Do you need to "Think It Over" every time you buy something?

There is a very strong correlation (about 100%) between your own buying habits and the behavior you will tolerate from a prospect. If you constantly:

• shop around town for the best deal;
• gather lots of proposals before making a decision;
• or give salespeople lifetime subscriptions to your voicemail;

then don't be surprised when you find prospects doing those things to you.

If you are weak at making decisions, you will empathize with a prospect when he says, "Hey, this looks great, we'll discuss it and get back to you next week!" You'll be thinking subconsciously, "Makes sense; if I were getting ready to spend a lot, I'd want to think it over too." Instead of wimping out at this point, you should politely say, "Mr. Prospect, we both agreed that you would give me a decision at the conclusion of my presentation; either a No or a Yes is OK but thinking it over is something we said would not happen." This way, you won't be falling victim to another episode of Unpaid Consulting.

If you want to improve your ability to get decisions from your prospects, then resolve right now never to give a salesperson another "think it over." The next time you are the buyer, look the salesperson in the eye and say, "Yes" or "No." Improve your ability to MAKE decisions and you'll automatically improve your ability to GET decisions.

Wishing you Good Selling.

Copyright Sandler Sales Institute. 

Jeremy Rawitz

347-385-8500

In the normal course of business, things slip through the cracks. Sometimes those “things” are your prospects:

• An appointment needed to be moved, but it was never rescheduled.
• You met someone at a networking event who said, “We should get together,” but an appointment was never set.
• Someone requested information, but you couldn’t immediately get them on the phone and they were forgotten.
• You were given a referral, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to contact them, they, too, were forgotten.

Once you’ve identified the ones who got away, commit to contacting them within the next week.

Whatever it takes --- a phone call, an e-mail, or a knock on the door --- make the contact and qualify them and schedule an appointment or disqualify them and ask for a referral.

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jeremy Rawitz

347-385-8500

Situation:

You've been contacted three times by the Director of Warehouse Operations for a local manufacturing company. The first time he revealed that the company would be upgrading some of its materials handling equipment and requested a full-line catalog. In response to your request for an appointment he explained that the company was only in the preliminary stages of planning and an appointment would be premature. However, he committed to getting in touch with you when it was appropriate. So you sent the catalog.

A few weeks later, the Ops Director again called, this time requesting spec sheets for specific rollover conveyors and cantilevered storage shelves. He was quick to point out that the company was a bit further along in planning, but not ready for a meeting...and restated his commitment to get back to you when appropriate.

The third request came via e-mail...this time for pricing information. Your phone call got no further than the Ops Director's secretary who only repeated the request for the pricing information. What should you do?

• Provide the pricing information and wait for the Ops Director's call?
• Inform the Ops Director that pricing information is only provided during face-to-face meetings and press for an appointment.
• Call the company's CFO and request an opportunity to discuss how your company might help with the warehouse upgrade project.

Answer this week.

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jeremy Rawitz

Sandler Sales Institute

347-385-8500

Salespeople always strive to show the prospect how they are different from their competitors by talking about competitive pricing, quality service, and their years of experience.

Your prospects have no way of knowing who has the best solution for them. It is up to us as salespeople to help them discover and understand why our product or service is a good fit for them.

The first step is to find out how we can specifically match our products with a prospect's need for that particular product. That means we have to ask them questions. (One study actually shows that after they had decided not to buy, 83% of prospects cited Don't think the salesperson understood my business as the reason they had not bought!) We must ask questions in order to better understand their specific needs and wants, and to show how we are different.

If you can discover what your prospect's needs are and the best way to implement a solution for them, you will almost always overcome your competition.

 A firm understanding of a problem coupled with a great solution is worth a lot more than competitive pricing, quality service, and years of experience. This is how you can differ from your competition – which sets you up as the obvious choice and makes you a valuable asset instead of the same choice among many options.

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jeremy Rawitz

Sandler Sales Institute

NYC

347-385-8500

Competition is the reason your salespeople and many of your company's other employees have work to do. If it weren't for competition, businesses would lack the strongest incentives for change - new products, new processes, new markets, new strategies, new organizations, etc. Competition also encourages companies to introduce innovations that benefit their customers. And changes often mean new work and new opportunities for employees.

Information about your competition also makes it possible for your company to gauge sales performance in the marketplace. By comparing your company's performance with that of the competition, you can identify potential strengths and weaknesses of your sales program or of your product and services.

If your team has a process and strategy for gathering and analyzing competitive information, competition can energize your salespeople. Your customers can be an excellent source of feedback about the competition, if your salespeople know how to dig for it. Knowing the competition enables your salespeople to target their efforts, to approach prospects and customers well prepared. Without thorough information, your salespeople are working blind.

Identifying the Competition - Defining and prioritizing the competition is the key to the success of your program. Rank your competition from strongest to weakest. Competitors in your same market are easy to identify. They are also easier for you to know about and understand since many of the same external elements affect both your organizations. Pay special attention to the strongest competitors - who present the biggest threat - and the weakest, who can be targets for opportunity. In doing an analysis of these firms, consider these factors carefully:

• How does the customer perceive your company in relation to the competition in the overall market?
• Where does your specific product fit into that perception?

So how do your people find out whom you're competing against with a particular client? One way is for them to ask, "Are you talking to anyone else about this project?" or "Who else is bidding?" You will end up with some names, which you can compare against your knowledge about those companies. But you still won't necessarily have a clear idea of which of those companies poses the greatest threat to your company in this situation, or why. So try an indirect approach:

Salesperson (to the client): Bill, what if we were out of the running on this project. If you had to make a decision right now, which of the remaining bidders would you choose?

 Client: Probably Company DEF

Salesperson: Sure, I can see that. They're good. But I would have thought you'd go with Company XYZ. What made you pick DEF?

And with the answer, you find out not only who you're up against, but why and what. If your company is working with several people at the same company, take them through the same "what if" exercise and see if you come away with a better idea of how to target your sales effort.

Whether your people are planning for a presentation to a major prospect or the introduction of a new product, they need to know who and what they are up against in order to strategize.

© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jeremy Rawitz

jr@salesstrategycorp.com