Stop Giving It Away

Author: Bob Janet

| Posted: 09-05-2007 | Comments: 0 | Views: 6 | Rating: (50)

(?)

When I moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina one of the many services I needed to find was a new dentist. After interviewing six different dentist, yes I interview dentist, doctors, attorneys, etc. If they can not sell themselves to me, I do not want to give them my money, I picked my new dentist.

The first visit was to evaluating the condition of my teeth. Fortunately there were no problems. The second visit was for cleaning. At the end of the cleaning process, which was performed by the dentist assistant, the dentist came into the room and examined my teeth, and gums. I thought that was a nice added value. The same added value my previous dentist gave me while he himself cleaned my teeth. Made me feel good, that I chose a dentist that cared about me.

At the receptionist counter I was handed the bill for the days services. Periodontal Maintenance (cleaning) -$79.00 and a charge for Periodontal oral evaluation - $27.00. I thought $27.00 for the dentist coming into the room, looking over my teeth and gums, took less than a two minutes. A service my previous dentist did not charge for??? I of course questioned the charge and was told what it was for and that if in the future I chose not to have the evaluation done they would not do it. And they offered to deduct the $27.00 from the bill since I hand not been informed of the charge for the service prior to service being performed.

Well I left a bit miffed then I thought, Wait a second. One of the reasons I chose this dentist was because he was successful. People do not become successful if they are not delivering a good value though good service. My new dentist is more successful than my old dentist. They are both great dentist. The difference is. My new dentist is not afraid to charge for his services.

Are you charging for your services? All the services you deliver to your customers?

Stop thinking, I know some of you are, "I can't do that, the price competition in our market will not allow me to charge extra for the great service I give my customers." You know your market much better than I do. But I have never seen a market where you cannot get paid for your services if you:
1.Give the customers enough reasons to pay you for your extra services.
2.Ask for payment. It's OK to ask for the sale!!

"85% of the interactions between sales people and prospects end without the sales person ever asking for the sale. 85%!" (Retail News by Richard Fenton)

I asked a number of unsuccessful and marginally successful sales people, "Why don't you aggressively ask for the sale?" I received these top 3 replies:
1. "I don't sell by pushing the customer."
2. "In this market you cannot be over aggressive."
3. "The people here are different."

And then, after talking with them for a while I got the truth, "I do not like being rejected."
No one likes rejection. I don't know of any person who likes to hear the word "NO".

It's OK, no it is a must to ask for the sale, because as Hockey player great Wayne Gretzky says,
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take."

It is easy to never have the customer say "NO" when asking for the sale. But first let's get two well used practices out of the way, never to be heard of or used again.
#1. The Ostrich, head in the sand salesperson says:
When the customer says "NO" I do not hear them. I do not pay attention to them saying "NO". I ignore it, therefore they do not say it. Well you may not hear them saying "NO", but they are saying it. And they are hearing themselves saying "NO". And once they start saying "NO" they will continue saying "NO".

#2. The Overcomer says: I know how to overcome hearing the word "NO".
Although this self confidence is good, once the customer says "NO" the first time, it is easier for them to continue to say "NO" when you ask for the sale and hard for you to stop them. And why waste valuable selling time trying to overcome a situation you do not have to create in the first place?

Here it is. The 100% Guaranteed technique to never having the customer say or think "NO" when you are asking for the sale:
It's all in the way you ask for the sale. Never give the customer the opportunity to say "NO".
Ask Choice Questions!!!!!!

I like to give my prospects/customers three choice to pick from. It's the old GOOD, BETTER, BESTS selling.
It worked when my grandfather sold from a wagon in the 1700's and it works today. It's simple.
Example: Which would be better for you, to buy the red one, the white one or the blue one. Just replace the words red, white, and blue with three of your products / services. "Which would be better for you, to hire me for a one day sales growth program, a two day program or a three day program?" If you say neither, I will simply give you more choices. No it does not work all the time, but the 90% of the time it does work is a lot more than asking a question the customers says "NO" to.

Don't be afraid to ask to get paid for your products and services.

Rate this Article:

Current: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s).

Article Tags: Sales, Marketing, Selling, Customer Service

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/stop-giving-it-away-145162.html

Print article

Send to friend

Publish this Article

Author feedback

About the Author:

Bob Janet uses 40 plus years of face-to-face selling and marketing experiences, combined with his unique fun-entertaining presentation audience involved style to help sellers gain and retain their most profitable customers. See all Bob's sales growth programs at http://www.BobJanet.com

Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free!

Article Comments

Add new Comment

Do You Need A 99cent Chicken Sandwich?
By: Bob Janet | 02/05/2007 | Marketing
What you need to do to attract customers to your business. Plus 6 Perceptions customers react positively to:

Ask Questions And Get Rich
By: Bob Janet | 09/05/2007 | Marketing
# 1 Rule in Selling is: The seller who solves the customer's problems, needs and wants the easiest for them will get the sale. Ask Questions to discover the customers problems, needs and wants.

Shout It From The Rooftops
By: Bob Janet | 09/05/2007 | Marketing
Learn and use the 3 most powerful words in marketing to increade your sales and profits.

The Four Things Every Employee Can Do To Increase Sales And Profits
By: Bob Janet | 04/04/2008 | Sales
We all know the customer is the most important person in our business, but sometimes we forget that the second most important person in the business is any employee

Double Your Sales Without Gaining New Customers
By: Bob Janet | 10/05/2007 | Marketing
You may not be able to stop your marketing costs from going up. But you can stop your profits from going down simply by selling more products and service to each customer. And it is easy if you use the right words and know how to convince the customer to purchase more items at each sale.

Turn Incoming Calls Into Sales And Profits
By: Bob Janet | 10/05/2007 | Marketing
Professional Telephone Answering Techniques to gain and retain customers

The Customer Is Always Right. Even When They Are Positively Wrong
By: Bob Janet | 07/04/2008 | Sales
This article is about the greatest consumer relations story of all times. How the way Nordstrom's view and practice customer service is the only way to view and practice customer service.

Are You Taking Advantage Of Your Most Valuable Selling Asset?
By: Bob Janet | 13/06/2007 | Marketing
If people purchased your products and services once, they will buy from you over and over and over if you know how to get them to remember you.

Got a Question? Ask.

Ask the community a question about this article:

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the Agel products as good as they say? was ...
By: tiginat | 24-11-2007
Are the Agel products as good as they say?was there any research on how they effect our health and body?

Black Friday
By: bisthedog | 23-11-2007
What is black Friday and why is it called like this?

Automated customer service
By: ManuelGarcia | 17-11-2007
Hi, I am looking for reliable articles that will give me some information about automated customer service. Can someone pls provide me with a website? Thanks Manuel

Is an iPod Shuffle - 1 GB a good prize for an ...
By: wickedtruth | 17-11-2007
Is an iPod Shuffle - 1 GB a good prize for an online contest/drawing? If not, do you have any other suggestions?

What is seo?
By: freepass99 | 12-11-2007
what is seo?

How to run a web 2.0 site?
By: xiaonanhuang | 12-11-2007
how to run a web 2.0 site?

Q&A Powered by:

Latest Marketing Articles

Tell Them Why They Should Buy
By: Karen Scharf | 21/08/2008
Our customers don't know our products inside and out. They do not make the mental leap from features to benefits. We need to show them, to spell out exactly what our product or service will do for them.

The Number One Killer of Information Marketing Success and How to Avoid It
By: Caleb Scoville | 20/08/2008
The longer you hang onto an idea without implementing it, the less viable it becomes. It's better to implement and learn from your mistakes than to obsess over it for weeks or months that you could be focused on more important things.

Want to Attract New Dental Patients? Think About a Referral Contest
By: James Erickson | 20/08/2008
A referral contest is a great way to get your current patients bombarding you with new, quality patients. Referrals are always the best new patients, because they generally come in already liking you. So, why not do something to double, or even triple the number of referral you receive?

Relationship Marketing: Lead Scoring for Success
By: Christian Fea | 20/08/2008
Developing a relationship marketing platform for your business is an important step in every marketing campaign. Having a relationship marketing plan for your business puts the focus of your business on customer fulfillment and strong customer relationships.

5 Powerfull Tips For Optimizing Your Viral Marketing Campaigns
By: Paul Baican-Vist | 20/08/2008
The media has focused recently more on Viral marketing, or "refer-a-friend" email campaigns. These campaigns are making more active the recipients of promotional emails to forward the messages to their companions. They were garnering both positive and negative comments from customers, privacy advocates, and industry pundits. The main issue are the...

The "Secret" of Voice Broadcasting Exposed
By: David Seldon | 20/08/2008
Voice broadcaster exposes a little-discussed yet obvious "secret" that has major implications for those considering using voice broadcasting. Those considering utilizing voice broadcasting in their business should consider this before spending any money for voice broadcasting.

Article Submission Services: How To Choose The Right Company
By: Deep Arora | 20/08/2008
These days the mantra for modern business is marketing. Marketing plays an integral role in your end results of sales for your organiation. While you may understand the benefits, for many the process of article submission may be better left to experts.

How to Design a Slick and Professional Website
By: Chris Coleman | 20/08/2008
It's amazing how quickly business changes. Before the internet, the only contact you had with customers was using the phone and face to face. Now, due to the advent of e-commerce via the internet, customers can discern much about your company without leaving their office or home.

More from Bob Janet

Selling Swimming Pools Is The Same As Selling What You Sell
By: Bob Janet | 01/08/2008 | Sales
6 Lessons about selling Lesson # 1: Have a good representitive. Lesson # 2: Never assume Lesson # 3: Listen. Lesson # 4: Give the customer choices. Lesson # 5:Follow up Lesson # 6:Use the magic words

How You Must Be Like The Wise Old German Shepherd
By: Bob Janet | 25/07/2008 | Sales
You have got to have a back up plan to survive and prosper

Shooting Fish In A Barrel
By: Bob Janet | 25/07/2008 | Sales
How many salespeople are sitting around waiting for someone to call? How many are still hawking the same old products with the same old lines? How many are looking to the same, rather than developing new customers? How many believe they do not need sales training?

People Shop Price. They Buy Value
By: Bob Janet | 07/04/2008 | Marketing
All you have to do is put a dollar value on your Benefits and your USP's. Here is where we separate the top sales producers from the rest because most find it very hard, if not impossible for them to put a dollar value on an intangible.

A Luxury Once Had Becomes A Necessity
By: Bob Janet | 02/04/2008 | Sales
Two techniques to turn a luxury into a necessity in the buyers mind. A luxury an item that is desirable but not essential. a product or service that gives great pleasure.

Gold & Red Cards Will Make You A Ton Of Money
By: Bob Janet | 02/04/2008 | Sales
A little record keeping makes you the seller of choice Everyone knows the more you know about your customers the easier it is to build a relationship. Relationships = Trust = Sales

Article Categories

Article Marketing

Article Notepad

Stop Duplicate Content

Term Papers

Follow ArticlesBase at http://twitter.com

Need Help?

Sign up for our email newsletter

Receive updates, enter your email below

Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy | User published content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright © 2005-2008 Free Articles by ArticlesBase.com, All rights reserved. (0.31, 16)

Stop Giving It Away

Article Comments

Related Articles

Got a Question? Ask.

Latest Marketing Articles

More from Bob Janet

Need Help?

Site Links

Webmasters

Business Info

Sign up for our email newsletter