Several years back, I began talking with a customer who at first appeared to be my dream client. We met with Jason, the founder and CEO, two or three times by phone and the fourth time for lunch. He asked me to talk with two or three of the other executives. Each time they seemed interested, each time I provided them with more information, and each time they asked me for more white papers, testimonials, and then a proposal. Finally, I provided them with FREE access to our software for 45 days with the promise that I was their favorite…
Just as many around the world were feeling the impacts of impending shutdowns, my business was rocked with a major shift. Within the first weeks of the pandemic, a year’s worth of live keynote speeches and seminars were suddenly canceled. Like an earthquake, the reality of a rapidly changing market had shaken the business I’d nurtured for over 30 years to its core.
We’ve all heard it, "It’s not in our budget;" "The timing isn’t right;" "We’re looking at many different options;" "I’ll run it by the board;" "It’s not a priority right now;" "My brother’s in the business…" Sometimes customer excuses and objections seem endless. I know this first-hand. So how do outstanding salespeople diffuse objections and close deals more effectively?
For as long as humans have inhabited earth, we have struggled with the tension between how we want our lives to be and how they really are. Where I went to be versus where I ended up. After studying top performers for over 30 years, I can assure you, top performers resolve this tension in entirely different ways from those they outperform.
