“You’ve got to ask for the business” is a common trope in sales. But how exactly do you do it without being pushy or awkward?
The common misconception is that an ask for the business is some grand moment of truth in a sales process when your pitch reaches the peak of it’s crescendo and your buyer can’t help but succumb to your sales charms. The reality couldn’t be more different.
Deals are not won and lost in one magical moment. They’re won in a series of smaller, almost innocuous commitments made by the buyer to the seller during the sales process; sharing information, providing feedback, attending meetings and bringing in stakeholders. The more of these smaller commitments a buyer makes, the more likely they are to also make the commitment to spend money.
However, you can’t rely on your buyers to volunteer these commitments. You need to be explicit about asking for them, starting in your first meeting and continuing throughout your sales process. This issue covers what those key moments and commitments are and how to ask for them, including:
How to ask for information during discovery
How to ask for feedback in a demo
How to ask for the next meeting
How to ask for more stakeholders to be involved
How to ask for a signed contract
How to ask for information
These are generally easy asks to make but are key because they get your buyer warmed up to sharing information. A buyer who is cagey about sharing information at this stage is unlikely to become a customer.
During intros: “How about we kick off with some intros. I’m _______, co-founder of _________. We help {customer type} do {job/use case}. Would love to hear more about your role at {company} and what you’re hoping to get out of today’s call.”
Probe for problems: “Most of our customers have one of the following problems [list problems]…Curious, which of these resonates most with you?”….”How often do you run into that?”