The Value of Not Sucking (At Sales)

Do you suck at sales? I mean, do your customers think, “Oh my God, not him again!” when they see your name on caller identification? If you can answer, “Yes” to that question, please pack your belongings and exit the office at the soonest opportunity. You are doing no one any good. Not your customer, not your company, and least of all, yourself. I realize that the idiom I used is offensive, I did it to make a point. If you are still with me, I'll assume you don't suck, or if you do, you want to change that.

As market builders, we hold to certain beliefs and principles about ourselves and about business. Among these is the idea that we exist within the market to bring value. Notice, I didn't say we exist to make sales. I didn't even say that we exist to serve our customers, although that is one of the ways we bring value to the market.

If our purpose is to bring value, we must have value to bring. Not valuable products. Value. That comes from within. You must recognize that the most important thing you have to offer your customer is yourself. Unless you are in a highly specialized industry, your customer can get whatever you are selling, or a reasonable substitute, from any of several vendors. Why should he pick you?

The market destroyer always heads straight for price when this question comes up. “He should buy from me because I'll give him the lowest price.” Great. So what happens when I have to offer prices lower than my cost in order to give him the lowest price? I either lower my cost by cheapening the product, or I go out of business.

That's why I have to know my true cost of doing business. Not, “How much did I pay for that?” That is only a part of the true cost of doing business. Everyone has overhead and other considerations to add to the price they pay for materials and labor to arrive at true cost. Even profit must be added to that price, or there is no value in the deal.

Back to the question, why should your customer buy from you? Because you go way back? That doesn't make sense either. Would you advise your daughter to stay in an abusive relationship because they've been together a long time? Of course not. And a business relationship should be no different. If your supplier is abusing you by charging too much, or by shaving quality off the product, move on to another supplier. The same goes for your customer. You have to offer the best value.

Remember, value includes price plus service, and the biggest component of service is what you bring to the table. The quality of your product, your knowledge of your product and the industry in which you work, and your willingness to put the needs of your customer ahead of everything else are the three most important factors the prevent you from sucking.

If you have a quality product, and you know your product well, and you understand the industry in which you work well, you will be able to improve your customers' standing in the industry by placing your product with them. As a customer service rep, or a salesperson, you will never be confronted with the question, “what should I talk to this guy about, he already has my catalog and knows what I sell?” Instead, you will find yourself trying to find ways to limit what you want to talk about, so you don't flood the customer with more information than they want.

Once we know our market and our product, the only thing missing is need. We must find out what our customers need, and match them up with the best solutions possible. In our case, that often means that we must teach them the difference between price and value, and what true cost involves. To understand true cost, we must include the potential cost to the customer of service call backs when they use inferior products, as well as the cost of losing dissatisfied customers, and the referrals a satisfied customer brings.

  We have to point out the value of customer service to them. If they are to thrive, they must serve their customer. If they buy inferior products, they not only do a disservice to their customers, they also expose themselves to poor customer service from their suppliers, who won't stand behind the inferior products.

  I know a salesman in the fence industry that ran into this problem. He was a rep for a company that was selling a cut-rate line of hardware. One day when he called on a customer he was handed a gate latch in several pieces. Like any reputable sales rep, he immediately offered a replacement. The customer was not satisfied with that answer. The customer wanted to be compensated for the loss of his expensive dog that escaped when the latch failed. Among the other hidden costs of using inferior products is the fact that many companies do not carry product liability insurance.

What would a market builder do? Market builders offer quality products and exceptional service, and they stand behind what they sell. A market builder would be insured against problems that resulted from failure of his product.

Every sales seminar around today is centered around one key principle: differentiation. If you want to differentiate yourself from the competition, offer something they can't. Offer you. Be excellent at what you do, then do it. Recognize that the most valuable commodity that you have to offer your customer is you. Once your customer realizes that, you will become his first thought whenever he wonders what product to use, because he knows that if you don't offer it, you know someone who does, and he will trust your input into his business, and will ask for it.

Of course, this all assumes that you don't actually suck. By that I mean, you must actually have something of value to offer. What might that be? Excellent product knowledge, an understanding manner, extensive contacts in the industry, solid understanding of your customers' challenges; these and others are all valuable commodities that we must develop within ourselves in order to develop our value.