Criteria is that which needs to be acquired and met from a prospect or client to take further action in the sales process.

As you talk to a client or prospect, they are already making pictures in their heads about what it would be like to be involved with your service or product. If you come away from this with one thing, that is it. This can be accomplished in person or over the phone. They are already creating a picture in their mind about what their life will look like once they are using your product or service. It's manditory that you don't violate that picture and remove them from it. You'll be left without the sale. Period.

Persuasion is our very powerful advantage which we can use to show our clients or prospects that their "marriage" of our service or product with their criteria was created in their own thoughts. Fortunately, that's exactly where this image was created and we are able to move forward with full integrity.

Using criteria correctly will boost your sales, increase your earning potential, and tangentially, if you're doing it right, will improve all aspects of your life.

Aim your message at criteria. Don't gear your sales towards the dreaded, old-fashioned 'features and benefits' way of selling where you throw out everything about what you're selling and hoping, just hoping, that something will actually be of value to your prospect.

By directing your message like a laser beam at exactly what they want, you're going to show your client that you have actually listened to them, paid attention to them, taken their needs into consideration. They're going to respond positively and be practically begging to work with you.

No matter what industry you are working in, you can and must get your client or prospect's criteria. If you can't, stop presenting. You'll simply appear like a sales monkey preforming for them a sale act. Criteria makes any sale a cooperative endeavor. And it's as easy as asking, 'Why are we here today?'

Criteria elicitation works because it's delving into your prospect's inner needs. THey don't really know how much they're opening themselves up to us. They think it's all basic information. And it is basic in a sense. It's basic in finding out their values as they relate to the subject or topic at hand. If you find you have a lack of rapport, your client or prospect will shut down. If this happens, you need to immediately gain rapport.

You could try to continue on, but odds are if they don't respect you, if they don't feel the rapport things are unlikely to improve and the sale is all but lost.

Social mores dictate that our prospects answer a few questions to begin with so it is definitely not unusual to ask questions prior to making a recommendation. Doctors, lawyers, consultants. . .they all require criteria elicitation in some form or another. This is accepted as the right way to conduct business and will be, for the most part, accepted.

When was the last time your sales process stalled out because you lacked the proper rapport necessary? When did you know it was going to go bad? Did you have the ability to go back and get the rapport you needed in order to move forward?