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by Doug Dvorak
Pace isn’t everything in life. But let’s admit it — moving in slow motion can be boring sometimes. That’s why people pack a speedway at a NASCAR event and not the long rallies of a Formula One Race that can take days to be complete. Basketball and baseball games are more popular than golf because they are of shorter durations than the game of golf. This is an age of instant results or instant gratification. The busy mother has to buy a DVD after her aerobics class and then dash back home to be with her 6 year old to help with homework before she can prepare dinner and then finally get the time to watch the DVD with her 6 year old daughter at bedtime. There is hardly any time to talk to her friends about the DVD and whether the movie was good or bad. That’s not a big deal; at least the DVD will serve the purpose today. If it’s good it’s good, if not she is never going to buy another one with the same title. Simple.
Society’s craving for convenience has resulted in another form of a grab and go thing that has become a rage — speed dating. Barring driving, speed works in many situations because today life is moving at a hectic pace. There are even people that do not think much about the results or consequences. They do not probe much about the quality. What they see is what they get. They have minutes to make decisions. If they think a restaurant could be good, they go ahead and eat there. Repenting or rejoicing is saved for later. For the moment they can think only of the hunger.
In tandem with today’s pace and mindset, speed selling has caught up with the imagination of buyers and sellers. Speed selling is a selling event or sales training process where a seller typically spends less time with each prospective buyer and moves on to the next buyer quickly until he finally makes a sale. The speed selling training exercise can help new and veteran sales professionals to understand the true needs of the prospect faster, while focusing on articulating value at every point in the sales process. Much like a dating service where prospective partners can size each other up for compatibility within minutes in speed selling the buyer can know whether the seller can meet his requirements and the seller would sense immediately whether the prospect is likely to buy from him. The beauty of it all is that it happens fast without wasting much time from either person’s side. This saves precious time and the seller can move on to the next prospect without much delay. The over all sales efficiency increases by this method as more prospects are covered in less time.
Speed selling works best in an open atmosphere where a number of buyers and sellers for a single products or service meet up. The potential buyers know that there are more than one supplier of the product and the sellers don’t latch all their hopes on to one prospect. The sellers spend less time with the prospects then they normally do, so do the prospects with them. Within a very short time they sort out each others needs, desires and decide if they are a good fit for a transaction.
The methods of speed selling don’t deviate largely from traditional sales approaches. They are more like speed dating methods. What you see is what you get. But they require due consideration as they are subtlety involved in this approach.
With a positive attitude and the necessary salesmanship qualities speed selling can yield amazing results quickly. Following these methods should result in a fair amount of success.
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