The very first obstacle that many persuaders experience is prejudging a prospect. They set up an appointment, hang up the phone and then immediately say, “Oh, great. This lady’s looking for a product we don’t even have. She’ll never buy.” It could be for any number of reasons, but basically the salesperson decides, based on one scrap of information, that the lead isn’t going to go anywhere before s/he has even met or spoken with the prospect. This is a common but huge selling mistake.
There are countless numbers of sales that have been made even when it may not have seemed like a good match at the outset. Why? Let’s go back to closing psychology again. We talked about how every buying action is an effort to make some improvement or enhancement to an existing situation. The core issue is an emotional need. The actual product itself is just a means to an end; it is not in and of itself the solution. The emotional satisfaction that the product provides, however, is. It is foolish to ever make a judgment call about a prospect’s intentions before you’ve had a chance to ask her/him all the open-ended questions and to uncover her/his hot buttons (i.e., what’s really driving the prospect). The potential buyer wants such-and-such product, but why does s/he want it? That information is really what you need to know. The truth is, you can often offer your prospect a product or service that provides the exact same thing