New Sales. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg

Author:Mike Weinberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMACOM
Published: 2012-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

The Commodity Antidote

My clients run the spectrum from high-end consulting and professional service firms to small manufacturers in businesses that are highly commoditized. I have a blast helping salespeople in commodity-type businesses use elements of their improved sales story to communicate value and differentiation to customers.

The power statement provides a way to articulate the meaningful reasons (other than price and availability) that customers buy from you. That’s a big deal when a buyer’s first two questions are “Do you have it in stock?” and “What’s your best price?” The reality is that very few products and services are true commodities. Although the product or service may be perceived as highly price sensitive, salespeople certainly don’t help themselves by jumping to the price conversation so quickly. But that doesn’t mean that price is the only factor influencing the buying decision.

Your power statement gives you ammunition. One of my clients has started to capitalize on a few selling points that its reps previously were taking for granted. The company is a small distributor of perceived commodity items in a niche business. Its competitors are giant organizations. When you call the competition for help you get the dreaded automated attendant. After angrily punching keys trying to get to a human being, your call is directed to a sales pool. In other words, no one there knows you. You have no consistent point of contact and must struggle through an interactive voice response system every time you call. My client has a real person answer 100 percent of the calls during business hours, and every customer is assigned to a dedicated account team. As part of the outbound sales call, the inside reps make darn sure to make prospects aware that “a lot of our ABC type customers look to us because they’ve had it with automated voice mail; they want to talk with a real person; and they come to really appreciate that we assign them a dedicated account team who gets know them and their business.” Following that client issue statement, they jump to a couple of differentiators: “We are ridiculously easy to work with, from instant account setup to low minimums. We’re looking for long-term relationships, not just orders. Our commitment is that we’ll never try to oversell you a more expensive piece of equipment or load you up with more supplies than you need.”

Yes, my client sells virtually the same product as its competitors. And most people it sells to are keenly interested in talking about price. The reps have begun to change the focus of sales conversations from price to the reasons companies buy from them. Let me ask, after hearing just a few snippets of their sales story, would you be willing to at least consider paying a few pennies more to buy from them? I would! Our sales story is our most important and most frequently used weapon. When we have a great story, it changes everything.

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