One of the biggest things overlooked by sales people in a sales campaign is the prospect’s relationship with their current provider of products/services you also sell. Even though their business relationship might not be the greatest, it is still easier and less risky to do business with existing providers rather than changing to you. Everyday businesses buy products/services that are not necessarily the best solution, accept inferior service, or pay higher prices because it is “comfortable.”

When you are in a “competitive replacement” sale, you must look beyond the logical reasons the prospect should buy from you and address the emotional and political issues that will keep them from buying from you. You need to be aware from the beginning to the end of the sales process that change is difficult for your prospective buyer, especially since your performance as a provider is basically unknown. Part of your job as a sales person is to help your prospect effectively deal with the perceived risk of changing.

How can you help your prospect deal with the risk of changing to you?

1.    Start with a small sale – encourage the prospect to give you a small opportunity so you can prove your value. This gives them a chance to check you out, but also gives you an opportunity to go through their whole buying process. This will equip you with the information you need to win bigger sales in the future.

2.    Focus on your unique value – create a vision for the prospect of the specific value you will bring their company. Don’t talk about the competitor’s weaknesses. Instead, focus on those things you do well that you know they don’t. When asked, “How are you better than your competition?” say, “Let me tell you how we are different and what that means to you.”

3.    Support your value with relevant success stories – success stories are a great way to give the prospect a vision of the value you can bring them. Format your stories so that they define the business problem the customer needed to address, what specific action you took, and the business value they received. The business value needs to be in terms of money earned, money saved, return on investment, leg up on the competition, etc.

4.    Address the risk of not changing – there is a cost to not changing, whether it is missed opportunity, lack of cost savings, lack of competitiveness, or opportunity to capture market share. Specifically identify what impact it will have on your prospect, and then speak with the executive that has the most to lose by not taking any action.

5.    Sell to everyone impacted by your proposed products/services – one of the biggest mistakes sales people make is to sell to people who cannot approve a sale. It is important that everyone who benefits from your products/services, from the executive to the end user, is sold on the solution. This keeps any one person from choosing to stay with what is comfortable.

6.    Ask for their business – companies get caught in the “paralysis of analysis” and become reluctant to make a decision. If you have given them everything they need to make a decision and have addressed all of their concerns, just ask them for their business. After all, part of their job is to find solutions to their business problems and yours is to solve business problems.

If you employ these suggestions in your sales campaign instead of just selling your product/service features, you will greatly increase your ability to close sales.

These ideas are to assist you in your sales campaign. If you want more information on effective selling, contact: jimsearls@commonsensesales.com

Web site: www.commonsensesales.com