Is Competition is killing you!

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In a latest conference with a group of salesmen I asked the concern what’s the hardest hurdle in your market today. I got a wide range of answers, but the one that I discovered most unpleasant was the one over. This individual clearly considers that his solutions are the same as his opponents, and is failing to find a way to differentiate his company from its opponents. When I went around the desk and asked other salesmen if their company offers anything more in the way of value than their opponents, I got a definite yes, and a list of variations! So the next obvious question for the salesperson was if that’s true, did the prospect know this? Feeling a bit trapped he said “yes, of course I tried to explain all these things to the prospect but he was targeted on price”.
My intuition tells me that this may not have been accurate, and that I put the salesman on the spot. The reputation of this organization is without question and the alternatives they have provided for over a 40 year span to their market says volumes about their ability to bring added value to their customers.
The truth is this individual just isn’t getting the concept across to the prospect. And the potential reason is because he doesn’t believe it himself. Of course the probability is cost conscious, but it’s been my encounter that in general, people are more value aware than cost-conscious.
It’s not clear to me that this salesman is well prepared or qualifying his prospects to see if his company’s strength’s will match up to what the prospect really wants to accomplish. Price is the obvious place for a prospect to start. Good salesmen know that being ready to show a prospect how they can offer real value, meet their goals, and show they are the best company to meet their real needs is crucial to removing the low price issue. It’s been my experience that people are willing to pay for high quality service and products if that’s what meets their needs.
As a good salesman, studying how to get a client or prospect to open up and tell you what they really want to accomplish is an important skill in getting past the price issue. We all know including the prospect that hardly ever is the lowest priced company the best company.
It’s my viewpoint that individuals who claim they can’t sell because they’re being under priced are actually just saying, they can’t sell!................read more at ...Is Competition is killing you!