Episode #365: How Do We Sell To Idiot Buyers?

Selling to idiot buyers sounds a bit harsh doesn’t it, but I am sure we have all had a version of this experience. It usually manifests itself in the pricing component of the transaction. We provide value, but the buyer is too inexperienced, uninformed, basically stupid, has a massive ego or is lacking in context to appreciate why they need to pay more than they suggest. We have to remember they are in the market for a service or product only a few times a year, but as salespeople, we are talking to companies constantly. We have a much better understanding of what the market will bear, than the buyer.

The problem with value is it isn’t known until the delivery of the solution. Because we are delivering solutions all of the time, we know the value. Our value is also confirmed by other buyers who become repeat customers, because they appreciate what we bring to their firm. They pay the fare, because they can see the value equation works in their favour. Most companies can probably solve their problems internally and save a lot of money. The time factor is often the difference. They don’t have a decade or even a year to get it right under their own steam. This is where we bring an instant solution and they can enjoy the benefits immediately, with no time loss or disadvantage in the market.

The other idiocy is imagining that all suppliers are the same and we are providing some generic solution that can be easily interchanged between similar suppliers. Because they may have not used any of us yet as a potential solution supplier, they have very little to go on apart from pricing. This is where the greed gland gets activated, and they imagine they are doing their firm a favour by going for the least expensive option. If the procurement department gets involved, then you know you are in for a rough time. They have their spreadsheet with the supplier’s names along the top side and on the left side, the names of the service or good and the cells in the middle are populated with pricing numbers. This is a very convenient method to delineate who is the cheapest supplier for a solution, but often has no nuance for the value equation comparison.

Our job as salespeople is to break through all of these obstacles and make sure the buyer is clear on the difference we provide and why our higher price is justified. It may be a quality comparison that our competitors cannot match. Quality means the good itself or the people who supply the service. This latter component can vary enormously. Speed is always a factor and this is where being more flexible and better organised than the opposition is an advantage. It might be a history of credibility and reliability as a supplier, which the rival operation doesn't have. After sales service is also has real value. Often organisations are often well sculptured for the buying component of the conversation, but are not so interested in dealing with the buyer’s problems after the cheque has been cashed. Having many decades in a market has a higher value than a rival who has only been operating for a few years. It might be a global scope that means the solution can be taken around the world for them, if they want to benefit at that scale. When we list up all the various aspects of value, we realise that price is just one component. Often in business, our time is the thing we are most interested in preserving and we will pay more to protect our time.

When the client is uninformed, it is our job to educate them. The dumb salesperson way of doing this is to blurt out the differentiation we have compared to the rivals. The issue with this approach is that buyers have been trained to doubt whatever they are told by people trying to sell them something. The better avenue is to draw out the differences by asking well designed, highly intelligent questions. If we want to highlight quality we could ask, “Would not having to do any rework after delivery of the solution save your firm time and money?”. If it was speed, we could ask, “If the speed of the delivery was able to exceed your expectations, would that provide positive knock-on benefits to your firm?”. If it was a global scope we could enquire, “Would being able to take something you have found works well in Japan to the entire global network of your firm, raise Japan’s stakes internally?”. You get the idea. If the proposition doesn't fly then, there is no point labouring the conversation with any more content in that vein and we need to move on to find something which will resonate with them.

The alternate option is to not do business with idiots and let the competition lose money when providing the solution. Idiots can be expensive for us to work with. I am dealing with this right now. I am providing basically the same service to two companies and one is paying six times as much for the same service compared to the other firm. As you can guess one buyer is an idiot. I am only doing it, because this person is temporarily involved and I have a long existing relationship with one of their key local people. Fundamentally, I am doing it as a favour to the person who I have been working with here in Japan. who is my champion, and who will remain my contact, long after the visiting idiot has returned to their foreign lair. Otherwise, I would just say “forget it” and not get involved, because the number is an insult.