ess associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of list

Just the other day I was on the phone to a salesperson working for a manufacturer I’m dealing with in one of my businesses when he tried the old sleazy alternate advance - “How about Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 1?”

I nearly laughed him off the phone I was so insulted and bemused that he would try so blatantly to get me commit to a time which suited him for a meeting. The problem here is that most sales people today are still taught the same techniques that worked twenty or thirty years ago and fail to adjust them for today’s world.

When your selling to the trade i.e. business to business sales, you have to remember that your often dealing with a prospect who themselves is or has been a salesperson in one form or another. This means that if you persist in using sleazy, pushy salesmanship you will get shut down. Fast!

The prospect obviously wasn’t aware that I was an author on the subject of selling and have heard more closing techniques and sales strategies over the years than he could dream of. Nonetheless this is not the first time I’ve seen this happen and indeed many of my friends and business associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of listi

used that he would try so blatantly to get me commit to a time which suited him for a meeting. The problem here is that most sales people today are still taught the same techniques that worked twenty or thirty years ago and fail to adjust them for today’s world.

When your selling to the trade i.e. business to business sales, you have to remember that your often dealing with a prospect who themselves is or has been a salesperson in one form or another. This means that if you persist in using sleazy, pushy salesmanship you will get shut down. Fast!

The prospect obviously wasn’t aware that I was an author on the subject of selling and have heard more closing techniques and sales strategies over the years than he could dream of. Nonetheless this is not the first time I’ve seen this happen and indeed many of my friends and business associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of list

ling to the trade i.e. business to business sales, you have to remember that your often dealing with a prospect who themselves is or has been a salesperson in one form or another. This means that if you persist in using sleazy, pushy salesmanship you will get shut down. Fast!

The prospect obviously wasn’t aware that I was an author on the subject of selling and have heard more closing techniques and sales strategies over the years than he could dream of. Nonetheless this is not the first time I’ve seen this happen and indeed many of my friends and business associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of list

The prospect obviously wasn’t aware that I was an author on the subject of selling and have heard more closing techniques and sales strategies over the years than he could dream of. Nonetheless this is not the first time I’ve seen this happen and indeed many of my friends and business associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of list

ess associates have told me of similar experiences they’ve had, for example, of sales people trying the familiar ‘Ben Franklin Balance Sheet’ close on them.

Now the theory and reasoning behind these sales techniques is generally sound. The idea behind the Ben Franklin of listing the main points of their decision together with your prospects in order to help them make a sound decision and see that the benefits you offer far outweigh any possible objection is a good idea. The problem is when sales people deliver it with the pathetic and pushy introduction that “what Ben Franklin used to do when he had to make a decision is…”

What makes this even worse than its obviously insincere nature is that when you sell to the trade they will most likely know what your doing and pull back from you just because of your pushiness and arrogance that you ‘think you can influence them’ with such a technique. A better approach would be to say to your prospect something like “okay, let’s just go through this from the top so we can isolate the main issues and see if we can come up with a solution. First of all you say you’re happy with the…”

You would then proceed to list the benefits the prospect has already agreed to and then let them list the objections and see that they are miniscule compared to the benefits they will enjoy from your product. I like to call it the ‘Non Sleazy Ben Franklin.