5 Buying signals that most salespeople miss

Most deals aren’t lost at the end.
 They’re missed in the middle.

Buyers rarely announce their decisions.
 They signal them — subtly.

In this episode of The Elite Seller, we break down the overlooked buying signals that indicate real intent:

• The language shift from “if” to “when”
 • Why internal references aren’t stalls — they’re ownership
 • The increase in specificity that signals evaluation mode
 • Emotional micro-shifts most reps never notice
 • A simple framework to respond without sounding pushy

If you’ve ever walked away from a deal thinking,
 “I thought that was going well…”

Welcome to the podcast!

Transcript

Missed In The Middle

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Most lost deals were never lost at the end, they were missed in the middle. Now, this is a really important thing to remember, and this is the subject of this week's podcast. An important thing to remember is that buyers almost always signal intent before they decide, but most salespeople just look obvious signs such as pricing, timeline, budget. But the real signals you need to be looking for are much, much subtler, and that's what we'll be looking at in this podcast. So my name is Graeme Elliott. Please give me a like and subscribe, a follow, uh, whatever you can, um, or even support the podcast if you think I've earned it. So, what we'll be looking at in this podcast are five buying signals that are often overlooked, and also how to respond without breaking trust, because that is absolutely fundamental when you're working with clients, especially new ones, but it's important across the board. And one signal that almost guarantees that you have achieved forward momentum and you can then move things on to whatever the next step is. So let's look first of all at why signals get missed. And this is something I've spoken about before if you've listened to my podcasts, and that's simply that most salespeople are not listening to what the client is saying as much as they're listening to respond. In other words, they are just looking for those keywords that they feel gives them an advantage, or something is said by the client that they feel that this is great, this can give me an advantage in this particular deal. But of course, all the time you're thinking like that, you're now you're no longer listening to what the client is saying, and this is the way we miss things. So if you listen to respond, please don't listen to hear for the subtle signs that I'm going to share with you. They'll also listen for objections, and this is particularly true, I think, with salespeople who lack confidence. So one of the biggest fears is objections. So again, be aware if you're doing that, because there are very easy ways of handling objections that I'm not going to go into in this podcast, but they're certainly there. Or they're waiting for they're listening for closing moments. Again, this is it's almost like a predator, just looking for that moment of weakness that they can strike. And and really, that's also not really where we want to be, uh, because our aim here, if you've picked up anything from my podcast, is that your aim as a salesperson is to be a problem solver. So you're listening for the solution that you can sell, and obviously, as a salesperson, you are listening for the signs that the client is on board with you and wants to move ahead with you. So, what's the alternative? Well, top salespeople, by contrast, will listen for shifts in ownership. So I'll expand on these in a moment, but what you're essentially doing is listening for changes in language, and that's the second point the top salespeople will listen for. And then finally, they're listening for risk calculation thinking, or in other words, the client is now sharing some of their concerns, maybe, but some of their risk calculation process, and this is also really important because once you understand those, then you know that the client is starting to do a deeper dive into whatever your solution is, and that is a very good sign that things are starting to move your way. So, how do we apply those basically in uh every day? Because I'd like you to take this and use it in your next sales call. So, the first thing to think about is future-based language. So, this is when a buyer moves from an if kind of thinking or statement to a when kind of statement. So, examples of this would be how long does implementation usually take? What would onboarding look like? How would this integrate into our whatever? Could be CRM, could be something else. But these are really important statements because the client is now looking at how they can fit your solution into their current system for one of a better explanation. Now, again, I don't know what you're selling, so your uh specific situation might be slightly different, but this is the kind of language you're looking for. So, what do you need to do when that happens? Well, first of all, you do not try and close them. This is really important. You look to expand. So, when that happens, simply ask for more detail and basically along the lines of what would be needed, or just expand that. What kind of um for the in the case of the first example, how long does implementation usually take? Start talking about that and start talking about the process, but again, checking in with them to look at how that fits with their expectations, what's workable for them. So basically, you expand any time that you're listening for that subtle change from this being theoretical to starting to come down to very much more specific questions. This is the the real sign. Are the questions getting more specific? Now, the second category. So the first one is future-based language, or moving away from future-based language to more specific um language, so moving from if to when. And then you move to internal uh conversation references. So this would be statements like I'll need to show this to my director, or my team would want to see the numbers, or finance will ask about whatever. It's essentially bringing in a third party and signaling that your client is looking to bring them in to take things further. Usually, this is likely to be down the approvals route so that they can move forward. But the bottom line here is that internally for them, they've already begun to own your solution. So mentally, they are stepping into the place where they already own your solution. So this is really important. And again, the thing to do is to work with them. So you can use statements like, would it help if we structured something easy to share internally? Or you can ask what sort of information would you like me to provide, or maybe provide a summary if it's a director, it might be an executive summary. So again, it's having that discussion with them to get them to guide you in what form of information is needed at this stage of the process. And this is collaborative sales, this is consultative selling, this is working with your client, this is sitting side by side with your client to solve their problems. So that's uh the second sign that things are moving forward. Now, another one is actually objections, and these are soft objections. So this is um rather than hard resistance, these are um basically the client sharing that they have an issue, and this may also come up after you've responded to an objection they have. So remember, objections are often not the client saying no, but they have a concern that you haven't addressed, so they need clarification on it. So the kind of statement, the kind of language you're listening for uh for are things like my only concern is whatever that might be, the one thing I'm unsure of, sorry, I'll say that in English, the one thing I'm unsure about is, and then you you go into it, and again, what you do with that is you clarify, you get rid of that concern because obviously if a client has a concern, they're not going to go with you, or it's unlikely they will, and it's a really, really good sign when they begin to voice concerns because somebody who isn't intending to buy from you is unlikely to use that kind of language. So this is something to be welcomed, and I know a lot of uh particularly if people again, if you're new to sales, you might find that a bit strange, but that's definitely how it works. Then the fourth signal that you're looking for is when things start to get really specific. So I've already alluded to this earlier on in this podcast, but what you have to remember is that if people are being vague, they're not likely to buy. So in other words, vague buyers don't buy. But as they get more specific in their questions, in their statements, whatever it might be, or in what they're telling you about the requirement, the this is a really good sign. So an example might be a buyer talking about needing to improve efficiency. Well, fine, but what does that mean in real terms? It's just a statement. When they move to something like our onboarding currently takes 47 days, and you go from there, presumably they'd want to reduce that, but now they're talking specifics. So what you're looking for are specific numbers, specific dates, specific uh dollar values, whatever your currency is. Again, the more specific they get, the more they're moving into a more serious evaluate evaluation mode for your solution. Okay, and then the final thing, the final change that you're listening for are what's known as emotional micro shifts. So this is um this gets a bit more advanced. We're starting to get a bit more psychological here, but here you're listening for things like the tone of their voice lowering. That often that means that they are thinking more seriously. This is a more um contemplative um thought process, if you like. There's a change in voice. And think about how you are. If you if you're if you've been talking about something with someone, and then you kind of stop talking about it as a general solution, but you start to you start to regard it as a more realistic option for you. Generally, there is a tone, a change in tone, a change in pace sometimes as well. So, again, if they slow down, that can also be a really good sign. And if they pause before speaking, so again, that would generally imply if we're pausing before we're speaking, it's normally because we're thinking about something, we're may weighing up, maybe weighing up options that we have or getting clearer on specific questions we want to ask, and then you get more detailed follow-ups. So, again, things get more specific, that deep dive. So, all of these signals are subtle, but they're powerful. And if you start to really listen for those changes going on, you'll these are the kind of buying signs that a lot of salespeople will miss. They might even want to hurry the process along, they might feel a bit anxious and want to push for the close, and it's exactly the wrong thing to do. So, what do you do when you spot these signals happening? So, the thing not to do is what a lot of people do, uh, a lot of again more inexperienced salespeople, they jump to the pricing, they'll push to try and close the deal because they sort of smell blood and they're going for the kill, or they start to overexplain. So, again, the thing to do when you're a more advanced salesperson is first of all to slow down. What you're doing is a thing called matching and mirroring in NLP circles. But when we're speaking to somebody and they begin to match the way the sort of tone, I'm I'm not saying do impressions here, but the kind of tone broadly that is being used, definitely the pacing of words, the closer we match, there's a subconscious connection there that that client will feel that we're on the same wavelength as them. If the client slows down in what they're saying, and you slow down as well, that's great. That's matching, and that's a really important thing to do. It's very it's and it has, as I say, more subtle uh aspects of connection than I really want to talk about in this podcast because I want to give you something you can apply. Um, the other thing you can do is just deepen clarity. So, in other words, help them go into more detail, uh be specific about the detail they need, let them lead again, uh, or apparently lead, but you're taking them down the path so that you are getting rid of all of those concerns. So, what what happens with objections is an objection is essentially a concern that hasn't been answered. It's another good way of thinking about objections. So, an objection is not the client saying no, it's they're basically saying, I've got a concern and you haven't answered it. So, if you regard them that way, when you get into this kind of situation where things are slowing down, you have the option to go in and provide further clarification. Finally, the other thing to do is just to help them justify the decision internally. So, again, you're there as a consultative salesperson, you're working with them, and you will just help them to provide whatever justification they need, whether it's for themselves or for other people within their organization, to move things forward. So another way of thinking about this is to just use four words. So the first thing to look for is the signal, then to expand on it to get clarification or to uh maybe provide more information, validate them as well, and validate your response, make sure it's acceptable, but also validate what they're saying, and I've covered that elsewhere, and then you move to advance things forward. So, what do I mean by all of that? So let's say a buyer says, How soon could we get started? That's your signal. To expand it, you can ask what timeline are you working towards, or words to that effect. To validate, you can then add that makes sense given your Q2 targets. Let's assume that's something that's been discussed, and then to advance to move things forward, you can ask, would it make sense to map out our next steps or something along those lines? So the the bottom line here, however you do it, and it is important that it feels comfortable to you because it needs to be natural. Uh, but it is natural, you're not pushing for the sale, you're not um just trying to close them, which I've seen salespeople do. They're not really responding to clients' concerns, they just want to get that deal done and get out of there. So that's not going to work for you. But encourage the conversation, and again, the outcome you're looking for is to make sure that anything that is unclear is handled so that it doesn't come up as an objection later and you have clear steps moving forward. Okay, so just to wind this particular podcast up, I'll quickly just recap um what those five signs are. So the first one I spoke about was I've called it future-based language. So basically, it's when buyers move from if to when. In other words, they get more specific. So if is a general term, you know, there's no commitment with an if, but when you start using the word when or start being when you start being specific about timelines, that's when you know that the client is starting to think more seriously about taking you on as a solution. So, and remember, the thing to do is to just expand to have the conversation. The second thing is internal conversation references, in other words, they'll flag or indicate that they need to speak to somebody else within their organization, they may need additional information. So, again, have that conversation with them, but do what you can to help them. Remember, some people will make decisions very quickly, but some genuinely want time to think about it. And um, in my course consultative selling, I expand on this and how you expand how you identify these people. But these people are either period of time convincers, so in other words, they need a period of time before they'll make a decision, or they might need multiple points of contact before they make a decision. There's another um personality type, behavioral type that that will work that way. So if somebody isn't prepared to move ahead straight away, that is not necessarily a problem. So the thing you're looking for is to work with them and be collaborative with them. And then the third point I've raised here is objection softening. So they are telling you outright that they have a concern. So the one thing I'm unsure about is whatever, then that is a really strong signal because that's that is definitely indicating that they're very close to uh making that decision. The fourth sign is when they start getting much more specific. So remember, if somebody is being vague, they're not likely to buy. But when they get specific, so it might be um, well, I need to have a solution in place in three weeks or whatever, but they've got very specific numbers will appear and other things in there that that will start to pin down. So they're very, very specific. The final thing that I've spoken about is motional micro shifts. So again, this is changing tone, it's slowing down, pausing before speaking, and looking at more detailed follow-up questions. So they're going in deeper in the conversation. Okay, so the thing I recommend that you do just to make this more than theoretical, is to write down three phases that indicate movement. Um notice when the tone changes, so really look out for that on your next call, and then post-call, just reflect on how things went and which of those signs came up, if any, um, or which of those changes in tone, or any of the things I've outlined here, which ones came up? So you might want to listen to this again and make sure you've got a note of those, but uh just start to train yourself to live to those. So that's it for this episode. Next week, next Monday, we'll be stepping back from doing the deal itself. We're looking at something bigger, and it's how top performers structure their week differently. And this is another really important aspect of being successful in sales. So please remember to like and subscribe. Thank you for your time, and uh, I will speak to you again in the next podcast. Bye for now.