The Sales Training Series: Gaining Commitment
Employers value salespeople based on their ability to Gain a
Sales Commitment. Improving this sales skill has never been more
important than it is today. So, what are you doing to get better?
Here are several ideas on how you can improve your sales
effectiveness at gaining customer commitments.
Always Have a Commitment Objective! Our recent research shows
that nearly 80% of salespeople do not understand what their
primary purpose is. Your principle mission in sales is to Gain
Commitment. The confusion stems from the variety of tasks we as
salespeople are asked to perform. The end result is that 62% of
salespeople make sales calls where there is no attempt at
Gaining Commitment. One of the most important reasons why this
occurs is most salespeople do not establish what we call a
Commitment Objective for every sales call. This is the number
one mistake that all salespeople make. Well, it's time to change
that! Commitment Objective: A sales strategy and goal we set for
ourselves to gain agreement from the customer that moves the
sales process forward.
No sales call should ever be made without a Commitment
Objective. If you do not have a Commitment Objective firmly
planted in your mind, you will wind up being one of those 62%
that don't ask for Commitment. In The Field: Newly hired
salespeople at Melody Inc., a Muzak Franchise, are required to
make sales calls with veteran salespeople. Toward the end of one
recent call, the prospect asked the veteran if he could keep the
company brochure and share it with his partner. The veteran was
happy to comply and began to pack up his briefcase.
The newly hired salesperson had recently gone through Action
Selling Sales Training and learned about reaching a Commitment
Objective. She decided that it would make sense to capitalize on
the prospect's interest and schedule the next logical step - a
proposal meeting. So she said, "As a next step I would recommend
that we plan another meeting with yourself and your partner. We
will prepare a proposal that documents what we have discussed
and the solution we recommend. How does that sound?"
You guessed it. They scheduled a proposal meeting for a week
later. During the next meeting they Gained Commitment for the
business.