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Have you ever lost a deal by a few hundred dollars? Even worse, have you ever lost a deal even though your price was the lowest? The problem is that too many times it’s all about price. Believe it or not the decision on whether price is the most important factor is often more in your hands than the prospects. Sure, they always tell you it’s about price but the fact is if that were true Avaya and Cisco would never sell a system.
How is the price factor in your hands? You need to understand that you don’t sell hardware and you certainly don’t sell features. If you want to win deals, make a decent profit and get referrals, you need to sell “solutions”. Those “solutions” are the remedies to the prospects pain and if you don’t ask enough or the right questions you will almost never know what that pain is. Some of you might have called Clearcom to get an estimate for a system and if you were talking with me I often ask you, “what business does your prospect do?” The reason is I’m trying to find “hot buttons” that I know that type of prospect will get excited about. The equipment quite frankly is pretty much all the same. It’s those little “hot buttons” that will make you look like you’ve really asked questions that will provide solutions to their pains and that will help make them more efficient and save them money.
It’s your primary job to convince your prospect that you are 100% interested in what they do, how they do it and what challenges they face. Also, only give the prospect enough information to convince them you know what you’re talking about and that you will be coming back with a recommendation that will improve their situation. Save your answers and solutions for your presentation. Try to match your prospects pain with those of your existing customers and tell them how you helped them. Giving a prospect all the answers and solutions upfront only makes you look like a “know it all” and that you really haven’t taken the time to find out what their issues are. For you guys, it’s like dating. Girls want you to be interested in them, what they think and what they want. Then they will trust you. Once you find out what the customers issues are, understand them. Then come back with solutions and explain how exactly it will make their life easier. Then and only then, do you have the right to ASK FOR THE ORDER. Only don’t ask for the order! Assume that you are the only one who really knows their needs and it’s not if but when you will do business.
“Okay then, how about we plan to meet with your key people on Friday at 10:00 am and discuss in detail how to optimize your application. On Tuesday, I can program and install the equipment. I’ll have the system up and running with a few phones by late afternoon and we can have an initial training around 4:00. If everything is ok we will cut over the system at the end of the day. Are you ok with that schedule?”
Don’t be afraid of a NO! It won’t kill you and if you’ve truly done as I suggest, the prospect will have no problem saying yes! Also, avoid getting dragged into a discussion about price. The minute you open the door, the focus will move away from what you’re going to do for them, to how much it is. Just focus on how happy they and their customers will be.
Good luck
Hugh Vujnovich
President
Clearcom Networks
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