by Daniel Jones

Created on: February 06, 2007

Without setting goals you would have no idea of knowing when you have reached the time to close. Without setting goals you also don't know exactly what to offer the customer or what to say to them about what they hope to gain beyond the sale.

Goal setting is a vital part of the process of effective selling. You need to ask questions that establish what the customer wants to buy and how they expect it to impact on their life in the future.

You need to use the information gathering to build up a picture of the goals that are required. These goals can then be used to focus your mind on what you need to do to help the customer get what it is that they want.

You may choose to make some points known to the customer like stating so what you want is' and telling them what they have said in a way that confirms the goal. Once you know the customer's goal you can then work on achieving it. You should begin to presuppose the goals as definitely going to occur. If the customer's goals are unrealistic then you should use re-framing to find a compromise, creating a goal that is more realistic or acceptable.

It maybe that the customer expects the product to be cheaper in which case if you can help make it a little cheaper or make it a better offer then you could do so, if not then the best option is to re-frame why the product is worth what they are going to pay. This doesn't mean arguing with the customer, it means coming along side the customer, perhaps saying something like: yes, it probably does seem a little more expensive on the face of it. What make it worth that extra cost is' then you can say why they should pay more.

Goal setting exercise

In pairs, one person take on the role of a customer, one person take on the role of a salesperson. The customer is one of these options:
Wants to buy the product but think it is a bit expensive
Isn't sure whether to buy the product from here but does want the product
Wants to buy the product and sees how it will be positive to their future
The salesperson then has to respond to the customer and establish the goals and feed them back to the customer.

Do this for five minutes each way.

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