Sales Tip Of The Week - SalesTrainingCamp.com

Greetings,

At a home accessories and furniture store I saw a couple of large metal wall pieces I liked for my office. This place looked like a family-run operation. The owner saw my obvious interest in one, came over, and asked if I liked it.

I tried not showing too much emotion and asked how much better he could do. His reply was brilliant:

“These are almost double this amount at Robb & Stucky’s (a high-end furniture store in Scottsdale). You can have it for only $295.”

Great answer!

I’m always prepared to pay full price, but I also like to ask for the sport of it, and, well, because it works. So I then said,

“How much better can you do if I also get that one over there,” pointing to a similar piece on the wall.

I expected something solid like, “Same thing with that one. Together, you’ll double your savings from anywhere else.”

Suddenly, though, he turned into a different person. He caved in, saying,

“Ah, well, OK, I can give you $75 off if you get both.”

He gave away pure profit.

Here’s something that’s not too profound at first glance:

“A dollar in cash money or credit that you give away is always a dollar of lost profit.”

However, this has enormous implications when you put it in the context of price objections, negotiations, and concessions, and also special offers, discounts, and incentives to purchase.

And with that context in mind, here’s another piece of wisdom:

“The perception of the value of what you give away— in the mind of the receiver—can be greater than its price tag.”

OK, so what does all this mean?

Here's an example. A printer had missed a deadline date for an order. It caused me inconvenience. In the past I’ve had printers who knocked something off the price when they screwed up. Instead, she apologized profusely, and recovered with this:

“Here’s what I’m going to do for you. I’ve run 20% more than what you ordered, no charge. And the next time you do a black and white printing job like this, I’ll throw in a second basic color at no charge.”

If she would have knocked $100 off the bill, that would have cost her $100. I imagine she probably has to do at least $400 worth of business to make $100 net profit. Instead, she offered to give me 20% more than what I ordered, which cost her very little, since she probably ran 10% more than what I ordered anyway and would have just wasted it, and her additional cost was essentially just for the paper.

As for the second color on the next job, not only is that a clever way to ensure future business (kind of like having a gift certificate—who hasn’t made a shopping trip to redeem it even if we didn’t need anything?) but it also had a high perceived value to me because it’s something I normally pay for.

Her only cost is to run the job through the press a second time, and for the colored ink (which she’d likely have on the press for another job anyway); again much less than the perceived dollar value.

Think of how you might be able to use these ideas to avoid giving away dollars in cash, and persuade people to buy, or buy more quickly.

Here are some ideas.

Understand what’s important to them. Of course, all selling gets back to this. Money often takes a back seat to other
priorities. For example, if you’re in a price negotiation and you also know the buyer is under a time crunch, you could offer quicker delivery instead.

Give product instead of dollars. Instead of dropping price, throw in some additional products. Give them something
they’re not buying from you now. It gives them the opportunity to test something out, which could lead to future sales of that product. This also works great if they are a reseller. They can then make a profit from what you give them. Also, the
actual retail price of the product could be much greater than the concession or discount they want, but your actual cost is lower.

Offer services. How many people do you know who buy extended warranties, and then actually take advantage of all the free services that come with them? Sounds valuable at the time of purchase, but probably a very low redemption rate
by customers.

What can you offer that is high perceived value, high margin, and low redemption?

Use cross-promotions. One of the discount stock brokers offered 10,000 frequent flier miles from one of the major airlines to open up a brokerage account with them. Every party in the transaction wins there.

Get creative, and don’t give away those hard earned dollars.

A dollar given away is always a dollar of profit.

And, oh, want more word-for-word techniques on how to deal with price resistance, even avoid it, AND get full price for what you sell? I suggest you get the one- hour audio interview/seminar I did with sales expert, Bill Lee, "How to Sell Value, Get Full Price, and Overcome Price Resistance and Objections" Go to http://businessbyphone.com/tss.htm and scroll down to that title.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing." Thomas Edison

Go and Have Your Best Week Ever!

Art

About the author: Art Sobczak, President of Business By Phone Inc., specializes in one area only: working with business-to-business salespeople--both inside and outside--designing and delivering content-rich programs that participants begin showing results from the very next time they get on the phone. Audiences love his "down-to-earth,"entertaining style, and low-pressure, easy-to-use, customer oriented ideas and techniques.

He works with thousands of sales reps each year helping them get more businesses by phone. Art provides real world, how-to ideas and techniques that help salespeople use the phone more effectively to prospect, sell, and service, without morale-killing "rejection."

Using the phone in sales is only difficult for people who use outdated, salesy, manipulative tactics, or for those who aren't quite sure what to do, or aren't confident in their abilities. Art's audiences always comment how he simplifies the telesales process, making it easily adaptable for anyone with the right attitude.

Contact Info
Art Sobczak
Business By Phone Inc.
13254 Stevens St.
Omaha, NE, 68137
402-895-9399
ArtS@BusinessByPhone.com
www.businessbyphone.com

If you've ever seen figure skating, you know what a pleasure it is to follow the skaters on the ice because they move so gracefully from one step into the next, seemingly without effort. They don't move in a jerky, disjointed fashion; if they did, you wouldn't want to watch them.

Much the same can be said of winning sales presentations. You want to tell a sales story that moves gracefully and persuasively from beginning to end, that builds excitement from point to point, and that flows naturally to a conclusion and next steps. To change metaphors, you don't want the presentation equivalent of "Chopsticks" or Muzak. You want a presentation that hits buttons, that rocks 'n' rolls with advertisers, that moves them like jazz, that gets them all revved up to advertise with you.

How do you do that? Assuming that you've got the right content, a large part of the answer is by using well-thought-out transitions. Transitions are links, bridges, or phrases that connect the various parts of your presentation into a seamless, compelling story. What follows are transition examples to move sellers and their messages easily and successfully from "Hello" all the way through to the closing step. (You can use these as is or tailor them to fit your style and situation.)

Let's start with the very beginning of a presentation, often the most awkward moment in a sales call. Number one below has no transition; number two does. Notice the difference in effectiveness. Buyers always do.

Next, bring your buyer deeper into the presentation by using a setup or framing question to bridge from the advertiser's world to what you are selling or recommending.

You: "Given this scenario, how can we help?" or "So, the question is, 'What is your best option?'" or "With this background, how does XYZ add value?"

A bridging question creates a sense of anticipation in your advertiser for what is to come. Then, answer the question with a brief overview of your recommendation or idea. For example, "The answer is... " or "There are three reasons to use XYZ... "

Use a reinforcing transition to link back to your buyer's objectives. For example:

You: "...which will help you meet your objective" or "As a result, you will see many more visitors to your web site."

A simple phrase takes you and your advertiser into the body of your presentation.

Typically, you have three to five major blocks of information to present, each usually with more than one visual or point. Let's say you are presenting these major blocks of information:

Selling advertising and web services is often more complex than selling other kinds of media. Many web presentations are quite long (more about that in next month's column). It is very easy for buyers to become bored, lost, or both in your many PowerPoint screens. To minimize that risk, use connecting phrases like these to move from point to point within each block of information.

Couple the transitions within blocks of information with transitions between blocks of information.

You: "So, again, XYZ web site is the fastest growing in its category. And the story gets even better when you look at how much visitors to our web site spend. (Click. You're onto this next block of information.)

"So, you've seen how popular XYZ is and how responsive our users are. Now, what special advertising opportunities will you have?" (Click. You're onto this next block of information.)

Buyers see: cumulative benefits and are increasingly caught up in the possibilities of your web site's story and what it means to them.

Summaries are always easy when you use a simple client-centered lead-in transition like either of these:

You: "In summary, you want to (drive more traffic to your site)" or "We started by saying you want to... "

You: "To get these benefits, the next step is simple. Just... " or "Going forward, all that's needed is for you to... "

We began by saying that you want presentations that move easily and persuasively from beginning to end. Strategically placed transitional bridges and phrases create that flow.

The result will help you get more advertisers saying, "Yes," more often to your recommendations.

Going forward, the next step is simple: Incorporate transitional thinking into your future presentations and enjoy the results!

About The Author:
Anne Miller, sales and presentations consultant, is the author of Metaphorically Selling.” She works with high profile firms like The Blackstone Group, Yahoo! and Time, Inc. to help them sell products and services worth millions of dollars of business. Her free newsletter is available at www.annemiller.com Contact: amiller@annemiller.com 212 876 1875