(Editor’s note: While Art is away this week enjoying his President’s Club trip, and not blogging, here’s an oldie but goodie from a couple of years ago that’s still relevant today.)
“My pipeline is always 100,000K+ and I’m required to do 12-15 appointments per week. I’m finding the opportunities, but not winning competitive deals. (I have a small base list of 10 accounts).”
That was a comment e-mailed to me by a Print4Pay Hotel member in Canada this week. I thought this would make a good topic for this week to see if I can help.
Ok, I’m thinking if you only have a base of 10 accounts and you’re not winning competitive deals that means all of your business is net new. Here’s a few things that I try and do with net new business.
- Find out what brand of equipment they have now and who is servicing the product.
- Once you’ve found out what brand they have, ask them what brand they had before their current brand along with who was servicing the equipment. If they had a different brand and servicing dealer this can tell you that they have no brand or service loyalty. If they have the same brand and the same servicing dealer or direct branch, then you’ve got a tough road to hoe since they have brand and service loyalty.
- I will dig deep with the customer to see if there is some type of lockout feature or software that will position my company at the top of the pack. I’ve often found that many reps are lazy and won’t take the time to explain many of the features, advantages and benefits of their systems. Thus you may mention something as simple as embedded scanning to create searchable PDF’s and this could swing the decision in your favor. Try not to leave any stones unturned when you are in a competitive situation. If you’re selling MPS, make it more about the service, the reporting tools, and your fleet software advantages.
- Make sure you meet with the DM, if not you need to put your best foot forward with the quality of your presentation and proposal. Many times the DM may leave the decision making up to the person you met with, in this case the cheapest/lowest price may not be the right choice for the person you met with and most likely they will not select the highest price, nor the lowest price.
- Ask “When will you be making a decision on acquiring the system and what is the process for choosing one vendor over another?” Make this one of your first few questions.
- ABC, Always be closing, if a closing opportunity comes up, don’t pass it buy. The worst that can happen is you’ll get additional info on how the process will transpire.
- I’m not sure of your market, however in large markets you’ve got to be prepared and I hate to say this, is to “offer your best deal” in order to get the business. If you’re in this for the long haul and your company services the product well, you’ll be able to have an upgrade or additional units in the future that you’ll be able to hold margin.
These are just a few items that came to mind. What I can also tell you is that you need to remove yourself from competitive situations and you need to find the prospects that are NOT in the market. This means that with your skill set you’ve been able to secure an appointment, assess their pain or challenges and offer a solution that will help them NOW. Hard to do, but the opportunities are out there, all you need to do is find them.
Good selling!
