Get them to Switch

Wisdom from Art:

This Week's Tip
Stealing Business From the Competition

Greetings!

This is a bit longer tip this week. Actually more
of a sales training session. I know many of you
use these tips in your sales meetings, so this
will be an excellent fit for that.

And by the way, this was a recent cover article in my
monthly Telephone Prospecting and Selling Report
eight-page newsletter, just one of the member
resources for my Telesales Success Inner Circle
participants.

Let's dive in.

If you place prospecting calls (hopefully Smart
Calls) you probably often hear, "I already buy
from X-Company," or, "We're happy with who
we're using."

I know, at this point you feel like saying,

"X Company! What a bunch of losers. How can
you be so dumb?"

Almost as bad--and what many salespeople
actually do--is data-dumping a pitch explaining
why your company is better. It's confrontational,
and only causes the prospect to harden his defenses.

Another strategy is to simply make a quick exit.
Which might not be bad, depending upon your
industry, and the quality and quantity of names
you have to work on. Many stockbrokers take
this route. After all, repeatedly running into
a brick wall, rebounding off, reloading and
ramming into it again isn't the most efficient
use of time if you have stacks of other leads
staring you in the eye. Plus it hurts after
a while.

But if your prospect pool is relatively finite,
you can't afford to burn through names. You need
to take the next step.

Get Them Talking
Your best approach is to engage the prospect
in a two-way conversation. You see, prospects
often say "I'm happy with my supplier," because
it's an easy way to get rid of a salesperson.
It's instinctive. It's easy. Jumping into a
pitch at this point not only falls on deaf
ears, it's unwise because you don't yet know
anything about them.

Engaging them in conversation, however,
gets them involved, and gives you material
you can work with.

A suggested route is to learn why they
selected their present vendor. Once you
know what influenced that behavior, you
have insight into what to say so they'll
consider you.

But DO NOT say, "Why did you choose them?"

The reason is that "Why?" puts them on the
defensive. It forces them to justify their
selection. And it can be interpreted as an
attack of their reasoning. You might as
well poke them in the ribs with a sharp
stick and then try to sell to them.

Saying, "Oh I'm sorry to hear that," or,
"Any particular reason you use them?" has
the same effect.

Instead, you want to ask questions that
open them up, build rapport, and ease
into a conversation about how they chose
their supplier, again avoiding the stern
"Why?" word.

For example,

"What influenced the decision to select them?"

"What prompted the decision to go with them?"

Notice that the last two questions take the
emphasis off the person, and place it instead
on the decision. It's non adversarial, and
is a soft way to get them talking.

By the way, I don't favor the oft-recommended
"What do you like best about them?" Some might
argue it gives you insight into what they
want in a vendor. I maintain it asks them to
reinforce their decision to pick their
existing vendor--the exact opposite of what
we truly want to accomplish.

The Competitions' Weaknesses
What you should do now is ask questions
designed to extract information not only on
what his needs are, but also to point out
your strengths and the competitors' weaknesses.

For example, if you know X Company has poor
quality--allowing them to charge that lower
price--instead of blatantly slamming X's
workmanship, you'd ask a question to shed
light on it:

"How often do you have customers return for
service because of defective parts?"

"What do you do in situations when the
units overheat?"

Now it's not YOU disparaging the competition;
they're doing it for you. More importantly,
they're reliving their negative experiences
as they explain them. Delicious.

I don't want to paint too rosy of a picture
here. Despite your best efforts, in most cases
the prospect still won't budge. Then your
best tactic is to keep the door open for
the future. After all, we've all had those
written-off, discarded prospects who surprised
us with a phone call announcing,

"You called us a couple of months ago, and
we'd like to do business with you."

Here are additional questions that can make
that happen more often.

"Do you have a backup supplier?"

"What type of contingency do you have in
place if something were to happen where you
needed something in an emergency?"

"If anything were to happen with your
existing supplier, could I be on the list
of people you would consider?"

Or tell them,

"Please put my name and number in your
vendor's file. If anything happens where
they can't provide you something when you
need it, would you please give me a call.

Selling against someone's existing vendor
can be difficult--if you make it that way.
Instead, get them talking, and you might
find out exactly what you need to do to
get your foot in the door.

Go and Have Your Best Week Ever!

Art



QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Dreams are powerful reflections of your actual
growth potential."
Dr. Denis Waitley

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Contact: Art Sobczak, President, Business By Phone Inc. 13254 Stevens St.,
Omaha, NE 68137, (402) 895-9399. Or, email:arts@businessbyphone.com

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