Every seller hears about dreaded stalls and objections that they’ll need to overcome; and, the request for information is one of the most often-used stall tactics. Prospects use the tactic because it works! Sellers are usually more than willing to send out materials because they think the prospect is likely to buy. In fact, they have no intention of making a purchase; they feign interest to end the conversation.
The conundrum: The better your marketing materials look, the greater the chance that your sellers will be more than willing to send them out. Once they’re sent, the game of cat and mouse has begun, and may never end because, in reality, the ‘prospect’ is still a ‘suspect’.
So, what should you do? Here are three responses that might work for you, along with one point for consideration.
Use humor – “May I ask you something about that? I’ve always been curious: You’re busy, right? So, what do you really do with stuff companies send you? Fold it into paper airplanes and use it for stress relief? Put it in your recycling bin?”
This takes them by surprise so let them answer, then say “May I make a suggestion? Why don’t we get together for 30 minutes to figure out whether what you need is a fit with what we offer – no pressure?”
Make a direct statement – “I’m happy to send you some information, but it really won’t answer all of your questions or help you determine whether we should work together. So, you’ll have a nice brochure and a salesperson that will continue to follow up with you. Why don’t we meet for 30 minutes and figure out whether we’re even a fit?
Ask a direct question – Being that I’m a service provider, this is one that I use most often. I ask: “Is this a test? If you were considering hiring me to work with your sales team and I told you that I planned to teach them to send out materials, you’d never hire me, would you?” (Well, no.) Okay, so may I make a suggestion? Why don’t we meet for 30 minutes……”
Something to consider: cutting back on or not producing one-sheets and marketing materials at all. Scary thought? Take a few minutes and discern how your materials are really being used. While everyone likes to have slick and pretty brochures at their disposal, are yours really effective in helping you develop business?
While each of us should be adding value to our relationships in some way every day, let me be clear about the difference between adding value and added value.
Adding value is when you take the unprovoked initiative to be of additional help or service to someone else. This takes many forms and may include referring business, writing a recommendation, and/or connecting others who may have enough synergies to form a strategic alliance. In other words, being someone who is constantly thinking of ways to help others grow and realize greater success.
Added value is the stuff that gets added on to deals, at low or no additional cost, to incentivize purchase. Whether you agree with me or not, I believe most advice given out to prospects in the hopes of proving credibility falls into this category as well. Therefore, should you employ a tactic of including added value, do so with extreme caution and precise strategy.
Remember, something given away for free is likely perceived as worthless; things provided at low charge are likely perceived as almost worthless. The following examples are offered to prove this point and illustrate how added value tactics can backfire by becoming long-standing practices that are now expectations.
The mathematical expression for the absence of value is zero. Every time you provide something that has a $0 noted in the cost column, you put yourself at risk; and, there’s a strong probability that over time you and your team will also believe the item has no value. So, even if your plan is to offset higher priced inventory and bring the order in at a pre-determined market cost, once you sell some of your inventory at $0 to a customer, it will forever be sold at no or low charge. Why would they ever pay full price or a premium for it? The result, your team will need to maintain higher rates on your remaining inventory to generate profit.
Here are some key questions to ask before including added value:
What do I think/believe will be the result of adding these items? What led me to that belief? What might happen if I don’t add anything? What might happen if I promise this quantity at no charge and can’t deliver? How does my adding these items affect the profitability of the order? Are other clients purchasing from us without these added items? If I cut the number of planned freebies in half would they still purchase? How much do I really need to include? How might these gradually be phased out?
That leads us to the strategy conversation. Anyone who has ever run a business knows that there can be compelling reasons for providing something at no or low cost. And, we understand the importance of ensuring that doing so results in a positive impact for our business and our customers that doesn’t have negative long-term consequences. That requires purpose, forethought and planning.
If you have items that are slow sellers and/or product that spoils, you might decide to use those as loss leaders to help drive sales elsewhere. If your business model is one of high volume, your rates may have to remain low to stay competitive. Entrepreneurs may decide to initially offer their products and services at lower rates to generate clientele and much needed capital. There are a myriad of other sound business reasons to provide added value, and with each a specific plan should be crafted that answers how many can we afford to give? How often? At what rate? For what period of time? Always include a specific end date with these offers.
Be sure your sales team is well aware of your pricing strategy, including any thresholds or ranges you’ve established. For the sake of protecting your business, they must know what they are permitted to include and the lines they cannot cross and they must be willing and able to walk away when asked to cross those lines.
Now more than ever it’s critical to have a sales and pricing strategy in place to ensure that your business is presented properly and profit goals are protected. It’s equally critical to have the right team of sellers who buy in to your strategy, have belief in your product’s value and the courage to stand firm on price, where needed. We have found that pricing concessions are always made in the absence of having either a sound strategy and/or the right team.
You’re sales team is probably not struggling with prospecting. But, if you’ve ever been frustrated by inaccurate projections, insufficient new business or being shopped for price, this article may be of help.
The main prospecting issues are:
Spending time with people who won’t do business with you.
People who say they’re interested and would like to see your presentation.
Those that give you a projected start date, then can’t be found.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed that sellers too quickly accept their prospect’s response at face value. The rippling effect of this is countless hours of wasted time spent in leaving messages, sending e-mails, creating presentations, incorrect reporting, and revised projections, all of which make business owners and sales managers cringe.
If more sellers practiced skeptical curiosity in all selling activities, there would be more productivity and less meaningless activity. Let me explain. Adopting the following beliefs will help you understand the power of skepticism and help you to qualify and disqualify more quickly.
Belief 1: Prospects should never be taken too seriously, especially when they’re overly positive.
Belief 2: Prospects deliberately don’t divulge all the information so they can keep you guessing and them in control.
Belief 3: Most times they have no intention of switching from their current supplier, even though they’ve asked for quotes, they are just shopping you for price, etc.
Belief 4: They feign interest because their goal is to gather as much information from you as possible at no charge.
Belief 5: They want you to make a presentation and leave a hard copy with them when you leave. This way they’re armed with facts for negotiating with others.
Belief 6: They want your pricing because once they get that from you, they have all the leverage.
Belief 7: The start date they share with you is fictional. Always.
Once you internalize these beliefs and approach your prospects with a healthy dose of skepticism, you’ll better understand the importance of asking more questions to get to the truth. So, let’s review the above three issues and how approaching them skeptically would help. A sampling of questions is included with each for your consideration.
First, only spend time with people who match your ideal target account profile. Then realize that it’s likely they really won’t have a pressing need. That way you’ll be prepared to ask them questions to uncover what they’re struggling with, whether that’s just an irritant or actually costing them money; how important it is for them to fix; what they’ve already done about the issue; whether it’s worked, or if they intend to keep trying on their own. If they’re losing money and they’ve tried everything they can think of to no avail, they need help. How much help depends on the amount they’re losing. Ask for an appointment. Otherwise they don’t have a real need right now, so move on, staying in touch periodically for a pre-determined amount of time.
When prospects say they’re interested in your product/service, don’t get excited. Rather, ask them why? What precisely are they interested in? What’s happened to put them in the market to buy? Who else are they contacting? Who are they currently working with? Why would they switch? Ask them when they’ll make a decision. Why then? Ask them about their key buying factors, price, delivery, etc. If they’ll only buy from the low bidder, your company’s policy will dictate whether you continue. If their request is simply part of an annual bid process, you should know some history. How often have they changed suppliers after bids were submitted? If bids enable them to get better pricing from a current vendor without making a change, that’s precisely what they’ll do and you want to know that upfront. I suggest you not play that game. However, if they’re experiencing issues with a supplier, discovering exactly what those are will help you determine your next steps.
When they give you a start date and ask you to let them think about it for a while, I hate to say it, but they now hold all the cards. Once you’ve given them pricing, they have all they need to leverage your information against others; and, can take their sweet time in making the decision. So, now what do you do? Apologize, saying that you obviously misunderstood they would be making a decision that day. Ask what information you’ve left out because it’s clear they still have concerns or questions. If they say everything’s fine, ask for the order. If they still won’t give it to you, it’s a glaring sign that they aren’t serious buyers. State when your current offer expires and be clear that if a decision hasn’t been made by then you’ll have to resubmit. If they’re the decision maker and are really in the market to buy, they’ll have a date, a budget and be able to decide. If not, they’ll string you along.
So, if you’re tired of spinning your wheels and would like greater success with prospecting and generating new business, become skeptically curious. Do so sooner rather than later.
If not, I urge you to develop this short list of the most important things you need to do, accomplish, learn, create, change, give up, believe in, etc., in order to realize the growth and success you deserve next year.
This is the time of year when you see ads for goal-setting workshops and you start to consider New Year’s resolutions. Although attending a workshop would force you to get the job done, I wanted to share with you how to develop your list on your own in five steps.
1. Schedule a mandatory meeting.
Set aside time to reflect and think, usually one to two hours.
2. Cover all aspects of life then prioritize.
Consider community/contribution to others, personal, family & other relationships, business/career, financial, recreation, health & fitness (physical, mental, spiritual). After thinking through all these categories, prioritize your top five – these will be your ‘Big 5’ and will keep you focused and increase the likelihood that you’ll take action. Stick with the five until one is accomplished, then you can replace that with another if you’d like.
3. Be specific, realistic and clear.
A simple trick to writing out your goals so others easily ‘get’ them is to make sure each contains a verb, noun and date. Here are some examples:
To begin mentoring someone new by January 30th
To revise the website by April 30th
To travel to The Keys in March
4, Write out the action steps needed to accomplish your goals.
This may require you to schedule a second mandatory meeting. Make a list of action items that also include a verb, noun and date. Consider constraints and roadblocks that may need to be removed. If you require the assistance of others, add their name. Be clear as to what you expect/need from them (what, how much, by when).
5. Share.
Communication is critical. None of us can accomplish all that we want to without help. When employees know what their manager’s top priorities are, it’s easier for them to buy in and engage. When children realize why something is important to their parent, it’s easier to be supportive and understanding.
Good luck! If you would like some worksheets just e-mail me and I’d be happy to send them to you. Here’s to 2013 being our best year ever!
Sharon Day is President of Greenville-based Sales Activation Group. They help companies who are frustrated with their current team’s performance and/or turnover, teaching a strategic process for revenue generation and employee development. For more information call 864.293.6633 or e-mail: sharon@2activatesales.com