Assume and Ask–Don’t WISH–for the Sale

in Closing

I’m having some work done on my house and had a contractor come out to do an estimate.

The woman asked great questions, took notes, made some recommendations on things I had not thought about, wrote up the estimate on the spot, and just handed the clipboard to me with a pen and said,

“You want to go with this, right?”

It was that simple.

No hesitation in her voice.

An assumptive, but not pushy attitude and tone.

She knew I needed the work done, otherwise I would not have called and took the time to have an estimate done. The easy thing was to just go with the estimate.

It doesn’t get much more fundamental than this, and it’s something we all should follow. When someone contacts you for a quote or for information, they have a reason for doing so.

I see too many organizations spend heavily on generating inquiries, and then sales reps don’t treat them with urgency, and like the precious gems they are.

Lots of studies show that they will ultimately do something with someone, it might as well be you.

So, have a similar assumptive attitude, and be sure you ask–not wish–for the sale.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Taice Perrotti June 22, 2015 at 3:21 am

It sounds like not only can we all learn a valuable lesson from how that contractor ended the meeting (with confidence and asking for the sale), but it sounds like she nailed the whole meeting – asking questions, taking notes, making recommendations on the spot. If I need work done on my house, I’ll be asking for her name!

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Clint Rayburn July 15, 2015 at 2:05 pm

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the buyers position, ready to spend money but the sales rep acted timid or uninterested. I thought to myself “either this person does not believe in what they are selling or they have no confidence in themselves”. Neither of these inspire confidence.

Thanks for posting this. It is a great reminder for anyone in sales to stay focused on asking for the business.

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Wes Schaeffer August 8, 2015 at 2:21 pm

Why do we make things so hard, right Art? I saw some stat a while back that something like 67% of people that walk into a store to make a major purchase intend to buy, yet only 20% or so do because nobody helped them and asked for the sale.

Crazy world. Leaves more room for us to make more money! 🙂

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