After the silence
After the awkward silence came: “Why are you saying that? Our product goes for 42K per year.” Here’s the thing While this price might be high, it depends on the context. The firm is specialized in IT security (aka protecting high-profile companies from being hacked). Going deeper into the conversation, a company being hacked loses —besides reputation— a few millions. In no time. When set up on this specific context, putting 40K a year is pocket change compared to what stays secured. What…
Incompetence
There are 2 types of incompetents. Type I Here you find the ones who try new things, experiment, fail consistently, and try to bring new perspectives into new scenarios. They’re incompetent because they’re not trying to achieve efficiencies. They haven’t had the experience in doing the thing yet. They’re learners. Seth Godin writes a bit about it here. Type N Here you find the other type. Where they stick to the old ways of “We’ve always done it like this”. Where they don’t look for…
Having conversations
There’s a principle introduced by Blair Enns on how to approach sales: Replacing presentations with conversations. It states that instead of going into convince-solution-presentation-mode, where you do all the talking so that you get buy-in from your prospect, you go into a conversation. Trying to find a fit between their situation and how/if you could help. If there is a financial fit (can they afford you?). Going into this mode changes the dynamics of the sale. Makes your prospect go into…
What happens in a sales conversation
Being interested in what your customer actually wants —whether or not they buy from you— and qualifying if there’s a fit between what they want and what you can offer changes the way your sales will go. It’ll leave space for them to rant about their problem. They’ll tell you deeply into what’s really that they’re into. They’ll give away insights into how you could approach a way to help them. They’ll tell you what’s their perfect future —and if you could help them get there. You taking good…
The ridiculousness test
Are you that special cookie? Most messaging to the market goes as “bringing solutions”, “being creative”, “focused on success”, “the best of”, “state of the art (?)”… Ask yourself: Would saying the opposite sound ridiculous? Would your competitors go to the market and say they “Bring problems”? “Are incompetent”? “Are not creative”? Since this scenario is highly unlikely, find out what truly makes you stand out. It’s hard work. And it’ll be SO simple to understand, your clients will “get it”.
Is it something personal?
“No. We won’t buy from you.” What do you feel when you’re in a sales conversation and hear that? That it’s a No against you? That you didn’t convince them enough? That you weren’t good enough to close the deal? That your offer is sub-par? That you… . . . It’s hard hearing a No. Until you seek for it. Hearing a No felt like something against me. That if I didn’t get a Yes, then I wouldn’t be as good as I could have thought I was. Or that I lacked the competence. It felt personal. Then the…
Can you do this?
What is your answer when being asked by a prospect: Can you do X, Y, Z? And also A, B, C, D? Also, can you show us a breakdown of how the time will be used and how much will each item be? How do you respond to this?
Rates vs prices (a dissection)
That’s one of the things that state you care about your customer, because price is all about them (and their certainty). The difference between a rate and a price. Rate: a variable that needs to be calculated with other(s) to have a final figure. Price: a variable that is final. Dissecting yesterday’s reply. “We don’t work with predefined rate cards, as all you could get is an estimate based on assumed calculations of the rate, times X, Y, or Z. And you know estimates are just that, they…
Wordplay on prices and rates
Friend-of-the-list Brandon Hughes started an interesting discussion on price and rates, and how that shows your expertise. Excerpts of our convo (w/permission to share). If I have rates, I’m not an expert or I’m leaving money on the table. If I find the price, I could probably do the job in my sleep, giving the customer extra value. —Desmond If you have rates, you could very well be an expert. Yet, you would project less confidence in your work, as the customer is the one who bears all risk….
You’ve been taught pricing… backwards
Friend-of-the-list Brandon Hughes started an interesting discussion on price and rates. “If you find the price, you would give the extra value.” This makes sense on the way we’ve been taught about pricing and prices. We need to find the right price. But there’s no right or wrong price. Just a price. We’ve been taught that first you find how much it costs you, then you find the right price, and then you see the value that can be added to your customer. That’s backwards. You don’t find the…