{"id":2167,"date":"2016-06-23T08:00:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2019-04-03T09:27:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T13:27:29","slug":"thoughtful-thursdays-ask-first-before-you-recommend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/thoughtful-thursdays-ask-first-before-you-recommend\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughtful Thursdays &#8211; Ask first before you recommend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s&nbsp;thought is about a way to keep&nbsp;your sales cycle from needlessly extending itself.<\/p>\n<p>I see&nbsp;it happen time and time again with those new to sales. While it is not generally a deal breaker, it will most certainly lengthen the sales cycle.<\/p>\n<p>When a prospect is identified, sales training kicks in and the sales person starts talking about unique selling propostions and value propositions&nbsp;to establish the value of the products and\/or services they are offering. While these are excellent points to discuss, they are out of order in the sales process. It is like putting the cart before the horse.<\/p>\n<p>Remember that the prospect would not be a prospect if they were not interested in what you are&nbsp;offering.<\/p>\n<p>The next step in the sales process&nbsp;is to determine why the prospect is interested and what benefits they fell will be realized by dealing with you. It is about establishing a relationship, not making recommendations. It is about asking the questions that will reveal the prospect&#8217;s&nbsp;needs and motivations to purchase from you.<\/p>\n<p>Jumping to solutions without first clearly understanding the problem is a sure way to lengthen your sales cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Good selling,<br \/>\nRichard<\/p>\n<p>Have a question about sales? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sakanashiandassociates.com\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contact Sakanashi and Associates Inc.<\/a> and I will respond.<\/p>\n<p>Please share Thoughtful Thursdays posts with people you feel may find the topic interesting and helpful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s&nbsp;thought is about a way to keep&nbsp;your sales cycle from needlessly extending itself. I see&nbsp;it happen time and time again with those new to sales. While it is not generally a deal breaker, it will&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/thoughtful-thursdays-ask-first-before-you-recommend\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,5,33,3],"tags":[60,35,73],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales","category-sales-tips","category-things-that-can-lengthen-the-sales-cycle","category-thoughtful-thursdays","tag-sales-2","tag-sales-tips-2","tag-thoughtful-thursdays"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3649,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions\/3649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sakanashiandassociates.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}