When All Else Fails
You’re at the end of your rope. You’ve presented your value to the potential customer and he’s still not buying. You’ve presented quote after quote, and he’s still not buying. You’ve invested countless hours on this potential customer, and he’s still not buying. Now is NOT the time give up. It’s the time to have a frank and honest discussion with the prospect as to what you haven’t provided to help him with his business. Asking the right questions will either get you an honest answer….or the smack in face reality that it’s time to put this prospect aside and move on. Never under any circumstances burn the bridge! No point in getting hostile with the person who’s not buying from you. Tomorrow that person may be influencing another company that you’re trying to work with and you will lost all opportunity because of a previous “thing” that happened.
I had occasion recently to talk to a customer just like the one described here. An account manager who reports to me had been presenting quote after quote and was getting nowhere for months. Large amounts of quotes were in the sales funnel and were going nowhere. I called to speak to the Sales Manager and I asked him honestly to tell me what we were doing wrong. I asked him how he could stay in business with no sales closing! After a very long pause, he told me that our prices were too high and that he could get the same product from another distributor for less money. At that moment, I understand that this customer didn’t understand my company’s value and that it was my job to show him how he would actually save his company a lot of money by working with us. I spent some time with this customer and talked about the value that we bring to the table. I reminded of the services that we provide. At the end of the conversation, I told him that I had hoped I was able to give more insight into how working with us would actually help him. I also told him I clearly understood why he needed to have relationships with two companies who offered the same products and reminded him again how we were a bit different. After a long pause, he agreed to give us some of his business, so that we could prove we were all that we said we were.
It’s important to utilize all of your internal resources when you seem to be getting nowhere with an account. Sometimes, it’s just a fresh point of view that will make the difference. It’s NEVER time to just give up and walk away. Sometimes, we just need to rethink the approach. Sometimes, although it’s not verbalized, it’s about the customer “feeling the love” from your company! Not everyone is satisfied until they’ve had the attention of someone higher up in the organization. Use your resources to accomplish this. That’s why they are there.
SO that’s the first challenge, now what if you aren’t getting in front of enough opportunities. Look in the mirror at your level of activity. Most times the first sign of your struggle has been because you stopped doing the basics. Selling is not different than professional sports. If you went to a basketball camp by a top pro or college coach you would spend most of your time getting back to the basics dribbling, shooting and passing. In sales the basics are prospecting, preparing and presenting…if you haven’t made the right amount of time for prospecting it is going to affect your business. Have you given yourself the chance to succeed by networking at events or are you training like a happy hour with people you already know? Working the room is just that. Work. But if done right it can lead to great rewards and be fun on top of it. What could be better than understanding how other companies and industries work? Sure, you want to find opportunities but they most often come because of something you learned, let the opportunity present itself. A word of caution while networking… spend time with decision makers and movers and shakers. You’re there to make contacts and build a network, people who are there with the sole purpose of getting business that night rarely get little results but by being consistent with your participation, becoming involved with the organization and becoming recognized as an expert business will come.
Have you done the work to know who is the best fit for your products and services and made appealing approaches with real value, maybe use a little loss leader to get in the door. I’m not talking about a product or service sold cheaply but a way that you expertise and knowledge can benefit them. Be sure to have a clear definition of your value. Be sure that it makes sense in your market space. Be sure that you’re prepared for the call or visit. Show your value and what your company brings to the table each and every time. Do this in a positive manner, without “bad mouthing” the competition. You can be assured that your competition is speaking in negative terms against you! It’s the easiest thing in the world to do. It’s human nature. It’s so much easier to speak negatively about your competition rather than taking those negatives and turning them into the positives that you offer. The worst part about speaking negatively about your competition – it seeps into your world – the negativity that is – and becomes a part of you – only if you allow it to. Speak in terms of positives, and your world becomes more positive. This will also become a clear differentiator between you and the competition. Your Customers will come to appreciate your positive approach. Your Customers will turn to you because of this positive experience and everything else will fall into place.
