As a sales rep, do you know who your competition is? Are you sure? No doubt, you have studied some of your competitors very carefully and know just exactly how your offer stacks up against theirs. However, competition is actually ANYTHING that a customer can choose instead of doing business with you. This includes doing nothing at all. Sales reps generally encounter this competitor during the very beginning of a sales process, when a customer claims to simply have no desire in a company’s product or service. The technical name for this competitor is indifference. Simply put: the customer doesn’t care and sees no need to change the status quo. It sounds like this:
“We’re perfectly happy with our current provider and have no desire to change.”
“Not right now. Check back with me in a year as things may have changed by then.”
“I received all your material and have your contact information. Should we review it and decide to proceed, we will give you a call.”
“We already have a solution in place and don’t plan on evaluating any new ones.”
“Uh? I don’t mean to cut you off but we’re just not interested in any right now. Thank you.” *click*
“Not unless you can beat out my wife’s company for the business and, at the end of the day, I have to go back home to her. No thanks!”
These roadblocks are generally thrown up before you even get a chance to hit your stride. Just when you finally get that elusive prospect on the phone, the door is slammed back in your face.
When you hear a customer use indifference as an objection, what do you do? The best thing to do is reframe the objection by helping the customer understand the benefits they will receive or the risks they face. To counter indifference, you can also respond with evidence or information of which they may not be aware. To reframe, you have to use the following four steps:
1. Question your customer to understand their reasoning or to determine if they are open to discussing your product or service.
2. Reframe the objection via close-ended questions to put them back in the right frame of mind.
3. Compare possible risks or benefits, or use a Feature– Advantage - Benefit statement to provide contradictory evidence or missing information.
4. Question acceptance using closed questions.
Here is an example of how this process works:
Customer: “Look, I appreciate this call but we’ve got a great deal with Kelso Manufacturing and don’t plan on changing suppliers.”
Sales Rep: “What information did you use to determine that their pricing is the best option for your company?” (Questioning)
Customer: “Well, from what I know, their prices are usually the best.”
Sales Rep: “Would you be willing to share with me the actually cost per unit?”
Customer: “I suppose it can’t hurt. They charge us $37.50 per unit”
Sales Rep: “Are they requiring you to meet a specific volume commitment to receive that price?” (Reframe)
Customer: “Sure. We have to commit to 10,000 per quarter. That’s pretty standard.”
Sales Rep: “What if you could receive that same price, not face any drop-off in component value and yet cut your volume commitment in half?” (Compare)
Customer: “I didn’t think that was possible.”
Sales Rep: “Well, if it was possible, would it be of benefit to you to explore another option?” (Question Acceptance)
Customer: “Yes, it would.”
Remember until you obtain key data, you can’t uncover the true reason behind your customer’s objection. But, by asking a few simple questions and getting a customer to open up, it is surprisingly easy to overcome indifference. Once you get them talking, they will actually feed you all the information you need to make your case.
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February Sales Quick Tip of the Month – Avoid the DOA Voicemail Message
If you are having problems getting prospects to call you back after leaving a voicemail, you are probably leaving one of those generic messages: name, company, product, and contact info. These messages are routinely zapped, so come up with something better. Keep your message short, and immediately provide a compelling business reason for this person to call you back. Tailor your statement around an industry problem, a reference to other industry leaders you already do business with or a referral from someone this prospect knows and trusts. Make them care about your message from the very first word they hear. Also, state your phone number slowly at the beginning of the message and very slowly at the end of the message. Nothing is more irritating than having to play a voice mail back because the phone number goes by so fast you don’t have a chance to hear it or write it down.
