As many of you know, I am dead against ‘pressure selling’. There is no need for it.
It is counter-productive in that you may win the order, but you won’t win their loyalty, their referrals, or their repeat business, and pressure-selling probably makes them a bit cross!
It gives Sales a bad name. I still come across people who are are at least suspicious of sales and sometimes even anti-sales.
To counter this, I used to promote a more hand-holding approach to sales that generated more respect and credibility. it was more successful, but it was not infallible. One reason for this was the ‘fence-sitters’. We have all met them; they are those who know they need what you have to offer, but still dither and appear afraid of investing in their own business.
I now promote what I call ‘Challenging Sales’; nothing like pressure sales, but not totally customer-hugging either. It offers a diplomatic challenge to prospective customers that can wipe out all their objections.
This is still ethical selling, but it uses techniques in ethical influencing to ensure the best rate of sales conversion.
If you want to know how this can work for you, go-on, don’t sit on the fence; I challenge you to talk to Salient!