Charlie Down the Block is not necessarily a man* or does he necessarily live down the block. Charlie is the person, who just after you have closed the sale, tells your prospect they are doing the wrong thing. They say the new vendor, new venture, new product doesn't work as well as the old one. They ALWAYS know better than the salesperson just what the prospect should do at any given moment about just about anything. Charlie gives advice whether or not he is asked for it. Inevitably this advice is negative. He says the prospect is doing the wrong thing by saying yes to you. What you are selling will never work and who do you think you are anyhow! We all have had this person mess with our sales close rate. Sometimes they are a prospect's colleague,boss or well meaning friend. They can squash a sale or business decision no matter what the facts are or how logical a move it seems.

When money is the subject, what do with it and how to use it,Charlie's is expertise grows proportional to the propsect's fears about money. You are especially prone to Charlie's negative advice if your new customer has ever made a mistake with money. This includes most people over the age of 16 who have ever bought something they regret,lost money on an investment or loaned money to a friend who never paid it back and the list goes on. These mistakes plus the traditional shoulds about money gives Charlie plenty of ammunition even if he doesn't know a thing about what you are selling and how it will benefit the buyer.

He is expert at instilling fear. You will know you are dealing with a Charlie if, seemingly out-of nowhere, the customer starts second guessing the buy decision, stopping or hesitating to move forward even if they have already said yes. Charlie exists in just about every company.It makes sense to take him out of the closet the moment the prospect gives you a buy signal.

Preparing your new customer/client for Charlie takes courage as hearing a yes usually triggers instant celebration. Prepare your new customer/client by testing the yes with additional questions. Ask the prospective client/customer is there is anyone who might second guess their decision? What will they do if that happens? Script it with your client/customer. Remember it is not a closed sale until you have money, PO or check in hand.

*all reference to him/he in this article are the generic gender him.

Marilyn August, author of Wealthy U, increases productivity by changing the way people think about money. A significant number of her clients gain a 30% or better increase in their revenues within 90 days.

http://www.wealthyu.com

This entry was posted on Friday, February 12th, 2010 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.