to move forward with our firm’s offer?
The powerful words “I’m guessing that you have not gotten around to…” is a very simple way to get the prospect to respond to you without coming across as desperate or a jerk.
How can you use one of the two sets of powerful words to deal with resurrecting a stalled sales process?
