In closing sales, which technique is more effective...
The hard sell or the soft sell?
The hard sell takes chutzpah.
The sales professional is determined their prospect absolutely needs their product and will get great benefit from it. The hard sale practitioner will go for the throat until the sale is made.
Some sales will be lost.
Others will be made.
The real question is whether the sales were made BECAUSE of the hard sell, or regardless of it?
For most of us in sales, we've seen miracle stories of a sales pro who took the most difficult prospect, overcame every possible objection, and saved the day with the sale no-one thought was possible.
We were mesmerized.
This guy (or gal) must have some special trick or technique. Obviously.
No one else would have been able to sell this difficult prospect.
But what about the opposite?
How many times have you seen (or maybe personally experienced) a WILLING buyer, cash in hand, turned off because of the hard sell.
You know who I'm talking about.
The one who would have bought regardless of the salesman. The one who just wanted someone to take his order. The one who was pre-sold before you ever met him.
But you couldn't resist. You pulled out all of your training. The questions. The "yes three times". Even worse... the canned closes. (Please tell me you didn't try the Benjamen Franklin close with the line down the middle)...
And what happen?
Your willing buyer turned around and walked out... WITHOUT buying!
Am I saying the hard sell doesn't work?
Of course not.
I've seen it work way too many times to discredit completely.
But from what I've gathered... it works only in certain situations... to an extent.
In my opinion, the hard sell works great when you have an indecisive buyer, with a pocket full of cash and no idea of what they want. We all saw this type of consumer during the run up of the bubble. "I just want to buy something" was their mantra and the hard sell worked beautifully on this type of prospect.
Fast forward to the current economy. That type of buyer is long gone. Their pocket full of money is GONE. The only one's buying right now (almost) are the prudent consumers. The one's who smell sleazy salesman from a mile away... which is also why they still have money to spend.
The old Wall Street adage still holds true today, "a fool and his money are soon separated." And as a sales professional, that means the fools are gone, or better stated: the easy money is gone.
Now you're dealing with prudent, intelligent, buyers who understand all their options. They know your competition. And worse of all (for us sales people)...
They have all the time in the world to make their buying decision.
Here's where soft selling comes in. You DON'T go for the throat. You provide value in the form of service, consistency, information, and dependability. If you are the best at what you do or sell, show your prospect with cold FACTS. Don't hype them, they can see right through you. Show them with proof, and lots of it.
Give them everything you possibly can in terms of value. If you charge 10% more than your competitors, give them at least 30% more value.
This is not an economy you want to focus on the quick buck.
Soft selling will get you through this slump and back on top by focusing on the CUSTOMER, not you. Your soft sell approach should incorporate value with consistency... the key to ALL success. Keep yourself on your prospect's doorstep day-in-day-out with useful information, service, and most importantly, a smile (as cheesy as that sounds, it's the best way to open ANY door)
Your prospect will appreciate your effort (and consistency because your competition isn't sticking around too long) and will reward you with their business.... over and over.
If you're currently using the hard sell and aren't getting the results you want, try the soft sell technique for closing sales. See if that doesn't improve your business in a short period of time.
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