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Close More Sales By Asking For More Than Enough Permission

by Linda Talley    

We honor physical boundaries such as closed or locked doors, but how often do we honor the emotional boundary? Rarely, especially if we want the customer to do something for us—such as BUY. As a salesperson, you may be three steps ahead of the client however, if you don't come back to be with that customer in the present moment, to honor them, you're going to lose them. They won't feel comfortable with you.

Highly Trained Professionals. Most salespeople are highly trained professionals and have lots of information and knowledge to give to the customer. Most people have a tendency to vomit this information on the customer without asking if that's OK. And usually, that's not OK. The customer wasn't ready and so they feel uncomfortable—violated. You did not condition the conversation by asking permission.

Conditioning the Conversation. When you ask permission to have the conversation, you honor the other person's boundaries. They will give you a yes or no answer. When they respond with a yes, they are ready to have a conversation. Until you condition the conversation, you can say anything you want and they may or may not hear it. When they don't hear it and you say it, you have to repeat yourself. Not very productive and very irritating to you. For example: A customer asks you when you can deliver a specific product. You may want to jump in there and say, "First thing next week." Instead, ask permission by saying, "May I tell you?" Get the yes or no from the customer because when they say yes, that's a key buying signal and you won't be wasting your time.

Whenever you have information to give a customer, ask permission. If they don't give it, go back and ask again but don't give your information till you have permission. Use these steps: When a customer asks a question, ask permission to tell them before you give the information.

Always get a yes or no from your customer. If it's no, you've saved yourself a lot of time.

Ask for more than enough permission. If you ask and they don't say yes or no, keep asking till you get an answer. Retrain your customers to want to hear what you have to say.

Action Plan:

Begin practicing this skill at home or in the office—some place that feels safe to try out new sales skills.

Share this skill with other members of your organization. See how productivity picks up.

People want information—you want a relationship if you are going to get the sale. Make certain that you have the relationship by asking for more than enough permission.


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Linda Talley is a Houston-based executive coach, speaker and author of Business Finesse: Dealing With Sticky Situations in the Workplace for Managers and The Daily Win-Building Success One Step at a Time. 800-856-6607 linda@lindatalley.com www.lindatalley