You’ve probably attended sales training at some point in your selling career. Hopefully most of it delivered valuable insights that led you to become a more effective sales professional. Now think about your buyer and buyer training. What do you think he’s done to improve his buying and get the best sale for his company? Consider his preparation and buyer training for your next sale.
Buyer training includes preparation for your selling.
A good, experienced buyer is prepared for your sales call. He has a lot of information about his industry, his company, and most likely a basic knowledge of your products. The internet is the great leveler of buyers and sellers. Know that the internet can’t tell a buyer everything about your products or services. That’s where you come in.
You need to learn what exactly your buyer knows about your products or services. What does he think he wants and needs? Why does he think that? You may find that your buyer, while having a basic understanding, doesn’t realize there are other impacts to consider. Your job is to skillfully, through your questions, guide your customer to understand that there’s more to his product understanding that he hasn’t considered.
Buyers often know about your products’ price.
The internet is a source of a lot of information, including pricing. One misunderstanding your customer can have comes from price. Do you sell the same product at the same price to all your customers? You probably don’t. You might quote one customer a price that is different than another because of the length of contract terms, amounts purchased or other variables that raise or lower a price. That’s why it’s important for you and your buyer to be clear about what he is buying and why you are quoting the price you do quote.
It’s important to understand all the features and benefits your customers wants when you negotiate. You can increase the price you offer because you are offering a larger package of features. It’s a good idea to clarify at the end of your negotiating, “Is what I’m presenting all that you are interested in? Does that meet your requirements?” You might find that some buyers will ask for something in addition at the same price after you think you’ve quoted your final price. It’s difficult to raise the price when you think you’ve settled on a price that your buyer agreed to.
You might use that buyer strategy to your advantage. After you get confirmation that you have included all the features and benefits the buyer wants, you be the one to offer something in addition. You might say, ‘As a new customer I want you to be able to experience a great buying experience. I want to include something additional for you. Here it is and it’s included in this price.” That will often prevent a buying asking in addition for something more costly.
Buyers know their own processes.
Do you represent an easy company to work with or is it difficult for a buyer to work with your company? You certainly should know the answer to that question. Buyers know which suppliers are difficult to work with. These suppliers bill incorrectly, short deliveries, are difficult to contact and take too long to resolve issues. Everyone makes mistakes. Companies who are easy to work with are the ones who do their best to prevent problems. They do their best to quickly resolve the problem once they realize they created a problem.
Learn whether your competition is a company that is easy to work with or one that is a problem company. The ease of doing business is a very important feature today when so many people are doing more and more work. Ask about on time deliveries, contact, billing errors and other aspects of doing business to learn whether you have a unique offering of being an easy to work with company and as a result are well worth the price.
It’s always a good idea to prepare for your sales calls. Just remember that your buyer is also preparing. The great baseball player, Roger Maris, said, “You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation.” Go hit a sales home run with your knowledge of your buyer’s preparation.