listen to the dinosaur david m. fellman [email protected] www. dinosaurwisdom.com

Listen To The Dinosaur

David M. [email protected]. dinosaurwisdom.com


A fundamental question:

What is selling?

The more complex the product or service, the more likely it requires a consultative sale!Dinosaur Wisdom

A fundamental issue:

Customers & Not-Customers


There are four kinds of people on the buying side of most sales equations:

Suspects Prospects Customers Maximized Customers


Fully qualified prospects…

Buy exactly what you sell Buy enough of it to make

pursuing them worthwhile Show some real interest in

buying from you


A fundamental question:

What drives the buying decision?


Value vs. Pain

If you can’t sell on price, you have to sell on value!

Dinosaur Wisdom


Advice Familiarity Absolute honesty Price Dependable quality

According to my research, these are the things that represent value to buyers…


Sensitivity Additional services Desire Flexibility Predictability

Here are a few more things that represent value to buyers…


“I buy a wide variety of things that make our company go, and I’m not as knowledgeable about all of those things as I would like to be — or as my boss probably thinks I am! A lot of, quote-unquote, ‘my’ ideas have improved our business, but I have to be honest with you, most of those ideas came from my suppliers. I want to buy from people who make me look good!”

Advice…


“The more any supplier knows about our business and the way we do business, the better they’ll understand and be able to meet our needs.”

Familiarity…


“Don’t hide bad news from me, and don’t ever put me in a situation where it’s the last minute and I don’t have any options. If you can’t do something, tell me up front, or else the very minute after you realize we’ve got a problem.”

Absolute Honesty…


“You don’t have to have the lowest price, although you do have to be competitive. The more you give me in terms of value, the more I’m willing to pay.”

Price…


“I want all of my orders to look just as good as those samples you’ve shown me.”

Dependable Quality…


“You have to understand that I don’t set the deadlines, they’re imposed on me by the people I work for. I understand that I cause problems for you, but you need to understand that I’m really passing along a problem that’s been dropped on me. If you can help me solve my problem, I’ll love you.”

Sensitivity…


“When I find someone I like doing business with, I want to do as much business with them as I can. You can’t believe how excited I was when I learned that my website guy can also help me to design our catalogs.”

Additional Services…


“You can see the difference in service when a salesperson really wants you as a customer. I’ve worked with some who never showed me that, and that’s why I don’t work with them anymore.”

Desire…


“The only constant in my business is how fast things change. I need suppliers who can keep up with the change.”

Flexibility…


“I want to know what I’m getting, in terms of quality, service, everything. If I can count on that, I’m a very happy camper.”

Predictability…


Complicating my life Unreliable/inconsistent service Unreliable/inconsistent quality Miscommunication/untimely

communication Order/acknowledgement problems

According to my research, these are the things that represent pain to buyers…


Untrained salespeople Additional charges Procedures violations Lack of responsiveness Lack of empathy

Here are a few more things that represent pain to buyers…


I have a million things going on on a good day,” one buyer told me, “and the fact of the matter is that I need help. I need suppliers who will simplify my life, not make it more complicated. I’m even willing to pay more for a helpful supplier, but I won’t keep on using one who makes things worse instead of better.”

Complicating my life…


“I need to know that I can trust you to deliver on time, and to keep me advised about any problems so they don’t turn into bigger problems.”

Unreliable/inconsistent service…


“Nothing makes me crazier than when one order looks great and then the next one looks awful. It is really that hard to produce consistent quality?”

Unreliable/inconsistent quality…


“It’s hard to trust a salesperson who tells you one thing and then a completely different thing happens. And why do they always wait until the very last minute to tell you about a problem?”

Miscommunication/untimely communication…


“I still don’t understand why they bounce so many orders back to us, saying they need more information. Aren’t they supposed to be the experts? If we’re doing it wrong, teach us how to do it right!”

Order/Acknowledgement Problems…


“I think I know more about the products than my salesperson does, and I probably know more about selling too. She’s nice enough, I guess, but she’s really not good for much more than picking up orders and having someone from her office call me back to answer my questions.”

Untrained salespeople…


“I award the order based on the quoted price, and then I find out that it’s a whole different price. If you want to keep my business, you’d better be able to tell me up front how much it’s going to cost, and spell out all the possibilities for additional charges so I can avoid them.”

Additional charges…


“We have proscribed ways of doing things — requisitions, purchase orders, shipping standards and a requirement for a packing list with every delivery. All our suppliers know this, but they still mess up our procedures most of the time.”

Procedures violations…


“There generally are only two times when I’ll call a salesperson — when I have something (an order) for them or when I need something from them. Either way, I want to hear back from them quickly.”

Lack of responsiveness…


“If my suppliers had to walk in my shoes for a while, I think they’d understand why I’m a ‘demanding’ customer. I try to understand their problems, but they have to understand mine too.”

Lack of empathy…


Value is in the eye of the beholder!

Dinosaur Wisdom

Pain is a pivot point. It makes people think about changing suppliers! Dinosaur Wisdom


Prospecting is an activity chain which begins with the identification of suspect companies and ends with the first substantive conversation.


Prospecting in the 21st Century

Identify suspects Identify decision-makers Make the first connection Hold the first substantive conversation






Your next customer will probably look a lot like a current customer




You don’t sell to companies, you sell to individuals!




The best selling strategy starts at the end and works its way back to the beginning

I’m busy right now I don’t need anything right now We’re happy with our current supplier I’m happy with my current supplier Just send me some literature

Early stage obstacles and objections


The first substantive conversation…


The end of the prospecting stage…The beginning of the convincing stage…The heart of the opportunity stage…

It’s pretty easy to sell to a prospect. It’s pretty much impossible to sell to a non-prospect!

When a negotiation begins, there are three things up for negotiation.


Dealing with price objections

Value Cost Price

Negotiating value is all about telling them why they should buy from you anyway, even though your price is higher than they want to pay.



Negotiating cost is all about the application of product knowledge; in other words, an alternative proposal!



Negotiating price is all about getting something of value in return for anything you give up.



Gain new customers Sell more “stuff” to your current

customers

You only have two ways to grow your business…

Which of those is likely to be easier?


Sell them more of what they’ve been buying from you

Sell them new/different products and/or services

Within the framework of selling more “stuff” to your current customers, you have only two ways to do that

Which of those is likely to be easier?


Every one of those current customers provides you with three distinct levels of value


The value of what they’re buying from you now The value of what they could be buying from you The value of influence


What’s important about the 1st Level Of Value is that you protect it…

Customer Service Customer Contact


What’s important about the 1st Level Of Value is that you maximize it…

Customer Contact Customer Education


What’s important about the 1st Level Of Value is that you capture more of it…

By Asking! By Networking

Listen To The DinosaurAvailable at most Barnes & Noble stores, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, davefellman.com…$17.95

ISSA Special: $15.00

listen to the dinosaur david m. fellman [email protected] www. dinosaurwisdom.com

Documents

additional line

straight edge

dinosaur4the diagonal

dinosaur7the diagonal

dinosaur3the diagonal

dinosaur6the diagonal

dinosaur5the diagonal

fundamental issue