Sales Training for Recession
photo credit: Rob Lee
A recent article by Brian Neale stated that during this current recession, your first sales meeting of the new month should revolve around selling the products and services to your consumers that make their lives easier. This is a huge plus in your companies book as people everywhere right now just simply want thing’s to be easier for them.
Spend 2 hours (that’s right two hours–this is important stuff) on a list of ways that buying your solution will improve the life of your clients. It could be from the standpoint of economics ($$), or reputation, or customer acquisition, or well-being. But take furious notes. What you’ll find is that you’ll hit on things where you bring value that have been previously undiscussed.
Marking down your prices, having huge promotions and sales will not create value, however, communicating to your customers the benefits of your product/service will create value. In today’s economy with all the stresses and concerns people are experiencing every day, value and convenience are the most important thing’s to your consumer’s.
Brandlessblog on March 17th, 2009 12:42 pm
Sell benefits, instead of features.
1. How it save time
2. How it save money
etc
Stephanie Valentine on March 17th, 2009 7:09 pm
Dane,
Thanks for passing that on! Two hours sounds like a significant yet useful investment. You are right. Too many people are focusing on product rather than benefit. Powerful question useful for any business. I love questions to ask myself. Lately I’ve been asking myself, “What problem of importance am I trying to solve?” Now I have another good question to add to my ponderings!
Jeff Goldberg on March 18th, 2009 5:28 am
Thanks Dane! I couldn’t agree with Brian more. Too many salespeople believe that it’s all about the price, especially in our current “challenging” economy but people truly buy based on two things: relationship and value. I can tell you that given similar products and simliar prices a strong relationship between buyer and seller will trump a slightly lower price almost every time if the seller also knows how to express value. I can’t begin to tell you how many times a client has started a conversation with, “We’d love you to train our team to sell better but we just don’t have it in the budget,” only to end the covnersation with, “You’re hired! When can you fit us into your schedule?” Is it because I’m a sales superstar? Not really…I’m just very good at finding out what makes sense to my prospect and then explaining how I’ll deliver that value to them. We all need to remember that the customer only cares about WIIFM. (What’s In It For Me) Rather than give a strong presentation about why they should buy from us we need to ask the right questions, listen carefully and then make a highly targeted presentation that clearly helps the prospect see the VALUE in doing business with us.
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