The KYSS Principle - Keep Your Sales Simple, Your Sales Closes Will Explode
The simpler you make the decision making steps for your prospects the higher your sales close ratio will go. When there are too many decisions people will procrastinate.
- Reduce sales decisions to the simplest, most linear steps to the close that you can.\r
- Keep the decisions to one at a time.\r
- Have a clear offer\r
- Have a clear, step by step path to the close with only one decision to be made at each step.
KYSSKeep Your Sales Simple
The more choices you give someone the lower the positive response rate to your marketing efforts and sales close attempts. For instance, in my direct mail if I ask the prospect to either go to my website or give me a call. That is two options. The response rate is lower than if I just ask them to call.
What happens is that youve put one more decision between you and them. First they have to decide that they will contact you, but then theyve got to decide which way they will use. Sounds simple doesnt it. Youd think it would be anyway. But you just put one more step between you and them, one more decision that just might not be done right away, or put on the procrastination path. Make it simple and watch the response rate go up. Ask them to do only one thing.
When you ask for more than one decision at a time you increase the probability that a decision wont be made. Youve put one more obstacle in the path, and your goal should be to make it as easy as possible to buy. Remove all obstacles.
I have a client that had been very successful, up until he increased the number of items he sells. At the time he was doing a presentation that was so powerful that every prospect was wowed and just about everyone in the room decided to stop using every competitors product by the time he had finished. At the time he gave them one product and they bought.
But he had a huge line, so he decided to start giving them a catalog right after the presentation. After all, he thought, now that theyve got a greater choice they are more likely to find a product that would be a match for everyone and he expected his sales to increase.
Not only were there a LOT of different packages in the catalog, each package increased in complexity and price until you almost couldnt tell what was in the package from the picture for the clutter of pieces. It was a chaotic picture of so many choices.
His sales plummeted and he couldnt understand it. He was looking for every other possibility except at the complexity of the sale he just created.
After the presentation, the husband and wife prospects usually had decided to buy, but they spent the rest of the evening arguing over which product theyd buy, and usually walked away saying, Well think it over. Well get back to you after weve made our decision. Usually no decision was forthcoming.
There were too many choices.
- Which package, and since there were a lot of items in each package that generated a lot of interest in wanting a piece from this package and a piece from that, therefore they could see a reason to go with almost any package. Normally that would result in indecision . . . in other words no decision.
- PriceOf course each package increased in price and there were sooooo many choices.
- I want this in this package but its too costly, but the one I can afford doesnt have what I want.
Too many choices, too many obstacles There are too many obstacles to making a decision. Too many obstacles between you and your prospects decision. Change that. Make it easy to make a decision.
In this case, they had already decided to buy. Get that commitment by taking them through the decision steps. Dont assume that they will come to the conclusion when there are so many options. It wont happen. Guide them to the answer through a logical step by step process.
- Do you agree that what I showed you is a major problem? Yes!\r
- How big of a problem do you think it really is? [establish a value]\r
- How important is this to you? \r
- Big enough that youre going to make a change?....Yes!\r
- If you found an answer to the problem would you act?\r
- Does it look like [my product] would solve that problem?\r
- Is price an issue?\r
- So what will be your next step?
And even better is to turn these questions into open ended questions where the prospect is discovering the answers himself.
For this client I asked him to define his two best selling items, and to put only those two on the handout he gives prospects at the end of his presentation.
He asked me what hed do with the rest of the line. Heres what I suggested.
- Get a commitment that he had the answer and they were interested.
- Show them the two choices. A simple which one answer. \r Their only choice is: do I buy, and then which one.
- Occasionally price becomes an issue
- They cant afford it.
- So ask them, if I could provide any of these packages to you at YOUR price would you be interested?
You are to help them get what they want at ANY price. You are there to help.
Ask them if they really want it, how much can they afford to resolve [their problem]?
Then you reveal the OTHER products that they can afford. Youve already gotten a commitment they want your product. Then they moved to price, so help them get it at their price and youve got a sale.
- When price isnt an issue, or they can afford more
If they want this item or that item that may not be in either package, then show them the next package up in price that has the items they want. They have only one decision to make and you are up selling them one step at a time, not confusing them with pages of products.
- They cant afford it.
KYSSKeep your sales simple Reduce sales decision to the simplest, most linear steps to the close that you can.
- Keep the decisions to one at a time.
- Have a clear offer
- Have a clear, step by step path to the close with only one decision to be made at each step.
Your sales closes will go through the roof.
Alan Boyer, President/CEO of The Leaders Perspective, LLC is considered one of the worlds leading breakthrough specialists in business and sales. He has worked with some of the worlds largest companies, on projects in the multi-billion dollar area, and with single proprietor companies. He has worked on many hundreds of projects with companies that have resulted in multi-$100 million savings or gains.
With over 35 years of experience, he has catapulted businesses lightyears ahead in weeks. Some have doubled and some have jumped 10 times. He claims the key to that is:
- Helping the business owners/employees develop the business and sales skills
- Helping them overcome the limitations and attitudes that they built between their ears (the self imposed limitations, I cant, this wont work for me, Im different)
- By helping them find the breakthroughs in their business and thinking
Helping people and companies worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible... FASTER
http://www.leaders-perspective.com
mailto:AlanBoyer@leaders-perspective.com
Did You Ever Punch A Customer?
I got close to it once, I was the sales rep for a replacement-window company and I went to see an architect who worked out of his home. Because I thou...Give Them A Choice And Close Them Into A Corner
There have been countless sales books written on the art of closing and all the different types of closes that you can use throughout your Timeshare s...Two Words - To Quickly Uncover Your Buyer’s Motivations
Do you already know that open questions are an important tool for finding out what your prospect is looking for, and his or her motivations? It's a po...Use Pareto to Advantage
I am frequently startled to find how often, when doing an analysis of a companys sales figures, that they hold to the Pareto Principle (named after Vi...High-Pressure Closing Technique #1
Before we get started, let me state that you need to think carefully about whether using this technique is really in your long term-interest.With that...How to Identify Sales Training Needs in Simple and Effective Ways
With all the discussion about how sales training may not necessarily contribute to sales success, many training managers will still have to implement ...Simple Is Beautiful
Business people seem to love complexity. No sooner is a simple business successful than its managers pour vast amounts of energy into making it very ...Resistance Training for Sales People
What was the quickest rejection you ever got? 2 minutes into your call? 1 minute? 15 seconds, 3 seconds?Resistance comes in many forms in sales. Buyer...Do You Hate (or Maybe Dislike) Selling?
Chances are its because you are trying to sell.Does that sound sort of strange? Did you think your selling was all about selling? Closing a sale?Then ...The High Price of Comfort: Dramatic Results Require Dramatic Changes
Many salespeople are uncomfortable with the results of their sales efforts. So, they spend time and money on sales training in an attempt to improve t...Online Training on Autopilot Series: Persuasion Through Influence, Part 2 of 4
The Principle of Reciprocity.People feel obligated to say yes to those they owe. Clear examples come from the charity organizations. When charities ...Why Sales People Are Creating Their Own Objections
I'm about to reveal the biggest secret to growing any small business rapidly. This secret will also increase virtually all sales people's results almo...Questions: Open-ended or Close-ended?
Almost all salespeople know the "right answer" to that one. Or do they?If you are practicing "Needs Selling," or any of its modern derivatives, such a...Defrag Your Day
When your computer slows right down and a lot of clicking noise comes from the hard-drive, it's time for a defrag.Defragmentation is a maintenance pro...When The Clock Strikes Twelve!
I just finished reading another sales copy ending with the Deadline Marketing!And it's the sixth I see today saying "If you order by midnight, blah bl...This entry has been filed under
Sales Marketing Training
and currently has