In Sales Excuse #1 we looked at the common excuse of “No One is Buying”. In Sales Excuse #2 we looked at ways for sales people to improve their time management In Sales Excuse #3, how often do your sales team say they didn’t make the sale because “Our price is too high? We are too expensive”, “Our competition is cheaper than us!”, “If we were cheaper we could sell more!”? This is just another excuse where sales people focus on their own ‘3Ps’ of Product, Price and Problems rather than on the value they can add to customers.  There are some simple things we can all do to have quality conversations with our customers, which in turn, leads to better quality sales and repeat business. At The KONA Group we train and coach Sales Teams every day that are looking to improve their results and when price is a common excuse for underperformance we recommend the following 3 insights as a starting point.

1. Have the right conversations. Quality Conversations start with Quality Questions.  Asking interesting ‘High Value’ open questions that encourage your prospects and customers to talk about themselves and their business is critical.You want customers to value having a conversation with you, not look for a reason to get rid of you as early as possible, so how do you have these conversations?It’s easy really, you ask the right questions based on your customers Business, Market, Competition and Future…. and then you shut up and listen.In meetings with customers and prospects your sales people should only be talking 20% of the time. Listening means really listen, not just be quiet whilst waiting for your turn to speak.

2. Adding value to your customers BUSINESS is the key to make selling easy. Adding value to an existing or potential customer is not just about selling your product or service.Often during a quality conversation with a customer many opportunities to add value will emerge and while some of these will involve your products and services, if you look at the none product related challenges they face from a Business perspective, you will find more opportunities to add value.Most businesses are bombarded with sales people trying to flog them a product or a service regardless of their need however your Sales Team will be amazed at what happens when they start to have quality conversations focused on the customer’s Business rather than the 3Ps.Think rapport building on steroids!

3. Make it about the customer, even when you want it to be about you… It is easy to say ‘Put the customer at the centre of everything your do’ but salespeople rarely do.It is not about you but rather is always about the customer, even when it really is about you.  The moment a customer or a prospect believes that you are only in it for yourself then TRUST melts away and you are back to a price based haggle.Put your own self-interest to one side and focus on the customer, their organisation, their issues, their strategy and allow the opportunities to add value with your products and services to emerge.  You may even find that you never have to actually close the deal, your prospect may do it for you!At the end of the day, all else being equal, most customers will make a price based decision.  It a salespersons job to make sure that all things are not equal.  They need to be the difference, the X factor, the point of differentiation, and then their customers will buy from them, regardless of price!

  Going forward: If Quality ‘non-product’ conversations are a challenge for your team then customised sales training and coaching WILL help your people to become more successful.   Constantly ‘sharpening the saw’, as Stephen Covey puts it, is a critical component of being a sales professional. So to discuss how we can design a customised sales training and coaching program for your organisation please contact the KONA Sales Performance Specialists via email at info@kona.com.au or call 1300 611 288.

Because Hope Is NOT a Sales Strategy