Prospects Leave Valuable Clues

Last time, I promised to tell you about another key to success when meeting with prospects. And here it is:

Prospects leave valuable “clues” for us.

The kind of clues, that if we learn to look for, listen for and react to in the right way can dramatically improve our chances of success during the a walk through, or really during any visit, with our prospect.

So, let’s get to it, what are these clues? What do they look like? Well, let’s look at a few examples.

If when your prospect comes out to the lobby to get you, rather than take you to back to their office to sit down to talk about the cleaning, they explain to you that they “really have a lot going on”, but you’re “free to walk around to take a look if you want” – It’s a clue.

If you notice they’re talking short and fast, seem distracted and stressed out, and seemed to be rushing you, constantly checking their watch – That’s a clue too.

Now, if on the other hand, they take their time to walk you back to their office, seem willing to “visit” a little, and are in no particular hurry. You get the idea, – that’s a clue as well.

I’m sure you get the point by now. And it probably seems so obvious it may hardly even need to be said, but let’s spell it out anyway:

If your prospect is in a hurry, don’t ignore it

– pretending it doesn’t matter. It does.

In the same way, if your prospect wants to get to know you a little bit, and seems to want to “visit” a while at first, well, to snub your nose, and plow right on to business issues can also be a recipe for disaster.

Instead, when you spot these “clues” of how a prospect wants to proceed – deal with them the right way.

For example, if the clues indicate that the prospects is pressured on the morning you arrive, you might explain that you can see they’re in a hurry.

Then consider suggesting a way to make things a little easier,such as: “If you only have the time to give me a “quick tour”, I’ll “take care of things from there” by gathering all the measurements…on my own….

Then offer to get back to them later to set up a follow up appointment at a convenient time to go over everything.

Now, on the other hand, if you realize you’re prospect is taking a minute to “sit back” in their chair, trying to make small talk with you, then for heaven’s sake, “visit” a while.

You get the idea.

It’s understandable, though, how we can sometimes miss these “clues”.

When you’re nervous, it’s easy to get your mind set on simply plowing through every thing you want to say as fast as you can, and the heck with whatever else is going on around you.

But, you might want to take a deep breath, and think twice about doing that.

Instead, be on the look out for how your prospect is doing, and then to react in a way that shows you understand what they’re going through.

It shows you’re willing to listen to them, respect them, and adjust your style to fit their needs.

Remember, companies don’t buy cleaning – people do.

And, to go a step further, those people don’t really buy cleaning – they buy YOU, the person selling the cleaning.

So, take a minute to watch for the clues. It shows you are the kind of person they might like to buy cleaning from today…and tomorrow.

You Can Do This, You Really Can!
Dan