Episode #154: Dumb Sales Questions

Three woeful contributions from salespeople include "we have this widget", "you should have it?" and "we can discount the price". What a mess right there. Yet, left to their own devices, this is the type of nonsense salespeople say to clients. Serving the client's best interests is job one for salespeople, so why aren't they having a proper conversation with the buyer?

They are untrained, unprofessional and unskilled. What should they be saying? We don't have anything for the buyer, until we have some idea of what they need. Going through the detail of the latest release, model, new variation etc., is pointless.

Ask the buyer about where they are now with their business and then where they want to be? The size of the gap tells the salesperson whether they are the one with the solution to closing that gap or not. If the gap is not so large, better to go and find a buyer who has the opposite situation. Don't waste anyone's time any further.

If there is a sizable gap, ask why they haven't filled it in themselves already. What an ace question. Listening to them, we may however discover that we don't have what they need. Get out of there as fast as polite and go find someone who you can provide with a solution.

The next question in this escalation is about their why. There are usually four “whys”. There is the unit why, the division why, the company why and then their own personal why. Their personal why is the key driver of buyer behavior, as we are driven by our own best interests. Once we know what success means for them, then we have an idea of how to present the solution at a later stage.

Also, who are we talking to? Is this the big picture, macro, company direction, vision realization driven CEO? Or are we talking to detail oriented people like the CFO and the technical buyers, who want three decimal places and all the micro analysis? Are they the user buyer, who is thinking about ease of application, after sales service, guarantees and hand holding if needed? Depending on where they sit in the company our explanation of the suitability of the solution for them will be different.

Discounting is the cancer of sales. It is a brand killer, a symbol of low value, a slippery slide for which there is only one direction and that is down. Salespeople are here to provide value. If there is a push for discounting it had better be related to volume purchases. The defense of the brand is critical and price preservation is needed if the organization is to stay in business. This is the salesperson' job - provide value.

There are budget limits, policies, stupidities, excuses, justifications a plenty as to why the price has to go down. Salespeople need to defend the price at all costs, including walking away. Remember, if we can help the buyer to grow their business, then the product or service is essentially free. It is paid out of the growth, on the top line, not the bottom line.