Today’s guest is Jonathan Furman who has extensive experience in the sales industry. He is the founder and CEO of Furman Transformation, a management consulting firm that also does advertising and PR all rolled into one. They cater to small to medium sized businesses looking for a company that gets them into growth.
Here are the highlights of my conversation with Jonathan:
How to Better Read Your Buyers:
- Be short and sweet, quick and to the point.
Your time and their time are valuable so you need to make the initial qualification. In doing cold calls, grab their attention in the first 20 seconds because that’s all you’ve got. If they dismiss you, excuse yourself, thank them, and hang up the phone.
- Pre-qualify.
Don’t be afraid to ask the buyer right off the bat if it’s something they’re interested in or something they think they could benefit from. This tells them you’ve got something of value, that you’re serious, and whether they’re serious too. If you get past this checkpoint, go on to the next one. Are they willing to give them your time? Otherwise, move on to other prospects who could be a better fit. Now, you’re reading the response, depending on what they say, whether you should move forward or not.
- Understand that people speak verbally and emotionally
Understand there are different ways prospects say things that mean different things. When someone is talking to you, they’re saying it verbally and emotionally and they don’t always coincide with each other. Sometimes you may say one thing verbally and say something else emotionally. Sometimes you say the same thing verbally and emotionally. And sometimes you just don’t know what’s going on.
- Figure out from an emotional standpoint what they’re saying.
The verbal aspect is just that and a person may verbally say yes but emotionally, that person may not be interested. So you need to qualify them again by asking if this is something that interests them because you don’t want to waste their time. Right there, you will find out their true response. This is the initial hook before you proceed with your presentation.
- Listen to nuances.
Listen to how your buyers say things, what they say, and what is the meaning of what they’re saying.
- Qualification
Get them to answer questions and once you feel they’re engaging back with you, you’ve already got somebody on the hook. Now you’re 50-70% there since you’ve got somebody talking to you.
- Understanding what “send me the information” actually means
Buyers may try to be polite and ask you to send information all in without really the intention of looking at it. That is their way of dismissing you. But it could also be possible that you’re already ten to twenty minutes down through the conversation and then the buyer asks you for information since they’re busy. That’s another story. So you need to be able to understand what they’re really saying and what they mean by sending them some information.
- When to know you’re ready to move forward
You know the buyer is interested the minute they ask you a real, thought-provoking question. Now that they’re interested, you can then go into a real conversation about what they need and what you can do for them.
Jonathan’s Major Takeaway:
Really learn to step back from the pressure. Don’t try so hard on the result. Give value to the process.
Episode Resources:
Get in touch with Jonathan on www..FurmanTransformation.com or give him a call at 561-571-0638.
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