Salespeople spend a significant amount of time, energy, and thought trying to articulate the cost of NOT purchasing their product. In your opinion, does creating a compelling case against doing nothing consequently create a reason to buy?
I love a good bargain as much as the next person, but I learned a valuable lesson about phantom costs. That is, those costs that don’t show up on your income statement but drain profits. Everyone has heard the saying “good things are cheap, and she things are good,” however, we tend to forget it... Read more →
A few years back, I was hired by a manufacturing company who was doing 7-8 million dollars in sales per years. They had been in business about 20 years and had experienced a few growth spurts, but were now in a stagnant position the past few years They were struggling to hit the next level. ... Read more →
only if the cost of not doing something is, or could be, significant
I spend time exploring the costs of NOT fixing the problem(s) the prospect has that my solution (product) takes them away from. For the prospect to move to buy from me the pain these problems create must be significant enough to overcome the pain of changing over to my solution. My job as salesperson is to build a case for my solution and make the transition as easy as possible.
The cost of “doing things the same as always”, which is the “nothing” here, only compels a business owner to buy if the seller clearly articulates not just the cost incurred in the “do nothing” approach, but more importantly the huge gap in results between the current method of operations and the unique solution the seller is offering. So the “cost” here has to be painful and clearly bridged by the sellers solution.
I always use this aspect as part of a close…”How is doing what your doing working for you?”
A sales person should always be providing a solution to the buyer. The fact that there is a need for a solution is all the rep needs in order to provide his/her companies solution.
Solution based selling is the easiest sale. The sales rep needs to give time to asking probing questions and then listen. The buyer will walk you to the need / sale. Trying to sell your product where there may be no need is a waste of time.
Phil, well said and spot-on. Always meet the customer need.
Depends on if your buyer goes for “gold medals or German shepherds” – pain vs. pleasure. If your buyer is a person that avoids pain – a german shepherd – then pointing out pain may work. If the buyer is attracted to pleasure – a gold medal – the rep has to go that route and sell the benefits of the offering.
If done right, the cost of doing nothing is a reason to buy. Isn’t that what we are trying to do with SalesQB? It is moving on and breaking through what has been done (or not done) in the past.
One of the motivations for people to hire us to be their Business Buyer Advocate ® is their answer to this question: What is your opportunity cost?
The longer it takes you to buy a business, the higher your opportunity cost. You forego the monthly salary and business profit you could earn from owning a company until you consummate a purchase. You waste money fast.
Example: If it takes you one more week to get started or to meet the next seller of a mature, profitable, fairly priced company, and you would earn $8,000 more per month from your target business, $2,000 is your effective loss.
A delay in buying can cost you as much as paying too much. It’s like standing on the sidelines during a rising real estate or stock market.
It costs you to do nothing, because you defer or forego the benefits you could have enjoyed if you moved forward or if you didn’t quit.
We ask business buyers: What is your opportunity cost? (The longer it takes you to own a business, the higher your opportunity cost. You forego the monthly salary and profit you could earn.)
If you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got. The definition of insanity is to do things the way you’ve always done and expect different results .
In many technical sales, proving ROI can be illusive. Proving consequences of doing nothing requires the buyer becomes fully committed to the elements that create the “cost of doing nothing.” In short, that means involving the buyer in the creation of the consequences greatly improves the potential of buy in.
If one of the stages of your sales process does not include getting your buyer to acknowledge that change is required, you will endlessly compete with “doing nothing” or “doing this internally.”
You must sell the dream first. You must get the owner to visualize their nirvana business. What having this would mean to them personally, their family, and their employees.
Then walk them backwards from there. Once they self-discover what it take to achieve their happy place. Then you can introduce the concept of Cost of Doing Nothing. i.e. Killing their dream.
“You make the sale when the prospect understands that it will cost more to do nothing about the problem than to do something about it!”
– Author Unknown