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Copyright © 2006, Nido Qubein
www.nidoqubein.com
Q-Briefs:
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E-Reports for Successful Execut1ives 83Nid
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Ways to Pin Down
Evasive Clients
Nido Qubein
(336) 889-3010 • www.nidoqubein.com
Copyright 2006, Nido Qubein
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1-933631-89-9
No part of this eReport may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transcribed in any form
or by any means, including, but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
other means with out prior permission of Nido Qubein at Creative Services, Inc.
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www.nidoqubein.com
Introduction ein
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One of the most frustrating things that can happen in sales is to run g
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into a person you simply cannot get to make a decision and sign an op
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agreement. Q
If you’ve been selling your expertise long enough, you know how
it goes.
The person says:
“I like what you can do for me.”
“I need to do exactly what you have proposed.”
“And, I want to go ahead with it.”
“But…”
“I’ll get back with you next week…”
“I’ll have to get an okay from someone else…”
“I’m a little short on cash flow right now…”
On and on and on…
The fact is that many professionals work a lot harder than they need
to, because they accept those answers at face value and back off.
Some even count those promises as sales, and start planning all the
ways they’re going to spend the money they’re going to make—
once the deal comes through. But, more often than not, they’re in
for a rude awakening.
When a prospective clients balks at approving an agreement, it pos-
es several big problems:
• First, a reluctance to act immediately often means there is a hidden
problem that has not been dealt with effectively. To simply delay a
decision only makes the problem bigger.
• Second, the longer a decision is postponed, the less likely you are
to close the sale.
• Third, having to meet with prospective clients several times eats up
large amounts of valuable time and adds to your costs.
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• And, fourth, calling back repeatedly positions us as peddlers rather n
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than busy professionals with important things to do. Qu
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There are plenty of excellent reasons for any professional to be- 6,
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come good at pinning down evasive clients. In this eReport, I want ©
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to highlight some powerful tactics for turning those prospects who g
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balk into paying clients. op
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Follow these eight steps to pin down those elusive sales:
1. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
2. Build longevity into as many agreements as possible
3. Bring everything to closure as quickly as possible
4. Always keep the ball in your court
5. Clear away smokescreens
6. Learn to recognize and work with different personality types
7. Give the client a strong reason to act promptly
8. Get all agreements in writing, get them signed by all parties, and
get some money in hand
Click here to order 12 Tactics for Greater Marketing Power,
the first eBook in Nido Qubein’s Q-Report series.
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Step 1: ein
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Qualify, Qualify, Qualify 2
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The most common reason aQ prospective client balks at the moment
of truth is that the professional has been chasing a myth through
the whole sales cycle. We have believed through the whole process
that we were talking with a prospective client who has the need, the
money, and the authority to buy what we are proposing. And, when
it comes time to finalize the sale, we discover that one or more of
those three qualifications are missing.
The reason it’s so crucial to begin by qualifying prospects, and to
keep qualifying throughout the whole sales cycle, is that time is your
most valuable resource. The more priceless time you waste present-
ing your expertise to unqualified clients, the less money you can
make.
As we often say in our company, the bottom line is always the bot-
tom line—and the quicker you can get to it with clients, the more
profitable you will be.
So, if you’ve been talking with a prospect for ten or fifteen minutes
and suddenly discover there is a problem, don’t run from it. Attack
it, right then. If you can solve the problem, you’ll avoid a delay later
on. If you can’t solve the problem, you don’t have a sale, anyway.
The most productive thing you can do is graciously bow out, and
find yourself another prospect.
Amateurs keep asking themselves, “How can I keep the person talk-
ing to me?” But real pros keep asking, “Should I keep talking to this
person?” They avoid costly and frustrating delays and stalls because
they are constantly qualifying every prospective client.
Let me make you a promise—based on years of experience in sell-
ing professional services. If you will master the art of qualifying
prospects, you can either cut your selling time by a third, or you can
increase your sales by a third. You might even do both.
So, if you have a problem with clients who can’t make up their
minds, the most proactive thing you can do is use the first tactic—
qualify, qualify, qualify!
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Step 2: ein
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Build Longevity into as Many Agreements as ©
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It makes sense, doesn’t it…? The fewer decisions you ask clients
to make, the less often you encounter delays. Let me explain what
I mean.
In many professions, it often takes very little extra time and effort to
sell an agreement that lasts for a year, or two, or three, than it takes
to sell a one-time service.
Consequently, if you can sell your professional services for two or
three years by devoting just a little more time than it takes to sell a
single project, obviously the return on your marketing investment is
greater.
And, here’s another very practical idea: Get the next assignment
before you finish the current one.
One way to do this is to build in automatic renewal clauses into
contracts whenever you can. Make it understood from the beginning
that if phase one goes well, you and the client can automatically
proceed to phases two and three.
Another way to head off delays with steady clients is to start pushing
for another agreement six months or a quarter before you finish your
present assignment. This is especially helpful if you are dealing with
a client who has difficulty making up his or her mind.
By ensuring that longevity is structured into your relationships, you
will keep your balky clients moving forward.
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Step 3 ein
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Bring Everything to Closure 2
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Remember, the longer it takes to get a client’s agreement, the less
likely you are to make the sale.
For example, it might seem like a simple procedure to have a client
send back an agreement letter so you can redo it, because there’s
some provision he or she doesn’t like. But what if one of the follow-
ing scenarios occurs?
The client takes two or three days to put it in the mail, and a week
goes by before you get the agreement back.
It takes a couple of days for you to get it retyped and get it back in
the mail. As a result, another week goes by before the client gets it
back.
The client is out of the office for several days of the next week. Now
you’re looking at three weeks. And, what happens if the client finds
another problem with the agreement? By the time you shuffle that
agreement letter back and forth across the country for a month or
six weeks, the client has lost interest and moved on to other priori-
ties. Meanwhile, you’ve lost a deal that you already invested several
hours of your time trying to complete.
A simple tactic usually eliminates that kind of delay in our firm.
When a client says, “I want to change a certain provision,” and
we agree to the change, we will ask the client to just pencil in the
change and initial it. When the agreement comes in, we also initial
it and send back a copy. You’d be amazed how much time a simple
technique like that can save, and how many agreements it can keep
from getting wiped out by unnecessary delays.
It’s that kind of attention to detail, and focus on bringing everything
to closure, which can often make the difference between success and
failure in selling your expertise. What it boils down to is that you
watch carefully for any micro detail which could cause delay, and
take action quickly to eliminate it.
What happens if the client stalls by saying something like, “I’ll get
back to you”? That brings up the fourth step for closing evasive
clients…
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Step 4 ein
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Always Keep the Ball in Your Court ©
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When someone says, “I’ll get back to you,” your options are limited
if you accept this statement without keeping your options open for
the future.
For example, you might ask the client to come up with a definite
time to reopen the discussion: “So, you’ll be meeting with your ac-
countant Monday morning—why don’t I give you a call Monday
afternoon at about two o’clock?” If there is a valid reason for the
delay, the client will usually be open to taking a prearranged call
from you.
Here’s another technique I use for keeping the ball in my court. Let’s
say I’m at a meeting and someone wants one of my business cards.
It might be a company executive who says, “I’d like some more
information about this…Give me your card and I’ll call you next
week.”
Now, if I simply give him the card, the ball is in his court. So what
I say is, “I’m out of the office a lot, and I want to make sure you get
the information you need… So let me have one of your cards, I’ll
write down specifically what information you need, and I’ll give
you a call next Tuesday morning. Will you be in around 9:45?”
If I’m dealing with a qualified prospect, we can set up a definite time
for my call and the ball stays in my court. Remember, if you can call
back on a definite appointment, you are positioned as a resourceful
expert who is trying to be helpful. But, if you call back because you
haven’t heard from the prospect, you are positioning yourself as a
peddler; maybe even a pest. And there is a world of difference be-
tween being a helpful expert and an annoying salesperson.
If you discover that a prospective client is stalling because he or she
is not quite sure whether or not to go ahead with your proposal, it is
time to move to Step 5.
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Step 5 ein
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Clear away Smokescreens 2
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If you want to be successfuQl at selling your expertise, you have to
learn how to detect what a subtle delaying of action really means.
For instance, suppose a prospect says, “That’s a lot of money! I’ll
have to check with my partner!” What does that really mean?
Does it mean,
a. “I’m not sure it’s worth that much to me!”
b. “I can’t afford to spend that much money!”
c. “I think I can get it cheaper!”
d. “My partner controls the purse strings!”
It could mean any one of those things—or a number of other things.
Maybe the person just doesn’t like your looks, but doesn’t want to
be rude. Until you know what a delaying tactic means, it’s like wan-
dering around in a smokescreen. You don’t know what you’ll bump
into next.
How can you clear away the fog and find out what you are really
dealing with? Here is a technique I’ve found to be very effective:
Clarify and settle the key issue. A simple response like this of-
ten helps. “I don’t understand! What do you mean, ‘That’s a lot of
money’?
Think of yourself as a logger, trying to clear away a log jam. If
a whole bunch of logs get jammed together and clog up a river, an
amateur starts at the back, and keeps pulling out one log at a time
until the log jam is cleared away. But a skilled lumberjack looks for
the key log—the one log that has caused the jam in the first place.
Once he gets that one key log out of the way, all the other logs start
moving right along.
Keep asking yourself, Why would this person say that? Also, keep
asking the prospect questions until you are sure you know what the
key issue is. Once you know what the key issue is, stop everything
until you clear it up.
Remember that if there is a key issue to be settled in the prospect’s
mind, all your efforts to close the sale will be stalled until you settle
that issue.
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