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FINDING GREAT
CUSTOMERS
Great questioners make great salespeople. It’s
especially true when salespeople ask questions that guide prospects to
understand that they need to act now and buy. Unfortunately, not every
prospect will become a great customer. There is a way to increase the
likelihood of working with great customers. You can ask questions that
uncover useful information about your prospects. The answers will indicate
if the customer is one you want to sell to.
A long, long time.
Ask your
prospect how many long-term suppliers they have. If your customer either
has none or just a few, that should alert you to the fact that the
prospect is not a good one. Be concerned if they take bids from their
suppliers every year. Prospects who lack loyalty are prospects that will
cost you time and energy. Think of your costs to set up the account,
maintain inventory, and establish contacts— only to lose the business in a
year. That’s an expensive company to do business with. You should try to
show these prospects how doing business with you for more than a year will
benefit their business. Start the conversation by asking what it will take
to keep their business for longer than a year.
Just remember
that some business cultures are very difficult to change. You may not be
able to change that culture even in a year. Unless you sell them on the
idea of establishing a longer term business relationship, you’ll be doing
business with an undesirable customer.
Attention Kmart Shoppers.
Ask your
prospect when they have paid more than the lowest price for a product or
service and why. This tells you about their perception of value and
willingness to pay for it. Perhaps your products and services include
technical support. Your customer should understand this costs you money to
provide. You want your customers to be willing to pay for it, too. Some
customers buy only the cheapest products even when they recognize that a
more expensive product will provide them additional benefits. A customer
who wants your more valuable products and has never paid for service will
expect you to lower your price so he can buy. That’s not a desirable
customer to sell to. Again, unless your salesmanship includes a compelling
reason for this prospect to pay more, this is an undesirable
prospect.
Easy does
it.
Ask your prospect which of his suppliers are
easy to work with and why. You’ll learn what work has to be done to be
perceived as easy to work with. Your prospect will expect similar
performance from you. That will be a desirable prospect if it’s something
you can normally provide. You’ll also find out who is going to be a high
maintenance customer. When you find out why a supplier is perceived as
easy to work with, you may uncover areas where your company or you are
unable to offer comparable service. Be concerned if your prospect is
unable to describe any suppliers who are easy to work with. If they can’t
name one supplier, what makes you think you’ll be the first? If a prospect
says that none of the suppliers are easy to work with, you won’t be
either. That will be an experience you will certainly want to
miss!
The answers to these questions serve you, the
salesperson, more than your customer. That’s the way it should be when
you’re qualifying customers. After the sale you’re going to be doing the
work of serving your customers. You might as well sell to customers who
are more likely to become great ones.
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Maura
Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling (http://www.bestatselling.com/).
She works with business and sales professionals at company and trade
association meetings to make selling easier and more productive. She is
the author of the book Real-World
Selling for Out-of-this-World Results. She can be reached at 972
380 0200 or info@BestatSelling.com.
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