In sales there are lots to decisions to make. Should you raise prices or keep them the same? Which product would be best for this customer’s operation? What’s the best way I can afford to serve a customer? How can I promote and get support for a new idea? When should I stop selling to a customer? Who should I call on? Sometimes you just can’t decide. You have multiple options and you don’t know which one to choose. Here’s how you can make good tough sales decisions.
Determine your best and worst outcomes.
You have to decide whether to raise customer prices. Ask yourself what would be the best that could happen as a result of your price increase. You would gain more revenue. You might increase profits. Then ask yourself what the worst could be. You might lose a customer. Other customers might hear and then ask for a lower price. Then again, the customers you might lose are the ones that were already unprofitable to serve. Losing unprofitable customers would be categorized under the best that could happen.
What happens if you can’t think of the down side of your decision? You don’t have enough information. There’s always a down side. Ask someone whose expertise you trust for their input. Surely, there is someone who can show you the down side.
Most people making tough sales decisions only look at the positives and ignore the negatives. That lack of complete understanding makes it difficult to make a good decision. A good decision stands the test of time. You’ve got to analyze what could happen after the decision to be sure you are able to accept what could happen.
Make your tough sales decision by just picking one.
Let’s say you weigh the alternatives with pluses and minuses. It seems you have balanced options. Then what? Just pick one. After you make that decision wait a bit. Ask yourself after a few hours or so how you feel about that decision. You are tapping into your gut which has a lot more information for you to use. Does the decision bother you? Then don’t do it. You’re good to go if you feel good about your sales decision.
How to decide when all else fails.
I have a rule. The rule says that if I can’t say yes, then the answer is no. I have found that sometimes I go back and forth on a decision. First one way is better. Then I second guess myself and the other way is better. Back and forth I go and I really can’t decide. Then my rule takes over. When I can’t say yes, the answer is no. I don’t do what I was thinking of doing.
Make one more sales decision before you act.
Now you have decided what to do. Ask yourself one more question before you decide. I refer to that question as, “Are you putting lipstick on a pig?” You are asking yourself if you making the situation better or worse.” Think about your decision in that context. Does the decision make your situation better? Go ahead if it does. Don’t act If it doesn’t.
There are so many decisions to make in sales because each day is different. Sales professionals are faced with new challenges. Now you have a process to make tough decisions that are great so you can sell more.