Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams

There you go, I said it! Most sales environments make selling easy.

Now, if you are in the sales game you are probably going red in the face right now, ready to go to war with me over this, especially if you have a boss like ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’… but, if you consider the parameters in which most sales people work - selling advertising, insurance or soft-drink accounts - it allows for the building of relationships (which makes the sale easier), the ability to continually follow up (which makes the sale easier) and the reassurance of the next sales period (which again makes the sale easier).

How does the game change when you need to sell a project? A project that has a defined and distinct end?

On the surface there’s not much different: it’s all about getting as many hungry and qualified leads into your funnel as quickly as possible and helping them discover that opening their wallets and throwing money at you is in their best interests.

Selling a ‘project,’ however, needs to solicit action immediately… not action later so the sale will fall in the next month’s budget… there is no reassuring ‘next sales period.’

Most sales trainers will preach the adage that ‘it takes 6-7 contacts to make the sale” and, if you have the luxury of time and opportunity for repeat business, these ‘clichéd statements’ actually do have merit.

But, when selling for immediate response, you need to make an offer that moves the prospect to jump NOW. You don’t have time to educate the prospect over 2 long lunches, a chat on the par 5 and 4 direct mail pieces.

It comes down to a powerful offer with a solid and justified ‘end.’ Did you notice the word justified?

Simply adding ‘this offer expires on February 30th’ won’t cut it– you need to explain and justify to the prospect, in their terms, why they must act now and why the offer honestly can’t last. It’s amazing what a candid explanation will do to your bottom line.

Now, did you also notice the term ‘hungry prospect’ above? This is the real key to selling projects (and accounts).

The late Gary Halbert often asked if you were to start a hamburger stand and could be the ‘best’ at one element what would that be?

Having the best hamburgers, a secret sauce, the best location, the best pricing, etc., etc.?

Well, all of that is irrelevant… all you need is THE hungry crowd, as they will eat anything if they are hungry enough.

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