|
Don’t
Sell The Quarry
Increase
sales by focusing on benefits
Are
you having problems keeping your prospect’s
attention? Do you spend a lot of time talking
about what your product or service can do, but
your customer just doesn’t “get it”? Are you
treated with hostility after your sales
presentations? If you said “yes” to any one of
these questions, perhaps your problem is that you
are selling “features” instead of
“benefits”.
Many
years ago I worked for a company that sold
super-minicomputers along with a suite of
software. As the database product manager in the
marketing department, I frequently worked with
Sales reps doing presentations and demos. One of
the more seasoned sales reps used to tease the
newer reps who focused too much on product
features instead of what benefits the customer
would see. His little taunt went something like
this:
"When
you discuss the hardware, don't just tell the
client about all the parts and pieces. Instead,
explain what quarry we got the sand from to
make the silicon for our chips, how the silicon
was made, and how the chips are
manufactured."
That
was his way of saying -- “…don't bore the poor
prospect with all the features. All they care
about is what it will do for them – or what the
benefits are.” So, Don't Sell The Quarry. Sell
the Benefits!!.....
Read
More
|
Saying
"No" Can Save You Money
Don't
back down when customers want a discount
When
was the last time you told a customer
"No" when they asked you to discount?
And how often are you prepared to walk away from a
prospect when they ask for more than you are
normally prepared to do? If you're like many sales
people, your answers might be, "Not often
enough."
I
just finished a consulting contract with a firm
that truly understood the value I was providing.
At the end of the day, what they received from me to help
their business and to grow their sales far exceeded the
costs associated with my work. Unfortunately, not
enough customers think this way. Shortly after
this consulting contract was completed, I was feeling
good about this very successful project when my
phone rang. It was a prospect whom, for about 18
months, I tried getting their
business. In those past months, we had several phone
conversations, a personal visit, I sent two quotes,
and even visited their new (at the time) IT guy to
discuss the technical impacts of the work they
wanted me to do. However, in every case, all they seemed to be interested in
was what my price would be. Sure, they spoke about
how they needed an expert's help with improving
their existing system, how their people needed
quality training, and how they weren't getting
a good return on their investments. But when it came
right down to it, all they really cared about was
what it would cost them to fix their problems,
instead of what it was costing them NOT to fix their
problems. So I gave up on this prospect a long
time ago because they were wasting valuable time
and going nowhere.
So
the first thing out of this guy's mouth (it was
their IT guy) is how
they realized that they REALLY do need help and
that they've been wasting time and money with the
way things were going. Mind you, this is months
after our last conversation which was about
discounts, and nearly 18 months since our first
contact. Now I can't say that my services are
cheap. I'm not over-priced, but I am not
cheap. I typically charge by project, which has an
inherent value as defined by my client's needs,
and this works well for most of my clients.
Needless to say, when I told him how much I would
charge for what he described, he immediately
asked if I would offer any kind of a discount,
again!
My
response to him was as follows, "Look, I know
my price is high. But my value is higher. And I
already explained in detail what value I will
deliver to your company based on the needs you
described. To what good is your system and
processes if they are not delivering what you need
to increase sales and sustain growth? How valuable
will it be for you to learn how to develop and
implement a strategy that will make full use of
systems and resources you already have in place
and have already invested in, yet have not fully
exploited? I do not discount and never will. My
value is too high and you will not respect me if I did
discount. I'm not a mechanic or technician
that gets paid by the hour to fix a specific
broken part. And besides, if I discount for you
without anything in return, then word will get out
and everyone will want me to discount,
which would be disastrous. Now, if you'd like to
pay less than I quoted you, then we
can negotiate by discussing something of less
value, such as a smaller project."
He
said he understood, respected and agreed with what
I said and that he will have to discuss this with
his management and they will probably want to call
me to discuss this further. To that I added,
"With all due respect, please tell your
management that if they wish to call me to try to get
a discount, even though they are fully aware of the value of what
I am offering, then not to bother calling me back since
I am not interested in having such a
discussion." I know exactly what would happen
if I did give them a discount on this initial
deal. They'd expect a discount forever, and each
time they'd try to get an even bigger discount
than the last. It's just not worth discounting in
this situation.
Fortunately,
I've only had this sort of discussion about once a
year for the past several years since not many of
my prospects behave this way. I don't like
having to say these things, but when your prospect
doesn't appreciate what you have to offer and
refuses to understand that they will get more out
of this than you will and that there is a value to
what you are offering, then it has to be done.
Well, guess what happened to this prospect?
Nothing. That's right, absolutely nothing since
they never called me back. And I'm happy with that
because this sort of negotiation (if you even want
to call it that) is a total waste of time. I
have too many other prospects who understand the
value of my services and, if anything, will enter
into a reasonable negotiation where we both come
out as winners. But one should never enter into a
win-lose situation, regardless who the loser is
(and in this case, it would have been me!). It's
better to walk away.
Some
times, we just have to say "No" and walk
away from a prospect. You do have this choice in
sales. If you choose your customers, life will be
more fun because, quite frankly, you will work
with fewer jerks. And best of all, you'll be more
profitable and your clients much happier .
Good
luck and good selling!
Russ
Lombardo
russ@peaksalesconsulting.com
702-655-5652
Having
trouble saying "No"? Call me and I'll
help you with a
Complimentary
Coaching Call.
|
