Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Hi,

As an Executive Chef I'm constantly targeted with new suppliers wanting to sell their stuff to us.
In many cases they request an audience in person to demonstrate or showcase their products.
It is very annoying to get called like this all the time.
However.
Those that do get an audience or a longer then 5 minute call over the phone are the ones that get my attention within 30 seconds.
So for me when you call:
- get to the point directly
- have a practised conversational tone
- make sure you have an advantage in why your stuff is better and get that message across directly
- ask to visit the decision maker
- know your stuff
- know whom you are calling, like the gentleman mentioned above it is very disturbing to get called by disrespectful suppliers that do not even know whom they have on the line
- are you yourself genuinely convinced about your product? do the math if your not you will not get your message across.
- have a conversational training

I hope this helps,
W

Tahir,
I think the best person to help you with these issues is a lady called Jill Konrath. Her website is all about strategies and tactics you can use to make sure you get to the right person -- and get their attention!!
https://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com/

Hope this helps,
Michael

Hi Tahir,

Well thats a very good objection that could be raised by the prospect and the best way is to be full of confidence,dont get nervous and dont let your tongue fumble, because if you are a sales rep your mind should always be ready with the rebuttals.

If i would have been at your place, i would have asked the prospect "Its good to know that you are satisfied with your vendor. Can you tell me who is your current vendor?"

Prospect: ABC

Then you can go ahead and say "What iam gonna do now ,i would send you out a proposal" and "iam sure that if you compare the services , pricing you would definitely love to go with our product." So what i will do i will give you a call back on particular date and time (give them the options to choose , so that they doesn't feel suffocated)
After that give them a call back and go ahead with your proposal, their would be no stoppping for you.

Start by putting yourself in prospect shoes. He is probably tired of salespeople calling on him, being pushy, over aggressive and never have an answer to his problems. All they are looking for is their next sale and thus bigger bonus. How would you feel?

I have been in sales over twelve years and most of those years I have beaten my quota and produced great numbers for my company. Secret lies in trying to understand your customer, his problems, industry issues and how everything affects his business. Secret lies in understanding that it is a long term game and not hit and run game. You have to have genuine empathy for your customer; otherwise you will loose the game. You also need to have little foresight that you have to build relationships and that requires patience, perseverance and always looking down the road, ALWAYS.

Once you have industry knowledge, you can ask who their current suppliers are. Regardless of what you know about a competitor, DON’T EVER BAD MOUTH THEM. Knowing who their current suppliers are will give you some insight into your competition and that is good ammunition. Again don’t bad mouth, but from your industry knowledge you will know their strengths and weaknesses. Here you are trying to collect information and that is power.

Depending on if you are face to face or on the phone, ask if there is anything you can do that will make their life easier. Once you get their attention, you need to use your industry knowledge and competitor’s weakness to ask about an issue/problem that the customer might be facing and you have a solution to that. Know where you are going and you always have to be step ahead of the customer. But you always have to be honest. Once you got customer‘s attention, then talk about the solution your product/ service offers. If you are on the phone, give a little bit about the solution and ask if you can come in to explain in detail your solution. This will give you a face to face meeting and remember you want customers to get to know you. You are building a relationship. Don’t be too pushy. If you are not face to face and can’t get a meeting, ask if you can send in your brochures, the solution you talked about on the phone and ask if you can follow up to see what they thought of your brochure/solution.

You have to be persistent, but you have to walk a fine line between persistence and absasiveness.You always want to make sure that you are welcomed back and that requires very careful and methodical planning. If somebody is busy, tell them you are sorry to bother them and you would like to try to get hold of them a better time. You will gain lot of respect.

You have to have self respect for yourself, your employer, your profession and your customers. If you truly feel that way, you will act accordingly and thus you will gain your customer’s respect and time. You have to be able to think on your feet and more knowledge you have about your industry, your customer and your competitor, more you will be able to talk to your customers. That again will require patience, hard work, and desire to learn and share that with your customers.

I do not have an answer to help you solve this problem "quickly". But we may help you solve the problem.

Much depends on the product and the market. I'm personally a specialist in calling back folk who have already said no (or not yet) - then calling them again - and again. In some cases (e.g. unique or very specialized products), this makes sense, and is even appreciated and requested by the prospect. In other cases (e.g. undifferntiated products, products or services in the "decline" stage) this type of selling would be perceived as pushy and would not be appreciated.

Can you provide more detail on the product or service you are selling, as well as your target market and the level of competition for that market?

Good Lord, it seems that everybody has an opinion on cold calling.
Here are a couple more ideas. One the best thing is to not allow the conversation to get to the "I am happy with my current guys, have a nice rest of your life." How do you do this? 1) come prepared, what do you know about the company before you start, 2) ask questions. Here are some good ones to get started with:
What do you like about your current supplier? What do they provide you that is 100% to your expectations? What extra services do they provide? Then, ask what areas would you like to see improvement in? (see, still no selling going on) Then ask, are there areas that you wish somebody would address but nobody does? (hold on... still no selling) Then say, thanks for your input, I may have a way to address one of your issues, but I need to research it..... (still no selling, no closing, no nothing) Finally ask, after my research can I call you back?
Do the research and call back in no less than 3 days but no more than a week. You are now ready to start the selling process...
If you have questions, I can be reached via my website
Frank Hurtte
www.riverheightsconsulting.com