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Sales Tip for April 2010 - Volume 3
Relating the Unrelated
David Sandler once said
that the real challenge of selling was the ability to relate the
unrelated. By that, he meant being able to relate the appropriate
aspects of your product or service to your prospect's situation when
the connection is not obvious based on the prospect's perception of
the situation.
It's a matter of
awareness.
Why wouldn't the connection be obvious?
In some cases, the prospect just isn't aware that your product or
service, or some aspect of it, is relevant to his situation. In
other cases, the prospect isn't aware of the true nature of his
situation. He sees what unfolds in front of him; he views his
situation, problem, or challenge as it presents itself today. He
doesn't see the underlying conditions that create or contribute to
the problem - the elements that your product or service addresses.
Without the awareness, the connection is not immediately made.
Need an example?
You are a sales rep for a paint
manufacturer. You've been contacted by a contractor for a quote on a
significant quantity of a particular type of paint for a large
project. He made it clear that he was under pressure to keep the
costs down, and he needs you to sharpen your pencil to reduce prices
as much as possible.
By relating materials
costs to overall project costs, the contractor's apparent solution
for keeping the project costs in line is to obtain rock-bottom
pricing on materials. No one can argue with that logic. However,
using your product and industry knowledge and "relating the
unrelated," you propose a more expensive paint.
How can that be?
Your company manufactures a specialty
paint that in addition to meeting the contractor's quote request
requirements, dries in less than one-half the time of the paint
specified, thereby allowing subsequent coats to be applied sooner.
Even though the paint you suggest costs a bit more than other paint
you could quote, the savings to the contractor of not having to pay
painters to stand around and literally watch paint dry would more
than offset the added purchase cost and help the contractor meet his
job cost objectives. Helping the contractor make that connection
between the cost of paint and the "unrelated" cost of labor for
applying the paint is what will win the sale.
The more you know about your products
and services and the industry in which you sell, the easier it will
be to close more sales - especially if you relate the unrelated.
© Sandler Systems,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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Danny
Wood is a nationally known trainer and speaker on sales and
sales management and a Sandler Training affiliate.
Danny specializes in working with business owners, CEO’s and senior
managers to maximize the return on what is often their most
underutilized resource, the sales team.
Danny’s work has been noted for providing his clients with the
ability to realize millions of dollars in additional business that
would otherwise have never materialized or would have been lost to
competitors.
His knowledge, experience, and
tremendous respect for the Sales Professional led to his being
selected by
NJEntrepreneur.com
to be their Sales Expert.
"I have finally gained great control
over the sales process in my firm."
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Principal
Sax, Macy, Fromm
"Our staff has new confidence and
much less fear."
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Soundboard, LLC
"I can’t remember the last time I
heard, Boss – Our prices are too high."
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Signmasters, Inc
"Our sales went up 30% since we started
with Danny’s program."
Jim
Margiotta – President
PBI-Dansensor America, Inc.
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