Peady’s Selling Engagement

The other day I found an interesting piece of research from the Richardson Group  about the big challenges facing salespeople. In their “2019 Selling Challenges Sales Study” a quarter of those participating say it’s becoming even harder to differentiate with competitorswhile over 20% said creating value in customer conversations is difficult. 

Welcome to this week’s post on sales and selling success.

In my opinion the two challenges mentioned above can be addressed as one. 

Think about it – if you create value and deliver insights in a sales conversation you’ll automaticallyposition yourself as different to your competitors!

They have to be connected

Value creation is the bedrock of sales success. It’s what sets you apart from the competition, secures long-term customers, and brings distinct meaning to your solution.

Without it, your offering is just another commodity

So, what are the next steps, how can you meet those challenges to advance the sale?

I’ve got five ideas:

1. Do your research and due diligence. Before you contact a prospective customer research their business, their industry and the competitive market to understand potential challenges and pain points.
2. Find the ‘right’ customers (or prospective customers). Its all about ‘fit’. Do they need your audience? Is their business category one that ‘works’ in your medium? Is the decision maker open to new ideas and/or business growth opportunities? 
3. Uncover their ‘real’ needs, expectations or opportunities. If you can’t process a customer’s responses and clearly uncover a business opportunity within their needs, then you will have a difficult time positioning your products/services. 
4. Ensure you have a timeline for when it needs to be done. No timeline, no urgency, no decision. Simple as that!
5. Position your price as a ‘valued, risk free’ investment. The biggest issue in the mind of most prospective customers isn’t price, it’s risk. The risk of making the wrong decision, lessen the risk by using recommendations and case studies. 

Continuous learning

You can also learn a lot about great sales practices by listening to your teammates. Take some time this week to listen to how others conduct successful sales calls. The ideas you pick up will help make you even stronger and that’s what makes a great sales career.

Until next week, good selling!
 

About the author 

Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.

He can be contacted at [email protected]