by Cheryl A. Clausen

Has a prospect ever told you they wanted to buy, and then changed their mind? Or they bought and then almost immediately backed out of the deal, wanted a refund, or canceled their premium. Were you left wondering how that could happen when they seemed so excited and on board? If you've never experienced this you've got to be green. Every beginner and many seasoned professionals experience this and they don't understand why it happens. The explanation is actually pretty simple, and you have yourself to thank for the result you got.

Buyers are highly emotional in their decision making process. Somehow you've gotten their attention or entered their radar, and they're all excited about buying. And you get all excited because this probably doesn't happen just all that often to you, and you're thinking this is going to be one of the easiest sales you've ever made.

So how does it all fall apart? In your excitement to fulfill their perceived need you fell into a deadly sales trap. You fell into the trap of thinking the reason they told you they wanted to buy was the real reason or an important reason to them. The truth is these buyers aren't really clear about their need or what they want. They get caught up in an idea and think they want to buy, but then they start thinking about it and they realize that they really don't need what your offering or they really don't want what they thought they wanted. A recent commercial depicts a young man in a store looking at a big screen TV all excited and engaged in the purchase ready to pull the trigger and buy when a pig, representing savings, slaps the guy on the hand and tells him he doesn't need that and the poor salesperson is left holding the bag just like you.

There is a way to circumvent and avoid this. You need to help the prospect to clearly understand that there is a need and that the need is important. The prospect needs to gain clarity in their own mind about what they want to do, why that's important, and why it's important to take action now.

Help the prospect through this thought process by asking good questions. Get the over eager buyer to take a step back to help you understand why they need what you have. If you dont', you'll have the sale fall through because their won't be a strong motivation to complete the purchase process.

Probing questions help the prospect to think through why they want to make the purchase. People hate to be wrong, so if they convince themselves they want to buy they aren't likely to back away from the sale later because they'd have to disagree with their own argument. Both you and the prospect have the same information at the same time, and when that happens you reach the same conclusion and that means a sale for you if you're a match.

About the Author:

About the author: Cheryl Clausen can help you get unstuck. Wonder how your Sales Skills measure up. Could you succeed faster if you just had more time? Improve your Time Management Skills, try this. Click here to get your own unique version of this article. Link directory.