Mark is looking at his schedule and realizing the July 4th holiday is just days away. Oh, Oh! Is the quarter really almost over? And the year is half over too. The sales reports are bound to follow, and he is determined not to let his performance slip away. Mark has decided it's time to review and get his game plan back on track.
Symptoms:
One of the most common objections salespeople get is about price: "That's a bit more than we were thinking about paying." "Your prices are kind of high." "That just doesn't fit our budget" are typical comments. Salespeople tend to be very quick to take these comments at face value. They assume these price objections are the real issue standing between them and an order, so the path of least resistance is almost always to begin dropping their price to get the sale. And, more often than not, once the price issue has been "resolved", more resistance comes to the surface.
Good morning & Greetings, here's this week's selling scenario to think about.
Symptoms:
Carlos believes that sales success is simply a game of numbers, and his commitment to relentless
prospecting has proven him right quarter after quarter, year after year. However, all that prospecting creates problems, for Carlos often finds himself so overwhelmed by follow-ups and open opportunities
At 35, Rachel built a nice career for herself, and she was enjoying the benefits of that success. There was a nice house in an upscale neighborhood, the vacations in all the places she ever dreamed about and a luxury set of wheels sitting in the driveway; all of it earned through hard work and commitment to Rachel’s goals. Her life looked like the epitome of success, and Rachel was very proud of it all. There was, however, one thing Rachel didn’t have, and it seemed the more successful she became the less of this one thing she had at her disposal. Rachel hated to admit it, but all the success cost her time to enjoy her life with friends and family. To Rachel, it became obvious that success had a price and she wasn’t sure it was worth it to raise the bar and experience even more of it. She found herself admitting that being more successful just meant giving up most of what was left of her personal life.
Charlotte and Eleanor are twins, and their mother signed them up with a local Brownie troop when they turned seven years old. The girls loved all the fun craft activities that were part of the troop’s weekly meetings, and their parents loved to see them make new friends and socializing outside the family. As the year went on the two girls’ personalities became more and more apparent. Charlotte’s outgoing nature and willingness to take on new adventures was very different from Eleanor’s shy and less bold demeanor. Never was it more apparent than when the annual ritual of selling the famous Girl Scout cookies took place. Eleanor was upset and cried when her sister constantly was recognized for the most sales, and well, Eleanor’s reaction was to ask if she could be excused from selling cookies. When her mother told Eleanor she had to either sell or drop out of the troop, Eleanor was devastated. After her first few attempts to sell to people going past their stand at the grocery store failed, Eleanor was ready to head home and quit the troop as well.
Roy and his boss were going through the usual year end gyrations that required them to get out the crystal ball and "forecast" what sales would look like for next year. Despite the fact that a large portion of Roy's sales came from repeat (evergreen) clients, he still had to figure out where the growth would come from. Worse yet, he's scared to death that something unforeseen might cause the loss of a key account that would completely derail his plans. Management has given him some target accounts, and also asked him to focus on certain offerings, but he was still nervous about how he could make all this happen. He knew he had to get out to a fast start but just wasn't sure on how to go about it.
Having earned a small commission check last month from her sales job, Marta was doing her best to replace her old refrigerator and had already hit the local appliance stores, as well as a few of the Big Box outlets. After leaving the third stop, it became apparent she would have to go back to the first store to get the best price and the color she wanted. After finally approaching the floor rep with her true intentions, she was then surprised at a delivery charge that she had not discussed on her first visit. Not knowing what to do now, she returned home to look at the ads in the Sunday paper and to talk it over with her husband.
In as much as 95% of the cases, buyers control the buying process (at the seller’s expense). They’re calling all the shots, and most salespeople are simply along for the ride. Buyer’s instinctively maintain control of the process in order to protect themselves, in case they’re dealing with the stereotypical salesperson (that everybody hates). They’ve created these tactics to protect their leverage, maximize their discount, and control the situation to their advantage.
