Throughout the first five steps of the buy-learning process, your prospects’ focus has been on achieving value. They have examined their problems, determined the problems’ seriousness, and examined the alternatives. They have a well-defined expectation of value because their attention has been on the benefits they will enjoy by purchasing. Now, in Step 6, Commitment, the focus changes from the value of your solution to its cost.
If your negotiation is occurring at the proper time, that is, after the two of you have completed the first five steps in the sales training process, then there is good news: your prospect wants to buy from you! However, don’t start computing your commission. The prospect will usually want more concessions. This is when real negotiating begins. Customers negotiate because they know that getting a lower price or other concession is likely at this stage. They do it because it works! But there are other reasons prospects negotiate. If you wish to negotiate successfully, you will want to understand the motivations of the other party. And, this will help you a lot in you sales management role.
People negotiate hard when their jobs are on the line.
Buyers are often (always?!) evaluated by their ability to save the company money.
CEOs and Core-level decisionmakers are evaluated on much more than price.
Example: efficiency of operations and return on investment. Consequently they negotiate differently, focusing on a variety of items.
Some buyers negotiate vigorously if:
They want to be admired.
They enjoy being tough.
It is strongly recommended that any negotiating you engage be done in good faith, with the objective of achieving a win-win, even if you are negotiating with Attila the Hun. You can learn lots of “tricks” from negotiating books or attending sales management training classes and seminars. They may work short-term. But in the long run they work against you.
Obtaining commitment from your prospect is a matter of working through the negotiating process so that everyone wins. The buying process unfolds in a series of eight predictable steps that your salespeople can anticipate. Our sales training programs teach your salespeople eight easily understood sales roles that correspond directly to the steps of the buying process. Our sales roles: Student, Doctor, Architect, Coach, Therapist, Negotiator, Teacher and Farmer, provide a disciplined, repeatable method for closing more sales, faster, while your competition wonders why they lost out.
A sophisticated sales approach made simple.
Many of our clients are looking for a common language, a consistent and measureable process for solution selling. Without a common language salespeople tend to sell on their instincts, and some wander aimlessly through a sales process without a plan, missing many opportunities during the buying process to intensify the customers’ needs and differentiate your solution.
Understanding what it takes to improve your team’s closing ratio – a thoughtful sales strategy combined with effective sales tactics on each and every sales call. Sales training programs will show your salespeople how to add more value, sooner, to your prospects and customers.
For years, the focus of sales training has been on the selling process – while ignoring customer buying behavior. But tomorrow’s big winners in sales will be those who learn to join customers in their buying process.
Your client has certain expectations of you and your product or service. If their expectations are met, or exceeded, they will be satisfied. Simple.
Not always.
For your product to be successfully implemented into the client’s daily working life, the client must move through a learning process. This process can be described through five phases, helping you understand the way people learn, and your responsibility in helping them. The best sales manager professionals know and understand this completely.
Phase 1 | Unconscious Incompetence | Your customer does not know that he does not know.
Your customer has signed the order, product is delivered and they are enthused. They expect to realize the benefits of this product, benefits you have described and promised throughout the sales process. However, the customer’s expectation of benefit is at its highest point right now, and their understanding of the learning required is underestimated. To derive benefit they must learn, you must teach them, but they aren’t ready for the learning just yet. That’s okay, sometimes people just are not ready to experience the true benefits of a sales seminar.
Phase 2 | Conscious Incompetence | Customer knows he doesn’t know.
Customer frustration mounts during this phase as they come to realize that change / learning will be difficult. Habitual ways of working must be altered. Productivity may suffer in the short term while people learn to use the new product. The customer may wrestle with a feeling that they are worse off than before.
Phase 3 | Conscious Competence | Customer works hard at what he doesn’t know.
With application, the customer begins to learn how to operate the equipment. They begin to seen the benefits in the real work environment. The product begins to make a real contribution, as promised. In the sales training process this step is crucial.
Phase 4 | Unconscious Competence | Customer begins to make the new habitual.
The customer has a real sense of accomplishment now that the product is fully integrated into their office and the daily routine. Results are being realized. Everyone is happy!
Phase 5 | Conscious Unconscious Competence | Customer easily explains the new benefits of the new product, and how to derive them.
In-house experts can now train others in the office as the entire team develops an appreciation for the equipment. It has become part of the family.
Other considerations: if the product is complex, expect the learning process to take more time, and expect it to be more frustrating for the customer. Likewise, have these expectations if the customer is inexperienced. Often, the people who actually make the purchase decision are not the end-users. Therefore you may experience outright resistance to the product by end users who did not participate in the buying decision.
Bottom line: meeting and exceeding customer expectations is not easy, but it is well worth it.
RSS FEED
