Picture this. A buyer for a customer you have been dealing with for 20 years calls you and questions why they are paying so much more for your product when the competition is offering it for less. They request you come in and explain yourself. When most salespeople get this kind of call, they usually go through some of the following emotions:

1. Anger- Why does this customer force me to go through this exercise every so often? Don’t they understand the value we have to offer?
2. Fear- Just hearing the customer is looking at cheaper alternatives immediately gives the impression you are about to lose the business.
3. Confusion- Your mind starts wandering through all of the reasons you can think of that led to this situation. Most of these thoughts are not based on reality, just your perception, which, in most cases, is not correct. You feel the need to ride to the rescue of your company and completely dominate the meeting with all of the reasons why the customer should continue to use your products and services.

Rodger Ekstrom went through a lot of these emotions when he recently received such a call. But Rodger did not allow his emotions to taint his response. Instead, he removed all emotion so he could logically sit down and plan out his response. He realized that yes, the competition was coming in with lower prices, but not necessarily with the same product. When you combine his product with the value added services they offer, the actual value proposition is much higher for the customer versus what they would be getting from the competition.

Rodger knew he must get a meeting with all of the buying influences. He managed to get the following people from the customer to attend the meeting: The owner, sales mgr, yard mgr and buyer. Instead of defending his price, he started the meeting by asking what, if anything, has changed for the customer. He asked the owner where his company was going and the challenges it faced. From those answers, he managed to re-align the direction of the customer with the value proposition he had to offer. Rodger also asked the owner how they want their customers to think of them. The answer was being the best at what they do. This allowed Rodger to connect himself with the customer by being the vendor that supplied the best products and services to a company that wanted itself to be considered the best in the industry. Leaders like buying from leaders.

Finally, Rodger asked one last question: Do they sell their products for the cheapest price? The answer was no and the reason was they had value to offer.

Having turned this situation around, Rodger not only succeeded in keeping the business, but he actually increased the revenues by capturing a bigger share of the customer’s business. The next time a customer challenges you on price, don’t limit the discussion to price. Otherwise, you have no room to go but down. Re-visit the customer’s goals, their challenges, and position your value proposition to powerfully address these goals. And most importantly, don’t let the emotion of the situation impact your response. Remove the emotion and logically attack the situation. As Milton Gralla, one of my mentors said, “The only time you are guaranteed to have 100% of your customers attention is when they call you with a problem”. Rodger solved his customer’s problem, and like Milton, he did it so well that the customer was open to expanding the relationship.

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One of the classic firing’s on Donald Trump’s show, The Apprentice, occurred in the second show. One of the teams was working on an advertising campaign for a company selling seats on private jets for the corporate traveler. Because of time restraints, the team leader decided not to meet the CEO of the client whose project he was working on. According to Trump, that by itself was enough reason to justify firing the team leader.

He was right! But, how about this one? How many times have you seen a sales rep meet with the CEO, but still accomplish nothing in the meeting? In my book, that is also enough of a reason to get fired by the customer (meaning, no deal).

In order to avoid anymore firings on this issue, and, more importantly, to ensure you get the business, here are a few principles you should adhere to when trying to secure the deal.

1. Make sure you call on all the buying influences: The Comparative Influence - compares your product features and price to the competition; The End User - those who will be actually using your products and services; and, The Economic Buyer - the person who has to approve the deal. In some cases, the Economic Buyer will reside in the C Suite (CFO, CEO, COO, etc). In some cases, they may be the Director of Purchasing. Whatever the case, make sure you call high enough in the organization to solidify your value proposition. You want to move the sales process from being transactional to a value based decision. Transactions are usually commodity based decisions made at lower levels. Value based decisions will often include input from executives higher up on the food chain.

2. When speaking to decision makers, make sure you find out what they are striving to achieve, what’s missing for them, and the stakes involved if they don’t achieve the desired results. .

3. Present your solution in terms of outcomes and how they best meet the needs of the decision maker relative to the opportunities uncovered in point number 2.

4. Remember this at all times: If you do not have the same view point as the customer does, you will be considered being out of touch and you will lose the business.

So, find out how the customer views things. And, for your sake, find out how the person who is behind the decision views things. If you don’t, then prepare yourself for these words—–You’re Fired!!!

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Every profession has a system in place for success. For instance, according to Todd Piland, Sr. VP of HEB ( Retail Grocer), location is crucial for a store’s success. We all know that. But do you know the critical factors they look for in a location? Todd looks for a location that is on the right side of the road which happens to be on the way home for most folks. In other words, this is the side of the street congested during the afternoon rush hour. He wants the location on the right side because it is easy to turn into on the way home. When the customers exit, they simply make another easy right turn back onto the road. Todd also looks for highway entrance maps being located just past his store. This way there are no difficult turns that can take forever and motivate people to not stop at his store on the way home.

In sales, there are systems for identifying the right customer. We call this qualifying. Often, sales execs spend too much time chasing customers who don’t fit their profile of producing customers, do not have a need or resources to fund the purchase, or simply are not interested. Yet, they tend to be receptive to the sales exec and because of this, the sales executive spends too much time chasing down business that will not support their goals.

As we start the new year, you probably have a revenue goal identified. If not, do it right now. Once you have this goal, you must now figure out what type of customer you want to go after that gives you the best chance of meeting your goal. Do you have a clear profile of what you are looking for a customer as Todd Piland has when he is looking for a new location?

Once you have your targeted list, what questions are you asking that will help you qualify whether or not you should be spending time on this customer? Questions should include where the customer is trying to go, what’s missing for them, how much do they spend in like products/services you have to offer, how is the decision made and who is involved? One last but very important question is what’s at stake for the customer if they not meet their goals? This is a terrific qualifying question that will provide you with insight of what the customer might be willing to do solve a problem.

Adjust your qualifying system today so you can free up more time to spend with customers who are in a better position to help you reach your goals.

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We all know about the intelligent databases marketing companies use to mine information on its buyers so they can be targeted to in a customized manner. But what about customized cold calls?

If you are still dialing for dollars blindly, chances are you’re wasting your time. While prospecting is still a numbers game, today’s technology allows us to increase our hit rate dramatically. Yet, many sales executives who use the phone for prospecting are not effectively using the technology available to them.

Instead of cold calling a person, start by searching the prospect’s web site. Find out what the company is doing and what their strategic initiatives are.

Don’t stop there. Go to Google or other search engines and input your prospects name. You may be pleasantly surprised. For example, in trying to reach a prospect this morning, I Googled him and up popped the announcement of when he was hired. I immediately clipped a quote of his and used it to start my prospecting e-mail. I was able to align my value with his direction so the e-mail is no longer considered a cold solicitation.

You can also do more extensive research by using well known database services such as Hoovers and Eliyon. With each of these services you can upload extensive profiles of both the company and the prospect. You can see where they worked in the past, get a snapshot of their successes, and in some cases, find out about their interests and hobbies.

What’s the down side of doing all this work before you dial the phone? It takes more time. But the investment will also increase your hit rate by getting to know your prospect in advance and figuring out what’s important to the individual. You will spend more time up front, but how much time did you save in making dozens of other cold calls and not being able to connect with anyone?

Technology just shouldn’t be used for prospecting, but also for helping you close the deal. In doing research for one of my clients, I came across a couple of initiatives that were crucial to that client’s customer. Having this knowledge enabled us to create a strategy that has a better chance of success.

You have the technology. It’s right at your finger tips. The more you get to know your customers and prospects, the more confidence you will have in making that call and your pitch. You will have customized your message into words that will ring with interest in the ears of your prospects

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The concept of giving your customers a variety of options of how to buy your products and services is not new, but it still remains a powerful sales tool.

Let’s take a look at Disney World’s version of Option Selling. When you buy your park passes, you have several choices. First, you decide how many days you want the pass to be valid for. You even have the option of choosing calendar days (meaning the next three days) or “anytime” passes where the amount of days purchased does not have to be used up on one trip. This type of flexibility is good for both the customer and Disney. When you come back, they get to make more money on additional purchases like meals, merchandise and hotel stays, etc. If you have one day left on your pass, there is a good possibility you are going to purchase an additional day or two if you return. Plus, they have the use of your money in advance and you will be surprised at how many people never use the remaining days they have already paid for.

So now that you have decided how many days you are going purchase, your next decision is to buy a pass limited to certain parks or to purchase a pass to all the parks with unlimited entries.

As if this is not enough, you have yet another decision to make. Do you want to stand on long lines or zip right through the lines? This is called the Fast Pass option. You get to decide on certain lines if you want to wait or come back at an appointed time and zip right through. You can get better control on how you spend your day. This option is part of your ticket. You have it whether you use it or not. But Disney knows that just by including this option, they have already added a great deal of value which in turn has increased their incremental revenue.

When you offer options on how to buy your products and services, you create a very powerful dynamic guaranteed to increase your sales. If you only offer one option to your customer, you basically are forcing them to make a yes/no decision on whether or not to buy from you.

When you offer several options, you change the decision from being “will” they buy from you to “how” they will buy from you. This represents a new mindset for your customer, one which takes the pressure off of making the decision to buy and onto more important issues such as how they would like to use your products and services.

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