Have you ever met with a prospective buyer or client and they didn’t appear to be interested in you?
It’s fairly likely that you have.
Have you ever had a prospect ask you a question such as; “Can you tell me a little bit about your business?” But, as soon as you start talking, he begins to look at his watch or eye the door and appears disinterested in you and what you have to say, even though he asked?
Why does he do this?
It is easy to figure out really – what you experienced was pretended interest and not real interest.
When you are talking to a prospect and he glances at his watch or toward the door or another employee, is he showing real interest or pretended interest? PRETENDED INTEREST.
When the prospect is leaning or has his hand on the door while you are talking to him, is he showing real interest or pretended interest? PRETENDED INTEREST.
When you are done “educating” him about your business and he immediately shakes your hand, asks for your brochure and says that he will “think about it and contact you,” is he showing real interest or pretended interest? PRETENDED INTEREST.
So, how do you know when a prospect IS giving you real interest? It is simple really; he WANTS to talk to you about what you were talking about and he is not trying to end the conversation.
Here is an example: Let’s say that I like to scuba dive and said so to you and you ask a benign question such as, “Where have you been scuba diving?” At this point I begin to tell you about all the places I have gone scuba diving and you seem interested in me so I carry on a bit about it. Once I stop talking you say something like, “Wow, have you ever tried skydiving?”
I now know that you have no interest in the subject of scuba diving. Simple.
As for the prospect asking for the brochure – well, don’t you ask for a brochure when a salesman comes into your office, climbs past YOUR receptionist to see you to show you his new gadget?
You don’t usually say, “Get lost!” It is likely you will pretend to be interested and ask for a brochure to look over.
If you were in actual fact interested in the gadget you would ask questions about it; how much it cost, could you try a demo for a week, etc. In other words, you wouldn’t send him on his way.
How do you get the prospect to have real interest?
By creating a mystery and getting him to want to know more!
