Symptoms:
Sadie was pumped to have a meeting with the right decision makers on her new product. They quickly agreed to her lunch and learn invitation and even let her know how excited they were about her products. They used a competitor’s products, and this was her chance to get the sale. She gathered the standard slide deck, added a few slides comparing her product to the others in the marketplace and even went as far to include delivery information. She knew this was the lunch and learn to end all lunch and learns and it would be an easy close.
Yet, when the presentation wrapped up Sadie asked if there were any questions and no one had any. They kindly thanked her and out the door she went. Later she learned the company went with their existing vendor.
Diagnosis:
Sadie put the metaphorical cart before the horse. All the excitement built up in her own webinars learning about the product and marketing materials made her think that excitement would translate to a definite and easy close. She believed the more she educated to prospect about the product the easier their decision would be to buy from her.
Prescription:
Sadie needs to remember to sell first and education second. Excited about learning about a product does not translate to having a product sold. What Sadie did was arm the prospect with all the information to go back to their existing supplier and garner a better deal.
Sadie moved the conversation forward with education, thinking this closed the sale, instead of closing the sale and then educate the prospect on the products.
Remember that prospects can really be suspects. Suspects can leave out vital information, string you along, evade or evaporate or be out for a free education. That free education can simply be information, presentations, to learn about the people involved, garner prices or proposals. The more information Sadie gives up without getting anything in return warms her seat on the Buyer’s bus.
Sadie should have spent more time on discovery during her lunch and learn, left out the bonus materials and found out the next steps before turning over all of the details the suspects needed to leverage their current vendor.
Critical Thinking
When representing different manufacturers, sometimes, they find education to be the only way to sell and get in the door. How does this impact how you do business?
When was the last time you warmed up the buyer’s bus and gave your suspect the keys to drive you all over town?
The Drill
Final Thought for the Morning:
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." Oscar Wilde
Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week
LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.
THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.
