I don’t know why phone sales reps don’t use tie downs anymore. They serve several crucial functions, including:

Get confirmation that your prospect understood and agreed to the point you just made. This is especially important when selling over the phone, as you don’t have the physical clues to tell you how it’s going.

The use of moorings is also essential to generate that important push of yes. If the potential customer still agrees with you, you can feel safe in the end when asking for the sale.

Tie downs also give your prospect the opportunity to interact with you; when you use one, you actually have to wait for them to respond.

Using tie downs also gives you control over the flow of the call. Remember, whoever asks a question is in control.

There are many other valuable reasons to use tie downs, but let’s look at some of the most effective and go over in which situations they work best:

# 1: Whenever your prospect asks you a buying question (and any question a prospect asks you is a buying question), after answering it, you should wear a tie. Examples:

If a prospect asks you how much something costs, after you give them the price, you can use any of these tie downs:

"How does that price sound?"

GOLD

"Is that what you were looking to spend today?"

GOLD

"How does that compare to what you are paying now?"

GOLD

"Is that within your budget?"

GOLD

"That’s a great value today, and I would take as many as I could at that price. How many should I send you today?" (Okay, that’s a closure, but I couldn’t help it! See how tie downs can lead to a closure?)

If a prospect asks a question about a feature or benefit, use any of the following:

"Do you see how that works?"

GOLD

"Makes sense?"

Or better:

"How would you use that?"

GOLD

"Do you understand how that works?"

GOLD

"I think it’s a huge benefit, and you?"

If a prospect makes a statement that seems negative, use:

"How did you get there?"

GOLD

"Compared to what?"

GOLD

"What do you mean exactly?"

GOLD

"How does your current supplier handle that?"

# 2: Wear ties throughout your presentation. Most sales reps focus on their presentations and use very few ties or controls. And when they do, they usually have a closed ending, leading your prospect to reveal little. Use these more open links to get involved AND learn crucial buying reasons:

"This is how we handle leads … now tell me how you would get the most out of them."

GOLD

"That’s one of our biggest selling points … tell me: how would this affect how you are currently doing things?"

GOLD

"Did you see how this works?" – And later: "How could this work for you?"

GOLD

"Are you there with me?" – And later: "What questions do you have?"

GOLD

"That’s a nice feature, don’t you think?" – And later: "How would that work for you?"

GOLD

"Does this sound like it could work for you?" (Okay, here I go again! See how after a few moorings, it’s natural for you to start closing?)

# 3: General tie-downs are useful at any time during your presentation. Customize from any of these to suit your product / service:

"What do you think of this so far?"

GOLD

"Would this location work for you?"

GOLD

"For how many locations would this work?"

GOLD

"How many departments would one of these also want?"

GOLD

"That is very special, isn’t it?"

GOLD

"Do you see why this is so popular?"

GOLD

"Tell me, would that fit into your budget?"

GOLD

"Most people like this, how does it sound to you?"

GOLD

"Will that work?"

GOLD

"What else do you need to know?"

GOLD

"What other area are you interested in?"

GOLD

"Would that be a killer to you?"

GOLD

"Would that be enough for you to move on with this?"

GOLD

"Tell me: how close are you to wanting to go through with this?" (Here I go one more time!)

Let me reiterate that using tie downs gives you information that you don’t have because you can’t see your potential customer’s reaction (because you’re selling over the phone). Therefore, it is critical that you start using more of the above tethers during each conversation. Remember, the more you can get your prospect talking, the more he will learn what it takes to close them …

Copyright (c) 2015 Mr. Internal Sales