Buying/Selling Process

In an earlier post, I wrote about the sales presentation and proposed a list of questions that a prospect might have and wonder if you are the right person to contract with.  I will now submit to you a list of more thought-provoking challenges to help you understand the buying/selling process:

1. The first sale made is the salesperson. If the prospect doesn't buy you, he's not going to buy your product or service.
2. How's your online reputation? What's your Google ranking and reputation? Not your company's reputation  . . . yours!
3. What's your social media reputation? Not tweeting is a choice, but a poor one. How about LinkedIn? Do you have a Facebook business page?
4. Did you offer proof? Did you use "voice-of-customer" testimonials to prove your claims?
5. Does the buyer have enough peace of mind to purchase from you?

Remember, the only person who counts in your sales conversations:  the customer.

What's a Customer Thinking?

Making presentations can be daunting if you are not sure of your potential customer's mindset and interest and anticipate his questions. Those questions could generate a long list and every customer might not ask every question every time, but since you don't know specifically which ones he'll ask himself, it is better to be prepared.  Here's a list:

• What do you offer?
• What do you offer that no one else has?
• How does your product compare to others?
• Does it really fill my need?
• Is it real-world?
• Will it work?
• Will my people use it?
• How will it impact our people and our success?
• Can you deliver?
• Will you keep your promises?
• Will senior management buy in?
• How will we produce as a result of the purchase?
• How will it all come together?
• What are the risk factors?
• Will you be my main contact after purchase or are you going to relegate me to "the service department?"
• Do I trust you? Believe you? Have confidence in you?

This comprehensive list of questions addresses both confidence in product and confidence in the salesperson.  The customer is seeking validation and wants to believe you.  They need what you have and they're going to buy what you offer.  The only question is: Buy it from whom?
See my post on "understanding the buying/selling process."

Some Keys for Business Success

You have heard of the old adage "A word to the wise is sufficient". Well then I will expand on just "a word" and propose to you seven keys to achieve success in your business. To help you become more prepared and continue to learn and innovate you must recognize, distinguish and manage the big stuff from the small stuff. Here are some areas where you could become more prepared and continue to learn and innovate:

1. Hire correctly and develop your staff
2. Identify your uniqueness and market it
3. Manage your cash and your costs
4. See where the "puck is going"
5. Embrace change and adapt/migrate
6. Get good advice
7. Continuously learn

The big stuff event is one that can challenge a company to its core so, you have to learn something in each case.  To do that try to run a high-performance, low stress organization. This means managing for fewer little dramas and being flexible to manage for the bigger stuff as they occur. Adapting should be faster than we would like. There are so many opportunities to learn and if we don't take advantage of those opportunities, our businesses stagnate.