7/28/2014 1:56:00 AM
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PERSPECTIVE – 21st Century Sales: Ask Questions, Calculate Savings
Ask the potential customer questions and then calculate what a customer can save with your solution to their problem, Richard P. Farrell advised salespeople at a Mid-West Fastener Association conference.
In the past, salespeople could score points with a customer by providing information. “Today customers have unlimited access to information,” observed Farrell of Chicago-based Tangent Knowledge Systems. “Let your fingers do the walking to Google.”
What you need to do is to provide solutions, Farrell said. But first you need to know what the customer’s problems are.
The answers may not “be in your best interest, but in the best interest of the customer,” Farrell said. “Risky? You may not get the information you like, but customers would appreciate.”
When the customer answers questions from you, it “gives you the opportunity to open your mouth.”
It is a reversal of the traditional flow of information. “Instead of outbound from the salesperson, what you want is inbound.”
That isn’t necessarily automatic. “Customers don’t want to give us information. We must create a trust so they share information.”
“Customers gain by you asking questions,” Farrell emphasized.
If the customer is not sharing information, “then salespeople should not waste time,” Farrell advised. “Not every buyer is a good prospect.”
Get to the truth and the most important truth is finding out what the customer’s problem is. “The greatest story almost never told is the customer’s problem,” Farrell said. “The greatest story is our solution.”
Got a solution to a customer’s problem? “Calculate what the problem is costing them and show how the cost of changing is less than the cost of the problem,” Farrell advised. “Your customer is buying fewer problems.”
“You may have the technical knowledge and are service oriented, you’ve asked questions, but ultimately sales is problem solving.”
• “Selling by its nature is counterproductive,” Farrell declared. “The harder you sell, the harder it is to sell.”
“How many like to be sold?” Farrell asked seminar participants. “People like to buy, but hate to be sold.”
• “Provide the climate to make them receptive.”
• Your biggest competitor is Status Quo Inc. “Give them a reason to change,” Farrell said.
• Focus on the right solution to the right problem. What is the value of the problem to others? It is valueless if you are working on the wrong end of the problem, Farrell said.
• If prices aren’t competitive, you don’t need high-paid salespeople.”
• Trying to sell by being a “friend,” doesn’t work, Farrell finds. “Customers don’t need more friends. They may not even care about you. Your mama is the only one who cares about you.”
• The salesperson’s “job is to get the decision either way.” Even with a rejection, “you can say, ‘Thank you for being up-front.’” Or if you don’t have a cost-saving solution for a potential customer, you can say, “We’re not sure we can help you.”
Seek quick decisions. “Time kills deals,” Farrell finds. “You want to compress time to decision.”
• “High value customer care is more about what you know about the customer then what they know about you.”
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