Predicting Sales
It's a very easy task -- sort of

Crystal balls. Don’t you wish you had one when you were preparing for a big sales call?

A crystal ball is nothing more than taking a look at information and asking solid questions about it. Information, if correctly interpreted and understood, will predict the future.

Predicting the future is actually pretty easy, if you’re armed with four things:

• Information about the prospect and his business.
• The right questions.
• An idea or two that helps the prospect.
• The ability to see and understand the big picture.

There are two places to find crystal ball information – the past and the present. Just look at the elements of each time period and how they affect the prospect and his use of your product or service and presto, you develop your ability to predict the future.

Study the past. The past may have pain. It’s where experience comes from. Success and failure have their roots in what have already transpired. Your job is to gather the historical information so you can understand the best way to communicate your ability to help in the future. Knowing the past is an easy way to gain an understanding of the present.

• Study the customer’s original needs.
• Study how and why they bought before.
• Study the players and their personalities.
• Study how the decision was made.
• Study the problems that surfaced and how they were resolved.

Be present in the present. The present is fleeting. No one has time to do much more than put out fires and deal with the day-to-day.

If you are able to get your prospect to see the important, you can get him away from what he perceives as urgent (but really isn’t). Urgent is his situation. Important is your ability to communicate help. (Note: Help the customer first, get his order second.)

• Collect information about what is working and not working from the customer’s point of view, and share your company’s perception of these issues.
• Collect information about the changes in the customer’s company and how that relates to their present situation.
• Study their Web site. Read all company literature, newsletters, annual reports, and industry trade magazines.
• Determine what past problems still exist and may be preventing present success.
• Share with the customer the recent changes in the industry and what the impact of those changes will be on the prospect’s business.
• Share the changes that your company is going through, and the impact of those changes on the customer.
• Share your big picture and experience in a way that creates a leadership image.

Talk about the future. People love to talk about their dreams. If you can get them going, they may see how you fit in. You need to know the path your prospect wants to take so you can get on that path and become part of that vision.

• Ask about the company’s specific future plans and needs. See if you are in any way able to help them achieve it, even if it’s not directly dealing with your product or service.
• Ask the customer about what changes they see, future industry trends, and what impact they will have.
• If appropriate, share your industry trends that will affect how your company will do business in the future, and how those trends will impact your business.
• Share some of your company’s future plans. Show how that will establish (or maintain) their company’s leadership position.

There’s nothing complicated presented here. It’s fundamentals from the customer’s perspective. It’s information from the prospect’s point of view — you know, the only one that matters.

I’m looking into my crystal ball and I see big sales in your future. Do you?

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com.

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