Hot Buttons

I have found in my sales training travels that when I ask, everybody seems to have a fairly good idea of what a “Hot Button” is, because the term is generally used in everyday conversations. However, when I ask further, hardly anyone knows the proper way to capitalize on a “Hot Button” in a sales encounter, unless they have had prior training. Therefore, you need to know what to do with a sales “Hot Button” when it occurs, in order to capitalize on it to the fullest. My definition of a “Hot Button” in a sales encounter is: “Anytime the customer picks up on a feature, advantage, benefit or function a salesperson was talking about at the time, and they seem to get somewhat excited about it, and/or he or she makes a positive comment on that particular subject, or at least they show some extra interest.”An Example of a Wrong and Right way to handle a “Hot Button”:

1. Amateur Salesperson Example: Salesperson says… “One of the really great features about our automatic deck awning is that it has a locking mechanism so that whatever position you stop it at, it firmly locks in place to avoid a strong wind gust or sudden storm from catching it loose and possibly damaging it.” Customer responds… “Now that is important to me because we are campers and our awning must be securely anchored and locked in place when we are away, so that if a storm does comes up, we don’t lose the awning and possibly damage our trailer.” Salesperson responds… “Right. Now another great feature about this awning is……”

2. Professional Salesperson’s Response to the Above “Hot Button”. “Exactly, in fact, our manufacturer realizes your investment in this awning, and your home, needs to be protected. This locking mechanism has been tested in 100 mph wind gusts and it still holds firm. In addition, it has a lifetime guarantee not to fail. Plus, this awning is so securely anchored to your home when it is installed, you would have to have sustained winds of over 100 mph, in order to lose this awning. This is a fantastic advantage over regular deck awnings wouldn’t you say?” Customer responds… “Man, I guess so.” Salesperson says… “Great, you seem to like everything about our XYZ deck awning Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Normally it takes less than one half day for installation and we offer in-house financing at an extremely low rate if you need it. We have openings in our installation schedules two weeks from now. And we offer morning, afternoon and even some early evening time slots. Could we lock you into a specific date and time?” The Salesperson has closed, so they shut up and wait for a response before moving on.