“Know your outcome and state that outcome in the positive.” – Ike Krieger in today’s Tip 673
Do you have no clear outcome when you sell?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Ike Krieger. Ike has dedicated the last 30 years helping frustrated salespeople turn their Contacts into Contracts More Easily and More Often. Ike is retired from consulting and decided to make his entire training catalogue available in his podcast, Close the Deal Without Selling. Here he is:
Ike Krieger: If you’re in sales, you know what it feels like when you don’t close a deal you’d expect it to close. Now, I believe you might’ve fallen victim to one of the many roadblocks to effective selling. And I’m about to share with you a series of these sales roadblocks. You follow my suggestions and you will avoid these deal killers.
So today we’ll look at roadblock #1. You have no clear outcome when you sell.
Think of it this way. If you don’t know where you’re going, that’s probably where you’ll end up. Now, you have a reason behind not having a clearly defined outcome. You like to go into a prospect meeting and see what happens. You’re confident in your ability to adjust accordingly, which reminds me of the great baseball player, Yogi Berra, he’s known for his Outland, his sayings, and one of those sayings applies to our conversation of clearly defined outcomes. Yogi said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
Here’s another example from literature, Lewis Carroll wrote in Alison Wonderland. Alice comes upon the Cheshire cat and asks “Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?” The Cheshire cat replies, “Well, that depends a good deal on where you want to get to.” Alice says “I don’t much care where.” The Cheshire cat responds, “Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.” Alice says “So long as I get somewhere” and the Cheshire cat answers, “Oh, you’re sure to do that. If only you walk long enough.”
How often do you go into an appointment or get on the telephone with a prospect without a clear vision or idea of what you want to accomplish? Sure. You know you want to close a sale, but other than that, you probably winging it. Each time you come to a fork in the road, you take it. In most instances, you haven’t given what you want the attention it deserves. However, you most likely know what you don’t want. Culturally. You’ve been trained to identify your outcomes based on that, which you do not want. “I don’t want it in red.” “Oh, I don’t want Steve on my team.” “Oh, honey. I don’t want to go to Hawaii again.” And of course, “Oh, I don’t want to blow these sales.” Well, what do you want?
Here’s a five-step tool to help you pinpoint what you want. I’ve used this in my training classes for the last 30 years. And you’ll find this a powerful tool for identifying and constructing our roadmap instead of a roadblock for your positive outcomes.
Here is the structure of results.
1. What do you want? What is your outcome? Know your outcome and state that outcome in the positive.
2. How will you know when you’ve got it? How will you know when you’ve achieved your outcome? What evidence will you have that will verify you’ve accomplished what you set out to accomplish? What will you hear? What will you see? What will you feel that will let you know you’ve reached your goal?
3. What will happen if you get it? What will happen? If you reach your outcome, can you identify the events, the activities, and everything else that will materialize or change when you achieve your desired outcome? Once again, what will you hear? What will you see? What will you feel?
4. What will happen if you don’t get it? Now you may gloss over this question, but I counsel against it. What will happen if you do not reach your outcome? What changes will you make in your plans that might put you back on course?
5. What’s stopping you from reaching your outcomes right now. You probably know the answer unpleasant as that answer might be.
Now avoid selling roadblocks created by a lack of a clear outcome. And I invite you to answer these questions yourself.
1. What do you want?
2. How will you know when you get it?
3. What will happen if you get it?
4. What will happen If you don’t get it?
5. What’s stopping you from having it already?
Do this exercise. So the next time you come to a fork in the road, you all know which path to take.
Scott Ingram: For more about Ike and his Close the Deal Without Selling Podcast, we’ve got all the links for you at DailySales.Tips/673
Once you’ve checked that out. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!