Quick review: there are Three Levels of Management within the Student role you play during Step 1 of the Buying Process. The three levels of Management are: CEO, Core Level, and the Support Level. If you can reach and do business with the CEO, you will discuss issues of competitiveness, cost cutting and efficiencies, and you will like be holding better margins.
Core Level management is interested in solving problems NOW and maximizing Key Success Factors, those areas which contribute most effectively to the organization’s overall ability to succeed function to function. We also discussed the ways to contact Core Level managers and determine which have influence and which have authority without influence. The overall recommendation was to find influential sponsors who will sell your message to the Core managers in various relevant departments.
Now we look at the Support Level of Management, which is the bottom level providing support to the CEO and the Core levels.
Support level reacts to the needs of upper management. It includes areas like purchasing, legal, training and accounting. If you are dealing with a purchasing type in Support you will likely find an emphasis on the most machine for the money and consequently margins begin to shrink. This is the price-driven or “Transactional Sale.” Engaging business at this level is a Win-Lose: the purchasing agent is looking for the most machine at the lowest price. He wins. You lose.
To find big problems, which yield big sales with healthy margins, you need to be talking to CEO and Core level managers because these larger problems and longer view issues are their natural habitat. This is important for sales management training.
How to be a Good Student: Change how you think. Forget your product. Imagine you work for the customer. Imagine you are selling for your customer. Walk two miles in his moccasins. This way you begin to focus on his goals and concerns.
If your product helps him expand his business and solves problems, price is no longer the top issue.
Here is an example for sales training: A copier rep trying to sell a machine to an owner of an ice cream store. At first the reps pitches features and benefits. Customer could care less about copy quality and speed and so forth.
Then the rep imagined he was selling ice cream for the man. He started asking questions. In the process he learned that the man sold ice cream to local retail outlets, but he wanted to expand and provide specialty desserts to restaurants.
The rep then suggested that the man get the logos of all the restaurants he wanted to work with, and produce customized menus of ice cream products to be sold through each establishment. The man immediately loved the idea, bought the copier at retail and implemented the new marketing plan. The rep had created a solution to enhance the man’s business and that solution required the rep’s product.
By imagining that you sell for your customer, you will quickly understand your customer’s business strategies, and then you will be in a position to identify innovative sales opportunities that achieve value for your customer. Use these tips for yourself, or your sales training courses.
Here are 5 sales tips to help you achieve success in your sales career. These tips are often taught in sales training courses across the country. Your sales team will learn how to sell based on how customers buy. Understanding buying is where selling should start. Improve the productivity and morale of your sales force by improving the skills of your sales managers. Let’s start with these five important tips:
1) Negotiate Price Late in the Sales Process, Never Early
There is no reason to discuss price until buying desire has been aroused. If you customer doesn’t need it, any price is too high. Discuss price only when buyers recognize what they need and why the need it. Lowering price does not necessarily make a product or service more attractive to a buyer, in fact it rarely does.
2) Carefully Consider the Consequences of Any Concession You Make
Without profit there is no purpose. Therefore, carefully analyze each concession before making a commitment. Any concession will become an expectation later on. Don’t give away the store or that’s all you wind up doing, all the time.
2) Don’t Propose a Solution with an Already Discounted Price
Purchasing agents are often evaluated by how much they save the company. If you cut price right away in your initial proposal you may actually be doing that purchasing agent a disservice. If you don’t start with significant gross profit built into the deal you don’t leave yourself any negotiating room. There are exceptions of course. If you get into a deal late, you may have to shoot your best price just to be considered.
4) Be Patient
Relax! Slow down! If the prospect wasn’t interested, you wouldn’t be negotiating. Take the time necessary to achieve a true win-win. This is an important factor in sales training.
5) Never Give a Concession Without Getting One in Return
To a prospect asking for a lower price you might reply with a willingness to discount if the prospect will agree to purchase several more units during a specified time. The prospect wins by obtaining a lower unit price. You win by increasing the size of the sale. (Discuss other real life requests prospects make and how you might respond by asking for a concession.)
We hope these 5 tips create a common language for you and your salespeople. These tips will help your sales management training become easier and more profitable. Don’t wander aimlessly through the sales process. Have a plan. Have a strategy. Don’t miss opportunities during the buying process. This will help you to intensify your customers’ needs and differentiate your solution.
One simple strategy for understanding your customers’ needs better than your competition is to resist the natural temptation to talk about yourself, and instead, keep the conversation focused on your customer’s needs. If your customer asks you about your product or service – as they often do – answer their question, then redirect the conversation back to your customer’s needs. A good rule of thumb is to identify at least eight customer buying criteria before you start talking about your product or service.
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