It is important to have a good elevator speech because you only have a few words to grab your suspect’s attention and move them forward in the sales process. The first 60 words you speak are more important than the next 6,000! In the first 60 words you must make a connection, stimulate the suspect to want to meet with you, qualify the suspect for interest, and turn the suspect into a prospect. The five basic plays used to accomplish these objectives are rapport, position, benefit, proof, and permission.
Throughout Griffin Hill Sales Technology, plays are named for their purpose. For example the Rapport Play must establish the initial connection between the sales person and the suspect. The Positioning Play describes who you are and what you do. The Benefit Play gives the suspect a reason to care about who you are and what you do. The Proof Play builds credibility for the claim you made in the benefit play by offering evidence that you can deliver. And finally the Schedule the Next Event or Permission Play secures permission to advance the sales process.
Starting with the Rapport Play and moving to the Positioning Play, the Benefit Play, and the Proof Play, and then closing with the Schedule the Next Event or Permission Play is the most psychologically efficient way to initiate contact and advance the sales process. Each play represents a small milestone that must be passed for the suspect to move forward. As you become consciously aware of these milestones you will work more confidently.
Most sales people struggle to define or follow a formal process. Instead, sales people often wander aimlessly, hoping to crack the code that will allow them to open the door to a selling opportunity. What they don’t realize is that the plays are the tumblers of a combination lock. When the tumblers all line up, the lock that guards the mind will open, but not before.
Sometimes, aimless wanderers are able to hit upon a successful combination and the door of opportunity opens but without conscious awareness. In that case, hitting the right combination is a chance event, and the process cannot be duplicated. The secret to the combination lies in the plays of the Case Open Routine. Once you know the combination, you can quickly open the lock over and over again.
Knowing the combination shortens the sales cycle and expands the pipeline. Either of these results is desirable and will increase sales volume. Together, shortening the sales cycle and expanding the pipeline work synergistically to help you close more business.
