Stephanie was beyond frustrated. Her business was doing well, but as her business grew she found it harder to close deals. That wasn’t supposed to be the case.

Now a year into her business, she knew her clients challenges better, and could usually predict their biggest challenge within the first 5 minutes of the conversation.

So with all this experience, and expertise, why was it becoming MORE difficult to close business?

Stephanie came to me.

“I know sales really well” she said. “I can usually predict what my clients are struggling with, and I recommend a solution right away. Yet, they’re not closing. And the worst part is when I follow up with them in a month or so they ended up going with someone else, and for more money! I just don’t understand it!”

Stephanie’s situation is not unique. I see many entrepreneurs who gain more experience with their product and offering but with this experience they lose the one thing that made them so successful when they were first starting their business.

Your Buyers Are Unique and Want To Be Treated As Such

When your prospects approaches you the first time, they want to be heard, and understood. They want to feel like you are getting to know them and your solution will fit their own needs.

When people typically start their business, their uncertainty in being able to provide a great solution to their prospect translates in them spending a significant amount of time getting to know their prospect. They ask a TON of questions. They want to know what their prospect would like to achieve, how will they know they are successful, and what they will do in order to achieve that success.

If you potential buyers feel like you aren’t spending enough time getting to know them they will not feel confident that you are recommending the best solution for them. Spend a significant amount of time asking your prospect questions. This might be the 100th time you’ve seen a problem like this, but for your buyer it’s likely the first time.

Your Buyers Are On Their Own Journey

Many times when we take sales training, or if we’ve read materials about how to sell better, it will go on about the steps you need to take as the seller. It will cover the entire sales cycle and each step you need to take. The problem with only covering the sales cycle is that it’s only one-half of a two person (or more) relationship.

Your buyer is on their own journey. When they typically approach you (or if you are actively filling your sales funnel and you approach them), the buyer may only have a slight awareness of a problem. They may not understand the full ramifications of staying with the current state. Therefore when we rush to get to proposal stage, the buyer is unsure. You’ve ran the entire way down the path and are standing at the finish line, asking your buyer to walk down a path they’ve never gone down before.

Be a tour guide and ask more high quality questions and build value BEFORE you propose.

Propose ONLY When No New Information Is Ready To Present

You wouldn’t marry someone if you felt you didn’t know anything about them, would you? Your buyer’s are no different. They are investing into a relationship with you, and they want to feel comfortable that they understand everything they are getting and what to expect from you.

Spend more time getting to know your buyer, and they will know about you. Once you’ve covered all information, then you can propose. The proposal should not cover any NEW information, and rather be a summary of the information you’ve already covered. If you are bringing up more, then you are not ready to propose.

Stephanie invested in my sales training and when she understood she was rushing the process for her buyers she began to remind herself to slow down. She created a list of high quality questions that she would ask to every new prospect, and this gave the potential buyer the confidence they were making the best decision to go with Stephanie. Stephanie is beyond excited as she’s attracting more high quality leads, spending LESS time on her sales cycles, and closing mor higher-dollar business. Let’s make you a Sales Knockout!

About Kim Orlesky

Kim Orlesky spent almost a decade working for some of the most successful Fortune 500 companies. She has sold to entrepreneurs, business owners, and C-levels of international conglomerates. But it wasn’t until she left sales that she truly understood her desire to empower others to do sales in a different way in order to bring better, more reliable results. As a coach & international speaker, she shows businesses and entrepreneurs a better way to connect with people and create lasting relationships that lead to sales results.

She has been recognized as Success Magazine’s Most Inspirational Bloggers of 2015, Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 by Startup Canada, and named one of the most influential sales leaders by LeadFuze.

To connect with Kim visit her website or Join the Tribe! When you become a member you’ll get access to Become a Sales Knockout with Kim Orlesky, a series of exclusive lessons designed to help you improve your sales skills & drive growth in your business. Plus you’ll be able to engage with Kim & ask questions throughout June inside the Members Circle. Mentorship made easy!