| A while back I was fortunate enough secure a | | | | that it wasn't just about buying the lowest priced |
| very competitive order. How competitive? | | | | product, and instead it was about looking at the |
| For starters, one of our own dealerships was | | | | true "Total Cost of Ownership". |
| quoting the same product at a lower price. | | | | This was how I handled the pricing issue, since I |
| Second, the prospect was personal friends with | | | | was not only against one of my own dealerships, |
| one of the competitors. | | | | but also five other vendors; and my price was |
| Finally, an associate of the prospect was telling | | | | the second highest. |
| him not to do business with our company due to | | | | 2) Competing against the prospects personal |
| a bad experience this associate had with a | | | | friend. In dealing with the issue of competing |
| product sold to them by one of our dealerships; | | | | against the prospects friend, I walked on egg |
| even though the operation of the dealership had | | | | shells with this one, but essentially what I did is I |
| no strong affiliation with us. | | | | sincerely complimented the organization his friend |
| Tough deal to win? I kind of thought so. | | | | was working for and even talked about their |
| Impossible; said one co-worker. When I heard | | | | strengths, including the fact that their product had |
| that, I welcomed the challenge, and the following | | | | an extremely respectable market share |
| is how I dealt with each of the prospects three | | | | worldwide. However, I also talked about the fact |
| objections. | | | | that this same vendor had just opened the |
| 1) Higher Price. To deal with the issue of being | | | | branch locally and about the fact that it would |
| priced higher then a dealership carrying the exact | | | | take them a while to build their presence in our |
| same product, I talked to the prospect about the | | | | city; the way they had in other regions. |
| value of dealing directly with the manufacturer | | | | I explained that choosing them would not be a |
| (who I represented in this circumstance). Of note, | | | | bad decision but I suggested that he visit their |
| I started this value discussion during the initial | | | | facility and then mine to compare the two |
| meeting and carried it right through to order | | | | infrastructures. I continued that maybe he should |
| signing. | | | | even ride along with one of the members of our |
| I did this by explaining to the prospect that my | | | | service staff and one of the members of their |
| quote would not be the lowest price due the | | | | service staff to further compare our two |
| extra value that he would receive (ie. stronger | | | | companies. I also suggested that he ask them for |
| warranty program, high level end-user product | | | | reference letters. |
| training, no middle-man to go through for support, | | | | I wasn't trying to say anything negative about this |
| etc.). | | | | competitor; I just wanted the prospect to know |
| When I presented my proposal to the customer I | | | | locally that this vendor was still in the building |
| went through the value proposition I had prepared | | | | phase, by comparison. |
| to show him that even though my price might be | | | | When this vendor could not respond to some of |
| higher, he would be receiving a higher overall value | | | | his requests, I think he started question whether |
| with my offering. | | | | signing with them would be in his best interest. |
| My proposal also included references of clients | | | | In fact, this competitor ultimately admitted to |
| that had paid more to deal with me and the | | | | having only 6 clients in a region where my |
| company in the past, complete with notes about | | | | company had 4,500. |
| how happy these clients were that they made | | | | 3) Getting a poor referral from the prospects |
| the choice they did. | | | | associate. In handling the situation of the prospect |
| I did this because I realized this prospect was | | | | being told by an associate not to choose our |
| going to be quite fixated on price and he would | | | | company because of something one of our |
| need to see why he should not just jump at the | | | | dealerships did, I simply explained the difference |
| lowest price. | | | | between the manufacturer and dealership |
| My proposal also included a list of our key staff | | | | network, and also explained (with empathy) that I |
| members and highlighted the trainer's level of | | | | understood his concern. I then encouraged him to |
| experience and my own level of experience; to | | | | speak to a wide variety of our current clients, to |
| demonstrate to the prospect that he was dealing | | | | tour our facility, and try to the product at our |
| with a team that really knew their stuff. | | | | office, etc. |
| I also wanted this customer to know that he was | | | | At the end of the day, he ultimately decided to |
| buying a team, not just a product from a | | | | sign an order with us, and I'm forever grateful, |
| faceless company. I guess I could go on and on | | | | for as we all know, on any given hour on any |
| about the different things I included in my | | | | given day, anything can happen in the wonderful |
| proposal to demonstrate the value to this | | | | world of "selling". |
| customer, but your time is valuable, so let's just | | | | Yours in Success!!! |
| say I worked hard to prove to this customer | | | | |