Looking
for Buying Signals
Sales
Rep: “Yes, hello Todd, how are you?” (straining to contain
her surprise at the return phone call)
Customer: “I’m sorry I haven’t
had a chance to get back to you the past two months but I’ve been
awfully busy lately. Thank you for your
persistence because I really want to talk to you about the…”
Can you tell
when a customer
is sending you a buying signal? Do you know those traits that point
out when a client is saying, “I’m ready to buy”? If you’re looking
for them to wave a little green flag, don’t. However, there are
a variety of buying signals that customers
will send that will tell you that they’re ready to buy. After all
your hard work or just when you were about to stop leaving message
after message, your customer is ready to open his wallet. Listed
below are some of the top verbal buying signals that can tell you
it is time to work on closing
the sale:
The
passive customer who
starts asking questions
“Actually, I’m glad that you called. How exactly does
your additive perform
under extreme conditions?”
The
usually short customer whose conversations become lengthier
“If
you have a moment, I would like to really drill down into the specs
on the second proposal. When we first talked about the Farmington
plant, I had mentioned that…”
Openness
to trial closes
“Yes, actually I would like
to review a copy of the agreement so that I can pass it to our legal
department.”
Taking
your call or calling
back
“Yes,
Dave. I really want to apologize. I believe I owe you several return
phone calls. Listen, I have an issue with our network…”
A
noticeable change in the
customer’s tone of voice
“That
does sound like exactly what we’re looking for. Interesting…
so, tell me, how much would it cost if we were…”
Inquiring
into similar situations with other clients
“So, when you worked with
General Electric, how was your team able to help them out?”
Discussing
business or personal matters
“Well,
hello Janie. I’m just playing catch-up but you’ve tracked me down
at a good time. I just got back from a vacation to Los Cabos.
Have you been there?”
Asking
for a demonstration
“This sounds great but can you provide me with a more
detailed product
demonstration? I really want to see the tool in action.”
Asking
for details such as terms, contracts,
pricing and shipping
“OK, if we were to ask for
a shipment for the 15th to be sent to our processing
facility, is there any paperwork we would need to review?”
Discussing
options
“I think the base model would actually be a good fit
but I would like to know more about the power
product. Can you tell me a bit more about how it would help
us with what we’ve discussed?”
Discussing
your competition
“Funny, when I asked Boston Extrusions if they could
meet our volume
requirement, they didn’t call us back. So what you’re telling
me is that you can actually meet the…”
Listen to what
your customer
is telling you to determine if they’re moving towards selecting
your product or
service. Body language and the words used by clients can tell
you when your company is in good shape.
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