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"Greasing the Sales Funnel"

By Paul Montelongo

Can you train your prospects to buy from you before they ever decide to sign on the dotted line?

You bet you can.

I want to give you an analogy for selling that may be helpful. Picture in your mind an upside down oil funnel. The small end of the funnel is up toward the sky. The big end faces the ground.

When your prospect places a call to your office to inquire about your service, they are hovering around the top of the funnel, the little end. They are wondering if they should dive into the funnel or just "look" at it. When they place this initial call, they are just sort of peeking into the vast cavern known to you and me as the "sales funnel".

Your job is to get them to step into the funnel and wonder down the road to the big end of the funnel where you will sell them your goods and services. It is your job to "grease the sales funnel" so it makes it easier for your prospect to decide to buy from you.

The challenge is that most business people don't really know how to get the prospect to jump into the funnel in the first place. And then once the prospect is in the funnel, how do you train them to stay in the funnel until they get to the best you have to offer at the big end of the funnel.

Here are my top five ways to grease your sales funnel. These strategies will help get your prospect to jump into your sales funnel, keep them there and turn them into a sale.

1. Offer something for free. It is the law of reciprocity. People love to get something for free. Most people will reciprocate your kindness by at least having a conversation with you about your product or service. Offer a complimentary half hour of consulting. Offer free estimates. Offer free design service. Offer a free subscription to your company newsletter. Your offer doesn't have to be expensive, just something of reasonable perceived value to the person hovering around the small end of your sales funnel.

2. Ask visualization questions. Ask questions that create a picture in the mind of your prospect. Since most people are visually oriented, creating a picture in their mind helps get them attached to you. "Tell me, what do you picture your new project to look like?" or, "If you could draw the scene in your mind, what would help me understand what that looks like?" or "How do you see that happening?"

3. Ask viewpoint questions. A viewpoint question is one that asks your prospect for their opinion. You want to gather information about what they may already know about your product or service. You may say, "I am curious, in your opinion how valuable is this service to you? or "What are you expecting to happen?" or, "What is your thinking on the matter?" or "How will this impact your decision to invest in our service?" The point is to ask questions that get the prospect to think about much more than the price of your product. Get them to think in terms of what the benefits are to them when they invest in your product or service.

4. Get early commitments. When you grease your sales funnel, it makes it easier for your prospect to "slide" right into your way of doing business. This is accomplished by training your prospect to make decisions very early in the sales process. This may be done any number of ways, but the most effective is to get them to begin making decisions early. In the world of remodeling, building and contracting, getting your customers to make decorating decisions is an effective way to grease the funnel. Also, having your prospect educate themselves about all of the financing options in the marketplace will reduce the sticker shock. If your customer is going to be displaced or have to relocate in order for you to perform your project, get them to investigate moving arrangements and have them commit to dates when the project would most fit into their schedule. Anytime you get your prospect to make decisions relative to your service, you make it more difficult for your prospect to leave your sales funnel.

5. Prepare them to buy. One of the best ways to prepare your prospect to buy is to directly tell them what they should be looking for when choosing a professional contractor. Provide them with a handout that clearly identifies "how to choose a professional contractor". List as many ways as you can that match your way of doing business and the ways that segregate you from your competition.

Keeping the sales funnel greased and easy for your prospect to stay in is part of the selling process. Make it easy and compelling for your prospect to buy from you.

Please feel free to forward this article to anyone you know that is interested in professional and personal development. Copyright © 2004, Success Concepts, Inc. This content may be forwarded in full with copyright intact.

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