Our instinct to gaining a new paying client during the sales conversation, subconsciously directs our thinking to keeping the sales conversation constantly moving forward — so we don’t lose momentum, ending in losing the potential client.
So when an initial sales conversation with a prospect runs out of steam, and feels like it should reach some kind of conclusion, we often fill that awkward moment with:
“Do you have any other questions I can answer for you?”.
That prompts them to respond along these lines of: “No, I think that pretty much covers it… thank you for your time”.
At that point, you might feel a sense of relief that you avoided an awkward moment that would’ve left the conversation on a cliff hanger.
You might even reassure yourself, that you didn’t overtly pressure them, and you didn’t hear them say their “not interested”.
But the truth is, you may have lost the sale by asking that question.
It’s as if you both were two ships that passed each other, destined to never pass each other again.
I’ve explained elsewhere how important it is to keep your initial sales conversations problem-centric, and not solution-centric.
Being problem-centric allows you to get to the truth of your prospect’s real problem, helping them understand the depth of their underlying factors, or root causes, which are typically bigger and more complex than they initially thought.
But assuming you stay problem-focused, you get to the bottom of their issues, and you help them reach their “aha” moment where they understand their problem in depth… and you still reach the “what next?” part towards the end… this is what you might say:
“Where do you think we should go from here?”
That simple phrase elegantly puts the ball back in their court.
It opens the door to a next step but doesn’t pressure them, keeping the sale alive but without triggering the usual shut down responses.
When you build trust in your sales conversation, and you ask this bridging question towards the end (instead of “did you have any other questions for me today?”), nine times out of ten, you’ll hear the magic phrase you’ve been waiting for: “What’s your process from here?” or “How do you work?”.
Now you can explain how you work, without triggering any trust barriers.
And you’ve significantly increased the chances of them coming on board with you as a new paying client.