Selling the Future

Selling the Future
When meeting with a prospective client, you're trying to understand their problems, determine their objectives, explain your services and outline the many benefits of working with you.
But what if it's not going anywhere?
No matter how much you ask, how well you present your advantages or how sincere you are about helping this prospective client, things don't seem to be clicking.
In that case, I suggest selling the future.
What I mean by this is going beyond outlining objectives, value and measures of success (which most of us don't do a good job with to begin with), and helping the prospective client get in touch with their real motivation to take action, to move in a new direction.
This motivation always lies in the future and it lies inside the client, not outside. You need to go beyond the surface and discover their highest aspirations, their most compelling dreams.
How do you do this?
Once you've learned about their situation and problems and discussed objectives and outcomes, what you need to do is dig deeper and learn why those solutions or outcomes are important to them.
You're really always asking the same question: "If you got X, then after you have it, what do you want that's even more important?" But as simple as this might seem, the ultimate result can be very powerful.....
You: "If we handled this problem for your company what would be different than it is now?"
Prospect: "Well, I think we'd be much more productive."
Y: "And if you were more productive, as productive as you can imagine, then what would you want that was even more important?"
P: "We'd be more profitable, more successful. Our products would sell better and our customers would be happier."
Y: "And if you were more profitable, more successful, with happier customers, then what would you want that was even more important?"
P: "This would be a great place to work. We'd have fun, energy would be high and we'd all love working here."
Y: "And if it became a...