The Xplor View - October 2008 - (Page 16)

suppliers. If everyone looks and sounds the same, then the only real way the prospect can differentiate is—you guessed it—price. So if you are struggling to keep the agenda off price, it is probably because your prospects have difficulty distinguishing you from their existing supplier or the competition. Remember this rule: A prospect that is listening is no prospect at all. The prospect must talk for at least 70 percent of the time. face-to-face, because we are trying to understand a) if the prospect is serious, b) where we stand on price, and c) what the prospect’s reaction is. Very few salespeople know how to negotiate properly. Negotiating is about mental attitude and believing in your company and the quality of the work that they do and absolutely believing that no other supplier can provide the quality and service at the same price. Remember this rule: We all have parental scripts that determine how comfortable we are discussing money; confront yours and overcome them. Industry knowledge & technical expertise is miss-used and selling is presenting Most sales training focuses on selling technical features and benefits while sharing industry expertise to build credibility. Technical knowledge and industry expertise are important, but most salespeople are too eager to share this information too early in the sales call. The focus is on presenting and not on the buyer and his/her problems. In doing so, salespeople do not build a clear picture of the issues prospects are trying to solve and how those issues are impacting their business. Salespeople that share their expertise too early in the sales call suffer from doing ‘unpaid consulting.’ Unpaid consulting is where the salesperson provides all the information the prospect wants in the form of presentations, proposal, ideas, expertise, knowledge, etc. but fail to get any commitments in return. Invariably what happens is the prospect takes this information and shares it with their existing supplier or the competition. Salespeople that do unpaid consulting tend to have pipelines full of ‘give me another call in a few weeks’ type of opportunities—deals that, despite lots of chasing, rarely come to anything. Remember this rule: Technical knowledge and industry expertise is almost worthless if it is delivered too early in the sales process. Salespeople waste time with non decision-makers We know that decision-makers will field ‘recommenders’ to deal with suppliers and avoid having to deal with salespeople themselves. Yet, most salespeople waste too much time with recommenders and rely on these people to push through decisions and do the internal selling for them. The result is that sales take much longer then they should and leaves the door open to competitors that sell at a higher level. Valuable time and effort is wasted dealing with people who cannot make the ultimate decision. Some salespeople lack the techniques required to get recommenders to introduce them to decisionmakers and the confidence to run a meeting at that level. Why is it that some salespeople will never call on a high level decision-maker? Salespeople tend to call at a level in a prospect account based on how they see themselves conceptually. In other words, if a salesperson does not view him/herself as an equivalent to a Managing Director, they are unlikely to call at that level. Remember this rule: Only decision-makers can make decisions. Salespeople do not know how to negotiate and capitulate too easily When negotiating price, the tactics employed by buyers are aimed at putting pressure on the salesperson and undermining their position. However, salespeople too easily give in without a fight, because they do not really know how to negotiate effectively. Buyers will use statements like, “Your competition are offering to do it for 20 percent cheaper” and they will keep going until the salesperson says “That’s our best price; we cannot go any lower then that” and really means it. Any slight hesitation in the salesperson’s voice will tell the buyer they can get a bit more. Most salespeople are uncomfortable talking about money and they will do everything possible to avoid discussing money face-to-face. Salespeople with this issue hide behind quotes and proposals, instead of discussing pricing and negotiating face-to-face. You cannot have a meaningful discussion about pricing unless you are face-toface with a buyer. Unfortunately, by emailing or faxing a quote, they do not see what the prospect’s response is. All discussions regarding price need to happen Salespeople send quotes without getting any commitments in return How many times does a prospect ring or at the end of a meeting the prospect says “Can you send me a quote, and by the way we need it tomorrow.” Yet how many salespeople agree to do quotes without sometimes any real understanding of why they are being asked, why they are not using their existing supplier, what is the urgency, or what will happen next? Without asking these fundamental questions, they cannot establish what problems the prospect is trying to overcome with their current supplier or whether the prospect is just price shopping to put pressure on their existing supplier. In many cases, quotations and proposals get sent and the prospect never accepts your salesperson’s call again. What is required is securing some form of commitment from the prospect in return: asking what will happen after they receive the quote, who will be involved in making the decision, when will the decision be made, and what criteria will be used to make the decision. Remember this rule: Never do anything or commit resources to a sales activity, unless you know exactly why and you get an equal commitment in return. For more information on strategic selling, visit www.se.sandler.com Ian Blackshire Director Sandler Training ian.blackshire@sandler.com “Salespeople must become effective at asking questions and uncovering business problems, and then help the prospect understand how those issues are impacting their business.” 16 The VIEW Journal Xplor European Edition Issue 6 October 2008 http://www.se.sandler.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Xplor View - October 2008

The Xplor View -� October 2008 Contents TPE Master Class: Three Ways to Tame your Print-to-Mail Workflow Right Now Mission Impossible: Embracing Environmental Concerns TPE Master Class: Implementing a Lean Working Environment Improving Business Processes Yields Award-Winning Business Performance How Do� You Effectively Win New Business Writing a Marketing Plan to Win New Printing Clients How Buying Strategies Have Affected How the Industry Sells Let's Talk About Integrated Customer Communications Management:�Transpromo...It Takes a Village! Knowledge Management Part 3 XDU: Leading the Education Revolution Kodak plus Xplor equals XDU Around the World Xplor Europe News:�Short News Items for the Xplor UK�Programme and Europe News

The Xplor View - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.