Sales Tips | Sales Coaching

Do You Like To Be Sold to?
Sean McPheat

Are you one of those people who likes to be "Sold to" wherever they go?
I'll put my hand up and say that I'm in that category - much to the disgust of my wife when we go out shopping together!

Oh come on it is my living after all! But I love to see how well I am sold to (or not as the case may be), what techniques they use and how they go about handling my objections.

It brightens up a day lumping bags around the shops I can tell you!

The reason why I say this is that there is a great sales lesson to be learned from a recent experience I had with a street vendor.

In-fact it was my wife who exposed the street vendors weaknesses as a salesman so she is a right one to talk!

Street vendors are a perfect example of what not to do if you're in sales as the only thing they ever talk about is price.

Okay, on with the story..

So there we were walking down a shopping arcade when up came a street vendor selling paintings of Tony Montana from the film Scarface.

Now, I just love gangster films and especially anything with Pacino in so my wife wanted to get it for me for my office room at home.

Now, there is something you should know about my wife! (No, not that!). But my wife Donna is like a silent assassin!
Hanging around with me for far too long me thinks!
Whilst she bemoans me playing games with sales people she does it without even thinking about it herself!

"£15 for the picture lady" said the vendor.

"I'll pay you a fiver for it" says my wife.

(Go on girl, I'm thinking).

"£10" responds the vendor.

At this point my wife gets out a five pound note and says "I'll buy it for £5".

"That's daylight robbery" says the vendor "I can't do it for that".

"Oh, no problem. We'll just look around for others" says my wife as she turns away to walk off.

"Okay okay, you drive a hard bargain - £5 it is".

So what is the moral of that experience?

Well, if all you talk about is price there is only one way it will go and it aint going up!

You will come across as desperate as the vendor did and that means that your prospect will jump all over you.

The less you talk about value and solutions the lower your price will be.

The more you talk about value and solutions the more willing people are to pay a higher price.

So what does this mean to you?

Well, look at your sales scripts and approach and ask yourself a couple of questions:

- How can I demonstrate even more value to my prospect than I am currently doing?

- What further problem can my product or service solve for my prospects?

- What additional question can I use to elicit a further need?

and the acid test question...

- If I were in my prospects shoes and I gave myself my current pitch, how much would I expect to pay for my product or service? (And be hyper critical)

If the amount is higher than your current asking price, then you are in business.

If it isn't, think about what you can add as "value" to make it so.