WELL WELL, HOW DEEP IS THE WELL

(Sales Rep) … isn’t that awesome? Can we go ahead and move forward with an opening order?

(Customer) How much will the total be?

(Sales Rep) We can get everything that you saw in here for only $XXXXX.00, fair enough?

(Customer) How about $XXXX.00, can you do it for that?

What should our Sales Rep say next? This is a question that just about every Sales Rep finds himself or herself facing. Sometimes it happens daily and sometimes rarely, but it happens to all of us. How we reply to the customer’s offer can affect every future sale made to the customer.

Before I get into the reply I like to use and the reasons for the reply let’s discuss the “WHY’S” behind the request from the customer.

When a sales rep makes a presentation to a prospective buyer a couple of things need to happen;

First, the buyer needs to understand how your product or service will benefit them. The term “them” is plural because the buyer has to be clear on how it will benefit him or her personally and how it will benefit the company. If you satisfy one without the other you can still make a sale, but the path to the sale becomes much harder to follow.

Second, the buyer needs to understand what exactly your product or service does and how it fits into their business. You may have the greatest green widget in the world but if the buyer only uses pink widgets you are not fulfilling their needs.

Third, the buyer needs to understand the ROI (Return On Investment) of your product or service. If your product or service will cost $100.00 and the buyer can’t see how to recoup the investment in a reasonable time your ROI is not going to make a pretty picture.

If all three of the listed things happen, in most cases the question will never come up, however some buyers will ask for a price reduction regardless of the value you presented. For these customers you need to think and evaluate the situation before committing either way.

You need to realize some buyers are instructed by their companies to demand a price cut, and if the sales rep doesn’t give them a cut in price they are told to pass on the sale no matter the value or ROI. This doesn’t happen often but it does happen. More often the buyers ask for a price cut because many times they get a bonus on YOY (Year Over Year) budget savings. The more they save the bigger their bonus, you would ask too. And finally some buyers just enjoy the negotiations and it has nothing to do with the final cost at all.

Every sales rep knows what they can and can’t do with their prices. Some reps have no flexibility on price, some need to get permission from a manager to change a price, and some have full control over pricing.

If you are a rep that can negotiate price on your own you always need one thing before you ever lower your price… A GOOD REASON FOR LOWERING THE PRICE!

Let’s go back to our buyer, he made you an offer for your product or service, if you say OK without any reason for saying yes the buyer will never know how deep your well is. The next time you quote a price the buyer will want more of a reduction and every time you say yes without a good rationalization you will be fueling the buyer’s fire to ask for deeper and deeper price cuts.

On the other hand if you give a good reason that the buyer can understand you can make the sale and you will set yourself up to control all future negotiations. Let me give you an example. You quote your price and the buyer offers you 10% less than you asked. Saying that you can meet their price however it will take a larger order or a longer contract is something the buyer hears all the time. It is logical to the buyer and will satisfy whichever reason they asked for the price cut.

You can accomplish the same result by tying additional products to the sale or shorter payment terms. No matter what your reason, the important thing is to have a reason. Without a good reason for a price cut the buyer will never be sure how deep your well is!

Lorin

IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT

For the past several days I have been out in the sale field selling on my own. This is very different than doing a ride along and the training role I usually take.

I AM LOVING IT!

It was like riding a bicycle, I was up and rolling from the first COLD CALL, that’s right, COLD CALL! I obviously don’t have any customers in Atlanta so I am just going out and making cold calls and it is as much fun as I remember it being.

The people are fantastic, interesting and fun to talk to. The sales are as exciting to make today as they were when I first started out my sales career.

Did I hear “NO” a lot, oh yes! But like I have been telling people for the past 20 years, if I hear enough no’s I will eventually hear a YES! It sounds so good when you hear it that you forget all about the multiple no’s you heard before it.

I’ll admit that some facets of selling have changed over the years, but the basics of the selling game are still the same. As it always has been in the past selling yourself is every bit as important as selling your product, maybe even a little more important. People buy from people they like and hit it off with. A big smile, and friendly greeting and being able to carry on a conversation turn prospects into customers.

I LOVE SALES! Maybe even a little bit more after the last few days than ever before. The freedom and flexibility along with the challenges placed before you in every call makes sales the best career for anyone with a competitive spirit and desire to win.

Like the title of this post says, IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, I DON’T WANT TO BE RIGHT!

Go sell something!

Lorin

YOU MAY BE WRONG BUT YOU MAY BE RIGHT

I received an e mail today from a sales rep that I trained several years ago. I thought it was so funny that I had to relay the story to you here on the Training Buffet, Help Yourself.

This rep has changed companies at least 5 times over the last 6 years. In his e mail he was telling me about all the different sales training he has gone to moving from company to company. He started with his present company back in December 2011 and went to his first training in March 2012. He wrote that the training he got at this company was the closest to the training he received from me.

Here is where the story gets crazy. He was out in the field and made a cold call on an office. As he was talking to the receptionist a woman walks into the lobby, looks at him and says, “I know you! We were in training together.” He looked at her and couldn’t remember ever seeing her before. He asked her what training and she told him the training in Atlanta with Lorin.

He still didn’t remember her but as they talked he found out that she was the manager of the office and was the buyer. He writes that he was thinking that this was going to be an easy sale.

He started into his sales presentation and she started laughing at him. He was confused, he asked her what was so funny. She said, “In 6 years you haven’t changed anything but your product line!” He thought this was funny considering he had changed jobs so many times and had been trained so many different ways.

He started to tell his story but she didn’t want to hear it. She was so fixed on the presentation that nothing he said made a difference. He finally asked her if his sales approach was going to stop her from buying (a bold question but one that needed to be asked). She said heck no, she missed the presentation and loved hearing it.

He continued his presentation and as he suspected made a very nice sale to her. In his e mail he said if he had walked into her office anytime between my training and his current training making the sale to her would have been much different and much harder.

As I typed the reply to him I had to comment on all the different “styles” of sales training and sales presentations. No one has a 100% fool proof method of selling. No one way is right nor are there many wrong ways. If a company trains their reps to sell in a certain way, they believe it is the best way for them. No company trains their reps to sell the wrong way!

This is very important to know. Because just as every company believes in their own method, every customer believes the presentation they like is the best way to present. What is right for your company and your customers may be wrong for my company and my customers.

The bottom line, YOU MAY BE WRONG BUT YOU MAY BE RIGHT!

Listen to your companies trainers they will give you the best ways to sell to their customers. Use your experience to help you take what the trainers teach you to the next level.

Lorin

BON APPETIT

It has happened to me in the past several times and it happened again today, therefore I am once again going to try and explain the method to my sales training madness here on the Training Buffet, Help Yourself.

When I started this blog almost 2 years ago my thought was to put my training methodology and ideas in print so anyone who wanted to could log on and learn. For those of you that have been my steady followers you know that I have for the most part stayed on track.

What I put into word here are either best practices that I have found during my sales training experience or real life situations that have happened to me which I felt would have meaning to you.

There are two things that I need to make clear:

1)      The best practices that I outline are what I have found to be the BEST.

2)      I believe and practice what I post. This isn’t a “do as I say not as I do” situation.

There is also one thing that I know to be absolutely true, NO ONE WILL AGREE WITH EVERYTHING I POST! I don’t expect it and it doesn’t hurt my feelings.

I received a call from a rep today that called just to challenge my beliefs in my thoughts and ideas. I know this rep fairly well and he has called me many times about my posts. This time however the conversation was awkward, he wasn’t calling to discuss my posts he was calling to argue about the content.

There is an old saying that some minds are like concrete, they are all mixed up and set! This was one of those minds. I told him I wasn’t going to defend every post he disagreed with, it was his privilege to disagree with me about anything I posted. I did tell him that I believed in whatever I posted and felt it was good useful information for my readers.

He kept pushing me and kept questioning my beliefs in what I wrote.

When I heard him starting to run out of breath, I said this one last thing to him before I said good bye:

“LIKE ANY OTHER BUFFET, THE TRAINING BUFFET, HELP YOURSELF HAS A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TOPICS AND IDEAS. NO ONE LIKES EVERYTHING ON A BUFFET, BUT EVERYONE USUALLY LIKES THE MAJORITY OF IT OR THEY WOULDN’T BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.”

I have read books with hundreds of pages and when I was finished I had only a few words that were memorable. I have sat through training classes that were several weeks long and when I was done had only one idea that I thought was worthwhile. There are 376 posts on the Training Buffet, help Yourself not including this one. I don’t think you will enjoy each one but I know that you can find a few to your taste.

BON APPETIT!

Lorin

GET TO THE POINT, ANY POINT!

Have you ever listened to a sales rep and after they were done with their sales presentation you still didn’t have a clear idea of what they sold? This happened to me today.

I was approached by a gentleman standing by a kiosk in a local mall, he walked up to my wife and I and politely asked for a moment of our time. Because it was raining and we didn’t have a lot to do today we agreed. He walked us back to his kiosk and started his presentation. At first it sounded like a time share presentation, and then it sort of started to sound more like a vacation club. As we stood there a little longer it I was thinking he was selling a buying service.

After about 4 or 5 minutes I was so confused that I had to ask my wife if she had any idea of what we were listening to. She laughed and said that she had been lost for some time and she thought I knew what he was selling.

The two of us looked at the rep and my wife spoke up first, she said, what is it you want us to buy? He said that’s what I was telling you. I quickly chimed in and said, no, actually you haven’t told us anything yet you have just rambled on.

With that we both walked off. I was disappointed, usually these guys are better than that and my wife and I both enjoy hearing a good pitch. Needless to say this was not a good pitch!

So what lessons do I want to share with you that I learned from listening to this “Mall Rep”? First, be polite – his approach was very polite and professional. My wife and I both felt OK with giving him our time. Second, be focused – have a point to make before you start your presentation. Third, make your point – say what you want to say and don’t beat around the bush.

As reps we work hard to get a prospect or customer to listen to what we have to say, when we get the chance to make a presentation don’t confuse the customer, enlighten them. Paint clear pictures with your words that depict what it is you want the customer to know about you, your company and your product.

I still have no idea what it was that the “Mall Rep” was trying to show me, if I had maybe I would have bought one.

Lorin

FREE CAN BE COSTLY

Let’s role play for a few minutes. You are the customer and a sales rep walks into your business. Being the nice person you are you allow the rep to start their sales presentation. At some point during either the beginning or towards the end of the presentation, the rep reaches into their pocket and hands you a fist full of pens, flashlights, pads, and assorted other novelty items.

You thank the rep and shake hands at the end of the presentation and the rep leaves your business. For this role play let’s say you didn’t buy this time but you asked the rep to come back next week because you are legitimately interested.

You sit at your desk a few minutes later and look at all the “goodies” the rep gave you. As you look at each piece you notice that they all look as if they have been rolling around the trunk of the reps car for a few months. The logos are worn off of the pens, the pages of every pad are creased and some are torn, the flashlight is dead and doesn’t work, and the pen knife has half the handle missing.

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING NOW?

I may have made this into the absolute worst case scenario, but in a lot of cases this exact role play actually happens. Customers are being left with items that are supposed to promote the company and the rep, but instead make a terrible first impression.

I have been with companies that hand out samples of their product for the past 20 years. During that time I have always tried to impress upon the reps that samples need to be pristine. The samples need to show the absolute best the rep and company has to offer. Novelties and give away items need to be just as pristine.

I will take it a step further, ANYTHING you leave with the customer needs to be perfect. Your reputation and your company’s reputation depend on it. If you are trying to get a new prospect to buy the prospect should never see anything but perfection from the condition of your business card to the free novelties to samples and literature.

Take care of everything that has your name or your companies name on it. Make sure that you are showing your best at all times.

To let you know how some companies feel about their logs and name let me tell you about Coke Cola. There are conventions that have nothing but Coke Cola items for sale. You can find anything from an old bottle to underwear with the Coke logo on them. There is one thing that you will not find (at least not from the Coke Cola Company itself) and that is a rug or floor mat. Coke Cola will not allow their logo to be walked on. If you see a mat or rug with Coke on it, it is made without permission of the company and is aftermarket.

That’s PRIDE in your brand!

Lorin

THE SMALLEST NOVEL IN THE WORLD

I was at a networking meeting today and as usual I met a lot of people and handed out as well as collected a stack of business cards.

One of the cards wins the “MOST INFORMATION EVER PRINTED ON A BUSINESS CARD” Award. This card was a standard sized, white stock, black print card. The entire card was in a font so small that I needed a magnifying glass to read it through my bi-focals. The card was printed front and back from margin to margin.

When the person handed me the card I just stared at it in amazement, I scanned the card quickly to try and spot the name of the person. I couldn’t find it. I kept looking for the person’s phone number. I couldn’t find it. I tried to find out what type of business the person was in without reading the entire card. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t quickly find any information at all.

When I got back to my desk after the networking event I laid all the business cards I had gathered face up on my desk, I will admit the card that was print from side to side and top to bottom stood out from all the rest, but not in a good way!

As I scanned all the cards I could easily see the names of the people, on most I could see the phone number and on a few I could see a business name. Some of the cards stood out because of the colors of inks used, some because of the design, and one because of the size (it was a small card sold by MOO). Nothing stood out on the “special” card.

I picked up the card to read it and see what was printed on it. Lost in the middle of all the print was the person’s name. The name was in the same size and font as all the rest of the information. I found the phone number after a few seconds of searching and like the name it was the same size and font. This person had listed 29 (I counted) services they offer. The 29 services were in the line after line of text.

OK, I think you get the picture, this card was a mess. As far as I could see it was worthless.

I took it with me to meet a friend of mine this afternoon. When I showed it to her she said it looked “cool”. I asked why, she thought it was unique, she said look at all the print. I then asked her to find the name, she didn’t think it was so “cool” after the first 10 seconds of searching.

The point is, a business card isn’t a resume nor is it a marketing brochure, it is a reminder of who you are, and how to contact you. It can have a little about what you do such as a title or simple words describing what you do, but not a novel.

Imagine handing a prospect this card, if they started reading it you would either be talking for 10 minutes without the prospect hearing a word you said or you would be waiting 10 minutes for them to finish reading so you could start your presentation.

Business cards should make an impression, look at your card and ask yourself what impression is it making.

Lorin

INSPIRATION 101

Over the almost 2 years that the Training Buffet, Help Yourself has been in existence I have posted my all-time favorite poem twice. This is the poem that I attribute much of my success to because without it I know that I would have given up several times.

This is the third time I am posting it. Why post it again you ask, because of a conversation I had with a rep that I am so close with he is almost a brother to me. He is going through some very hard times and between his personal life and business life he doesn’t see much to be positive about.

With all that being said he called me today not to tell me his problems but to wish me his best on a meeting I have tomorrow. Even with all his problems he found the time to try and make my life better. That is the sign of a true friend.

Knowing what is happening in his life I did my best to keep him as positive as I was feeling and give him as much hope as I have that everything will turn out for the best.

As you read this poem, think about all the trouble you have had in the past and may be having right now. Think about what you are feeling. If you feel like just sitting down and giving up, this poem should help. If you feel like sticking with the struggle, this poem should help. If you feel like ignoring all the troubles and keeping on track, this poem should help. I know that it helped me in all these situations.

If you don’t find this poem to be as motivating and inspiring as I did don’t give up. Search the web for inspirational sites or motivating sayings. I am sure that someplace on the web there is a poem, story, quote, or saying that will hit the nerve for you as this one did for me.

DON'T QUIT

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When you might have won had you stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worse,
that you must not quit.

 Lorin

JUST LIKE RIDING A BIKE

Over the weekend I reconnected with a friend of mine that I haven’t talked to in almost 30 years. The last time we talked was the day I closed my diamond business in 1982! At the time he was also in the jewelry business and we had several opportunities to sell together.

We talked about our career paths over the last 30 years and I was shocked to hear that he got out of sales shortly after we lost touch and went back to school to become a general contractor building residential homes. He was telling me about some of the projects he had completed over the years and I must say it was an impressive list.

He then told me how he just about lost everything when the housing market crashed and that for the past 4 months he had returned to sales.

When he found out that I had gone into sales training about 20 years ago he half-jokingly asked if I would work with him and help him out a little. I said I would be glad to do whatever I could and he immediately said how about Monday? So there you have it, you now know how I spent my afternoon.

When we met I asked him what his plan was for the day. He opened up his laptop and showed me his map for the day with 6 stops marked. He handed me a folder with the sales records for each account we were going to call on.

As we arrived at his first customer and got out of the car he quickly reached into his back seat and grabbed his case. We were inside the lobby of the customer no more than a minute after stopping the car. I listened to him and watched as he went through his presentation taking the time to ask questions and using the information he received to lead him to the next question and eventually to a product to demo.

I loved how smoothly he made transitions from one question to the next and how easily he made it look when he closed each product as he moved the sale forward. It seemed like we were only in the customer’s business for a few minutes but we were actually with the customer for over an hour and walked out with what my friend said was one of the biggest orders he has taken to date.

As we started driving to the next customer he asked me what I thought, I told him that for him selling was like riding a bike, he didn’t forget how! I told him how impressed I was that after almost 30 years of not selling he was every bit as good as I remembered he was.

I saw him repeat this same level of professionalism and competence for the rest of the day and all 6 stops he had planned on making. We finished our day around 6:45 and as we said goodbye he asked what he could do better. I told him that the only thing I thought he could do better is to not waste his talent on simply selling, he needed to go to his boss and ask to be a mentor for new reps. I said that he was too good to be alone every day.

Today showed me that a good sales rep will always be a good sales rep. The skills and talent stay with you as long as you live and if you ever need to use them they are there ready to go at a moment’s notice. Maybe not every rep will be as polished as my friend in just 4 weeks back in the field, but I am convinced that with a minimal amount of practice a great sales rep will be back on top of the leader board in no time.

Lorin

TIC TOC TIC TOC TIC TOC

I was almost writing this post from the floor because that is where I fell when I heard this story from a sales manager.

Last week this manager was riding with one of his reps and made a stop at a fairly large prospect. The rep had set up the appointment and according to the manager had done everything right. He had the time, place, and all the right people there for the presentation. The manager said, “I was feeling very good about this stop”.

The rep started his presentation and was doing a great job not just telling the prospects about his product but actually performing demos and getting the prospects involved in the demos. The questions were coming fast and the rep had all the answers. The manager said that he felt the rep could have done this without him.

That is until the rep looked at his watch and started to speed up the pace of the presentation. The manager said it was amazing how he watched the rep go from full control and complete confidence to almost out of control and absolute chaos.

After about 15 minutes of the painful chaos the rep packed up everything and told the prospect that he would get in touch with them later that afternoon to set another appointment to finish his presentation and answer any other questions. The manager was so confused that he didn’t even know what to say to the rep when they got into the car.

The manager sat in the passenger seat and after a few minutes he told me he just looked at the rep and asked what had just happened. The rep said in a hurried voice that he had another appointment and had to cut the presentation short so they could make it on time.

In the managers own words he said “He didn’t know if he should scream or cry”.

I hope it is obvious to everyone that leaving a presentation for an appointment with another prospect is the WRONG thing to do. The manager tried to explain this to the rep but the rep said that he felt the next appointment was a better prospect and he had a better chance of closing the sale.

This is where I almost fell on the floor!

The manager told me that he had a long talk with the rep and he thought the rep now understands that the prospect that is listening to you RIGHT NOW is ALWAYS the better prospect and leaving like he did was not the smartest move a sales rep could make.

I told the manager that for now on he should take reps watches off when he rides with them. I told him that I don’t wear a watch just for that reason. When I am in my car I can look at the time, but when I am with a customer or prospect my time is all theirs.

Everybody reading this blog should try going through their day without a watch on. It is amazing how productive you can be when you are not constantly checking the time. You find yourself doing more and finishing more tasks rather than jumping from task to task because your watch says it is time to switch.

I am now sitting back in my desk chair and feeling good about telling this story. Sometimes it is via other reps mistakes that we learn our most valuable lessons.

Lorin