Sales Blog with Professional Sales Tips

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What can we do when a prospect or customer asks us, “What’s your price on this?” “What’s your price on that?” Ad infinitum. We know that many times we can lose this battle but there are sales skills that can  put these price questions to bed and save the order.

“When our customers start a roll-call of pricing questions it’s time to go shopping at the grocery store…”

Sales Tip 101
When customers have issues with pricing, their foremost concern is usually about the total price of all the products and services they’re buying from us, not each individual item. Normally a customer will have a vague notion of what the total price might be before they even receive any sales help from us. This is best demonstrated when customers look at formal proposals. The first thing they look at is the page with the total pricing. Customers focus on totals.

How to Sell with a Shopping Cart
When we go to the grocery store we pile a bunch of stuff in a cart and pay the total when we check out. Bar codes have allowed grocery stores to hide the pricing that used to be displayed individually on every item. They’re not stupid and they know what we know. Customers care primarily about the total price of the purchase, not the price of each individual item.

Let’s Go Shopping
When our customers start a roll-call of pricing questions it’s time to go shopping at the grocery store and put these sales tips into action. The first sales tip is to stop quoting price after price and respond with some variation of, “Rather than quoting each item’s price let me put together the complete package/order/proposal for you with a total price. Some of our pricing might be higher than you’re expecting and some will be much lower, but our overall pricing is consistently competitive and your total price will be too.”

We have to get into the mind of our customers and figure out what information they are really seeking. Most of the time when asking about pricing one item at a time they are really just wanting to know, “What is all of this going to cost me?”

Related information: Does any customer every pay the lowest price for anything?, A Great but Infrequently Used Objection Handling Technique

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Bad sales skills die slowly don’t they? One of my poor sales skills when I was younger was to shotgun my prospects and customers with sales and marketing brochures by snail-mail and E-mail. Want to know something I always knew but never admitted to myself? All of that activity never helped my sales one bit.

“…reminds me of the guy I know who hasn’t exercised in thirty years but wears the best looking and most expensive pair of Nikes on the planet.”

Why don’t brochures work?
They don’t work because we have two primary considerations when it comes to the most effective ways of selling: relationship and information. We need to create a partnership with our customers and accumulate as much data as possible about them in the process. How does a printed piece of marketing collateral or a beautifully crafted PDF file E-mailed to a decision maker help us in either of those two areas? We’ll get plenty of people doling out sales tips and sales advice in our careers about why we should launch an avalanche of marketing materials. They’re not providing good sales help.

Marketing Brochure Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
Snail-mailed collateral is thrown away and buyers delete E-mailed marketing propaganda if it isn’t caught by the company’s spam filter first. Consider for a moment how little marketing material actually hits the eyes of a decision maker. Virtually zero percent. Our customers treat this stuff like Anthrax. Besides, if customers want information guess where they look first? Your web site.

Why do we keep doing it?
We keep sending out a tsunami of sales brochures because it’s something we’re supposed to do and it makes us feel good. At least we’re doing something. It reminds me of the guy I know who hasn’t exercised in thirty years but wears the best looking and most expensive pair of Nikes on the planet. It somehow makes him feel like he’s doing a positive thing regarding his health.

So doctor, what is your sales advice?
Stop wasting time on ineffective sales materials and focus on what makes a difference. The difference is all the activities involved with relationship building and being a student of our prospects and customers. That’s the best sales tip I can give you when it comes to collateral material.

Related information: Collateral Materials, Sales Brochures, What a waste!, A #1 Proposal Tip

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Our customers and prospects don’t need our sales help and sales skills as much as they used to. They can find much of the information they need on the Internet. The first thing most customers do before purchasing anything is to research the product or service on the Internet before talking with a sales professional. We know this is true because we do the same thing when we buy a consumer product for ourselves. Since buyers know they can easily get product information on the Internet, there has been a fundamental change in what they need from us and how to sell to them.

“In the 21st century decision makers are increasingly using a vendor’s knowledge as the key differentiator…”

What are today’s buyers looking for?
They want information that goes well beyond what is available on the Internet. Furthermore, they want it coming from someone they view as an expert. Sales professionals that can only provide information easily found on the web are viewed as order-takers. Customers view order-takers as human powered e-commerce web sites that provide little sales help or value.

How do we respond?
To set ourselves apart from the competition and demonstrate our value in this changing sales environment we have to provide something the customer can’t get without us. Expert information. Expert knowledge and experience are not available on the Internet. If they’re using our expertise then the likelihood that they will buy from us increases dramatically.

What’s next?
To put ourselves ahead of 99% of our competitors and to provide the kind of expertise that our customers are thirsting for, we need to make sure we are up to speed on the products and services we sell. We must also ensure that we are knowledgeable about our industry as well. To gain and maintain expert status we can take training available from our employer, subscribe to industry publications and subscribe to an industry specific sales blog or podcast. We can read a few books specific to our industry too. Recommending these books to customers even further enhances our expert status. VIP (Very Important Point): Don’t ever stop learning; this is an ongoing process.

What’s the bottom line? In the 21st century decision makers are increasingly using a vendor’s knowledge as the key differentiator between selecting vendor A over vendor B.

Further reading: Customers in 2008 vs. 1993. Are they really different?, Attention sales representatives, the Internet is not replacing you

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

“What is your price?” That question can really get to be annoying to sales professionals because:

1. We’re tired of having to respond to it.
2. We know that price isn’t really the most important issue to our prospects and customers. Risk, service, quality and availability always come in ahead of price in virtually every study that’s ever been done of buyers’ real concerns.

“You’ve just dodged a bullet.”

We know not to answer a price question without first getting all the information we need. We also know to provide price information only when we are ready. These are just basic sales tips. However, what are the
sales skills to effectively do this?

Step 1
If the customer pops the “What is your price?” question on a product or service, then simply respond with, “How many do you need and when do you need them?” This will lead into one of two directions. If they say they don’t need any, this indicates they’re just price shopping and you can respond with something like, “When you know the quantity you need and the delivery timeframe, I’ll be happy to research a price for you.” You’ve just dodged a bullet. If they do have the answer to those questions then move on to Step 2.

Step 2
Now that they’ve told you how many they need and when they need them you can continue the conversation by asking, “Can I ask you some questions in order to get the information I need to price correctly?” You then proceed to ask them about whether the purchase is budgeted, how they are currently being supplied, who the decision makers are, etc. All of this buys you time to get more information, demonstrate your added value and negotiate the details.

The best part about this technique is that it gives you some control over when and how you quote pricing to a customer, ideally when you are ready and when you have enough data.

Further reading: How to handle: “Tell me your price right now.”, Here’s some fact-filled sales help about price objections.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Do your price quotes have ED, also known as Expense Dysfunction? Do you just throw out prices and assume your prospects and customers understand all the added value and sales help you and your company are bringing to the transaction?

The Summarized Price Quote
You’ve been working hard putting together a price quote for a customer and you’ve reached the point where you have to send them a price. During the sales cycle you’ve given them all the brochures you could find and used all your best sales skills including some from this sales blog, I hope. Shouldn’t you be able to simply provide them a bottom line total price with the words “all items included” next to it?

“If the customer starts to fuss about pricing then we have some ammo to respond.”

Why This is Bad Sales Advice
By going the “all items included” route you have missed an opportunity to tell the customer all the added value they get by buying from you. Oh, I understand, you’ve shown and told them everything already. Forget it. They’ve forgotten everything. The best place to show the customer the details of the hidden value they are getting from you is alongside the bottom line price. This is the one place you know the the customer is going to focus their attention.

Assumptions, Assumptions, Assumptions
Have you ever noticed that the word “assumption” has a negative connotation? Want to know why? Because in most cases we assume something that isn’t true. In sales we assume that the customer knows all the additional value we bring to the table. The fact is, they don’t. It’s our job to remind them of their return on investment by doing business with us and the best place to do this is by including the details right by our final price.

Examples
Free Delivery N/C
Project Coordination N/C
Safety Training N/C
Pre-sale Design Services N/C
Customized Packaging N/C
Assigned Account Manager N/C
Post-sale Engineering Support for 90 Days N/C

There are a million of these depending on your industry and product. You get the idea.

One Final Note
One additional feature is this gives us some negotiating room too. If the customer starts to fuss about pricing then we have some ammo to respond. “If we were to lower your price by 10% we wouldn’t be able to include the additional services at no charge as we have proposed.”

Related information: How to handle: “Tell me your price right now.”, A #1 Proposal Tip

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

I love sales and marketing but occasionally I run into companies that use sales skills and marketing techniques that are a little nauseating to me. I don’t want to name any companies but the one I’m thinking of uses pink Cadillacs to reward their sales superstars. But hang on lipstick lovers around the world - this story has a twist.

What bothers me?
I hate when they teach their salespeople when prospecting, “every ‘no’ means that we’re just that much closer to a ‘yes’!” Just hearing that kind of sales advice makes my skin crawl because it’s so superficial sounding.

“It’s a backwards kind of engineering…”

What is good about it?
As much as I hate to admit it, they are actually giving their sales representatives a good sales tip. In fact, they are giving them many sales tips rolled into one statement. If we imagine all the companies that will never buy from us and those that will buy from us in one big pile, isn’t it our job to both eliminate the non-prospects and identify the qualified prospects?

Some more thoughts.

• We tend to have a fear of “no’s” when prospecting. They represent the boogey man in the closet. Let’s think differently about “no’s” in the future.
• We can’t stop when we get a “no.” A “no” means a “no” from that prospect at that moment, and that’s all.
• When we get a “yes” we sometimes stop asking other questions for fear of getting a “no.” We need to keep asking product questions, decision maker questions, etc. from a “yes” prospect until we get the information we need.
• Setting a “no” minimum quota while prospecting can go a long way in removing the psychological fender bender we experience when we hear one. It’s a backwards kind of engineering, but enough “no’s” will generate your “yes’s.”

Even though this company’s sales help might sound corny , this respected organization is actually providing good sales tips on how to sell.

Related information: Sales Tips: What is Cycle Prospecting or Perpetual Prospecting?, Hierarchy of Prospects

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

We’ve added mobile device capability to Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer. Many mobile devices make viewing a web site difficult because the display becomes garbled. By simply clicking on the mobile logo on this site it will immediately change to a mobile enabled version for much easier viewing.

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

Have you ever thought about the balancing act sales managers must endure as they help develop our sales skills? Oh, I know, we frequently see him or her as a tyrant demanding that we meet unrealistic goals. However, think for a second about the chess game a good sales manager has to play in order to provide sales advice that we value.

“…give your sales manager a big hug.”

Close to Us
They must have a good relationship with us so that we listen to them and value the sales help they provide. While maintaining a good connection with us they must simultaneously not be a salesperson. We don’t want them running our accounts and upper management needs to see them as part of management, not as a sales representative.

Bootlicking Upper Management
While loving us they also must kowtow to upper management. A sales manager has to be close enough to upper management to get information but not be viewed as “one of them” by his or her sales team. Normally the valuable information gained from upper management is beneficial to the sales team and passed on as sales tips.

It’s not easy for a sales manager to keep the plates spinning and balanced. Every sales job has its notable challenges, especially the sales manager’s.

Now go give your sales manager a big hug.

Related links: Key Sales Advice: Your Sales Manager’s Password, Sales Manager and Sales Representative Working Together,Sales Tips to Keep Your Manager Happy

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

We’ve all seen families where the kids run the show. I’ve seen very few five-year-olds that even have a hint of what is required to successfully run a household. Finance, career, insurance, taxes, etc. - they’re clueless about these things. We can’t let kids run the house and we can’t let customers undermine our sales skills and run the sales show.

“…we can’t let customers…run the sales show…”

When it comes to the sales process itself this is the hierarchy of players.

#1 Sales Professional. That’s right. We come in number one. We are the bond between our customer and our employer. As a result, we must necessarily direct the sales process and provide sales help when and where needed. Who else is better positioned with the sales skills to fill this role, especially in larger transactions?
#2 Our Customer. Without the customer not much else happens does it? They are the ultimate source of our income. However, realize that the sales professional knows how to sell to a specific customer and can put together the following mix of ingredients: customer relationship management, competitive benchmarking, product recommendations/information, budgets and timing. How else would all these building blocks come together if an account manager wasn’t in control of things? The larger the sale the more critical this becomes.
#3 Our Employer. In the threesome of sales representative, customer and employer we see that the employer comes in last in the sales process. Is the employer important? Yes, but without a conductor standing in front of the employer (and customer) orchestrating all the ingredients noted above, there is no music.

This hierarchy is predicated upon one thing however, that the sales professional is really a sales professional. When our employer and customer have confidence in us, they want and need us to coach the team.

Related links: Capital, Sales Representatives and Business Development, For improved closing skills you need to drive for show and putt for dough., Sales Competency Categories: Are you competent or do you just think you are?

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer

I was in a sales training class recently and sitting next to me was the Purchasing Director for a Fortune 1000 company. After a couple of days of polite conversations with him I finally had to ask, “What the heck are you doing in a sales skills seminar where we’re learning how to sell to people like you?” His answer got my attention. “My department is responsible for purchasing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products and services from salespeople. We are constantly negotiating contracts, terms, etc. as part of this process. Doesn’t it make sense for my department to understand how salespeople sell? Every sales tip I learn here can be used to our advantage in purchasing.”

“What the heck are you doing in a sales skills seminar…?”

The lesson is obvious isn’t it? Doesn’t it make sense that we might benefit by learning more about how purchasing departments work? We could benefit by knowing how they view us, what they look for and generally how purchasers purchase.

In 600 BC Sun Tzu wrote in his well-known military strategy book The Art of War that “We must know our enemy.” While I don’t view Purchasing Managers and their kind to be enemies, they can certainly cause conflict in our attempts to sell. We might be smart to listen to Sun Tzu and turn his military advice into sales tips by getting trained on how to navigate our way through purchasing departments.

There is no shortage of places we might go to find this training. Click here for a resource list.

Related links: Tips for Sales: Don’t take this customer bait., Customer Negotiation 101

To receive this sales tips blog by email <click here> to receive by RSS <click here>. © 2008 Scott R. Sheaffer