How to Spot Your Prospects Buying Signals and Ask for Sale

Asking for sale is the most difficult part of getting new work. Finding prospects, researching them, getting an appointment and running a presentation are all nothing compared to asking if the prospect is ready to buy.

And let’s face it, in most cases we rely on the prospect to initiate the sale and get the ball rolling with the project. We want him to tell us to start working, or to simply say that he is interested.

The problem is though, most prospects would rely on you for the exactly the same!

In my experience, most prospects have a problem with making the final decision. They may want to buy but without the, what I call, “final push” they may actually never make that decision. And if they don’t make it right there on the spot, they will probably never make it.

Naturally some prospects need time to decide whether to buy or not, however you can tell those quickly apart, by the buying signals they give you.

And as for the others, those who really want to buy but need you to help them make that decision, they will be sending you their buying signals too. It is your job as a small business owner to spot them and use them to your advantage. If you do, the sale may be yours. If you don’t, your competition will eventually get it.

Today I want to tell you more about buying signals and how to ask for sale.

Buying Signals

Someone once said that any questions that your prospect asks you is a buying signal. And I think he was right. A prospect inquiring about you, your service or a product is a prospect interested in buying from you. Every time you hear a prospect asking you about the way you work, the way you deliver projects, your support or anything else related to your work means that he is contemplating buying from you.

Questions like that show that the prospect is checking out how would it be working with you. This is when they evaluate you and also try to overcome their sales objections. Every time you get asked questions like that, it is your opportunity to make a sale and I will show you shortly how to use them to your advantage.

When it comes to buying signals, all are important, however some show bigger interest in buying from you than others:

• the prospect asking for your current workload means that he wants to find out how quickly you can take on his project
• the prospect asking you about your delivery dates for your products
• the prospect asking you how do you manage such projects like his
• the prospect asking how do you accept the files, or any other assets required to complete the project
• the prospect inquiring how do you usually accept payments

The above 5 (there are more, naturally) are examples of very strong buying signals. They relate to an actual project your prospect may have in mind and they simply aim to find out how prepared you are to take it on practically straight away.

Questions about the way you work, your typical project management system, the full scope of work you provide and others are weaker buying signals. They refer to the way you work in general and simply show that your prospect is interested in working with you, however he or she either doesn’t have any project in mind yet, or they are not fully convinced yet if they should buy.

In both situations, those questions are your opportunity to shine and win the prospect over.

And the key is not in the answer you give (although it is crucial too) but in the question you ask after you give your response.

In order to use buying signals to make a sale you need to act on them. Every time you spot a buying signal you need to try to push the prospect into the sale.

In simple terms, you need to ask for sale. And here is how.

How to ask for sale

I used to have a huge problem with asking for sale. I simply couldn’t make myself to end the meeting with the prospect saying “OK, can I have this order then, please?”. It was just beyond my strength and power to look the prospect into his eyes and say that I want the business. And I know that many small business owners have the same problem.

The good news is though that this is not how you ask for sale. Of course, you can ask at the end of the meeting if the prospect is interested to buy and it may work. What I have found out since I started selling though is that you should ask for sale after every buying signal you spot and you should do it more delicately than the “right in between the eyes” approach I mentioned above.

Once I realized, and practiced this a little I discovered how easy asking for a sale is. And what’s even better, you can learn it, practice it and master it so it becomes very natural for you.

Every time you hear a buying signal, act on it and move the conversation to the actual sale.

• If a prospect asks you about your delivery times, answer the question but then immediately follow up by asking when he or she would like to receive the goods, or what is his ideal deadline for the project.
• If your prospect asks you about the way you manage a project, after your answer ask if this is what he or she would be satisfied working this way or would he or she be expecting something else.
• If the prospect asks you how you accept the project assets, answer but also immediately ask if this is acceptable or will the prospect want you to make other arrangements.

In any of those cases, your question at the end of your answer will immediately spark a conversation but what’s important, it will be a conversation about the actual project.

Meaning, you are now talking about the sale!

And even if the prospect shows one of the weaker buying signals, they are still an opportunity for you to get the sale. The reason behind those weaker buying signals is to find out if you will suit, if the prospect will enjoy working with you and whether you are good enough to buy from.

Therefore not only answer those questions but again, follow your responses immediately with questions. Ask if this is what the prospect expects or should other arrangements be made and so on.

The idea is to push the conversation from a simple presentation to discussing the way you WILL work together. From then on you are no longer presenting to the prospect, you are discussing terms and conditions of the possible future cooperation.

Naturally, even though you follow up on the buying signals you still might not get the sale. That’s how sales work, not every prospect will buy from you. However, by acting on the buying signals you increase your chances of winning new work.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SALES?

If you want to discover how you can make more sales and win more work for your business:

- Order my new eBook “The Smart Business’ Guide to Winning New Work”.

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Image from Flickr user, Grendelkhan distributed under creative commons license.