Consultation Skills: The must-have for a sale to happen

What must be present for someone to make a purchase decision?

No one will buy anything unless there is a problem if they don’t.

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” ~ Frank A. Clark

Think back to the last time you made a major purchase. Was it a car, a house, an item of clothing? You bought that item because there would be a problem if you didn’t.

In other words, if you bought a car because you’re old car wasn’t working very well anymore. You may have purchased that new house, because you needed to relocate. Or maybe you needed that new dress, because you were invited to a really good party on a Saturday night, and you just couldn’t find anything to wear. A good problem to have, but nonetheless a problem.

But just liking something, benefiting from something and being able to afford something isn’t enough to make a purchasing decision.

Of course they’re going to like the idea of seeing without glasses, what’s not to like? Of course they’re going to imagine how they could look better if they didn’t have crooked teeth to worry about. Of course, they’d love to be slimmer. Perhaps they can even afford it. But that’s not good enough.

What is the problem, if they don’t purchase what you’re offering? The answer is the key. Frank A. Clark, American cartoonist once wrote: “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” When it comes to sales, he’s 100% right.

Do you own an ultra-high-end luxury cars? Could you use one? If you really wanted it, you could probably afford one too, right? But, you probably don’t have one do you? Why? Because there is no problem with your current mode of transport.

Very often in the sales process, we get very excited because we find our prospect’s hot buttons, we find out why they would buy, but there is no problem if they don’t.

The way we achieve this is by the distinction called deep questioning. We’ll get deeper into deep questioning in our next post.