I hear a lot of calls each week from my clients.

This week, I heard a closing call from one of your reps, and this is how the prospect opened the call:

Potential Client: “Let me tell you in advance that we are looking at a lot of different options right now, of which yours is only one …”

Then: “And also, I’m not the decision maker on this, I’m just an influencer. After this, I have to bring this back to the board and let them know what I think.”

Then (as if that wasn’t enough), “And I have a difficult stop in 35 minutes, so we have to get down to business …”

Good start, huh?

It’s actually a great start, because now you don’t have to be a salesperson and pitch, pitch, pitch (which you should never do anyway).

Here are the 3 keys to managing this type of prospect:

Key # 1: When you opened with, “We are looking at many different options of which yours is only one …”

The key here is to tackle this and use it to your advantage. He would have responded by saying:

“That’s great. Let’s do this then. Why don’t you tell me which option you like best so far, tell me what you like so much and then I’ll let you know if our show can match that or even give you more.”

Then he would press, press silence and let them speak.

Key No. 2: When you say, “I’m just an influencer, not a decision maker,” you would have approached it again at that point by saying:

“Thank you for letting me know. Does the decision maker accept your advice, in other words, is his influence something that will influence the final decision?”

And if I then bypassed it by saying something like “Yes, but it depends on them” I would have overlaid my question with:

“And from what you know, what exactly are they looking for? In other words, what do they need to see of all these options to say yes?”

Key # 3: And as for, “I have a hard stop in 35 minutes,” I would have responded with:

“Thanks for letting me know. I’ll tell you something, since I have a ton of information to give you, let’s simplify this and tell me what’s most important to you, and I’ll show you how we handle that.”

And he would hit the mute button again.

Here is the bottom line:

1) Prospects have all the answers. Better to listen, question, and let those answers reveal.
2) Accept what gives you perspective. The key here is that you need to listen! If you do, you can respond to what they tell you and learn more and learn the direction in which to go.
3) Meet someone where you are, like with this prospect. You need to combine them. Take off your sales hat and play your game. Don’t be afraid to be as blunt as they are, they will appreciate it.

Keep these keys handy the next time you run into a difficult prospect. They will work better than you think.