Price and Product is old hat!

Back in the spring, I wrote a piece about being Too old for digital. My suggestion was that the traditional rules of marketing still apply in today’s digital world even if the channels & strategies are different.

I listed the 12 P’s of marketing with product and price in their traditional first two slots. However as product and price converge perhaps some of the other P’s, summarized as a good sales experience, should move up the list?

Just to survive you must have a good product competitively priced. Your benefits list is likely to be similar to your competition and your price within a range. This gets you on the buyers consideration list, so what do you need to offer to win the sale?

McKinsey reported that customers want good products at fair prices but above all, a good sales experience.

This good experience might include;

• a comparison of how your product compares to the market
• just enough communication to feel wanted and informed
• a recognition of where on the purchase journey a customer is, how much information they have already gathered  and what they now need to move towards a sale
• an understanding of how sophisticated the customer is and the ability to adapt accordingly
• a summary of how your product will improve a customer’s business and answer its challenges

Product and price will often but held up by the poor sales executive as the excuse for a lost sale. Improving both is usually costly and time consuming but essential if you are not in the market range.

Improving a customer’s experience on the other hand can be achieved quickly and at a relatively low cost. The results are often customers who are less price driven and easier to negotiate with because they enjoy buying from you!

Social media can kill your business!

I’ve written quite a lot about the importance of social media; how easy it is to connect with potential & existing customers but here’s the problem, if you don’t CARE you will lose business.

I’ll come back to the C.A.R.E acronym but essentially social media can expose your good customer service as inadequate in today’s digital world.

Here are 5 tips that if followed will turn good customer service into a competitive advantage by delighting your customers;

1.    Map and communicate your customer journey

Even if it is a short relationship, make sure your customer & your team know what’s going to happen & when – there should be no surprises!

2.    Good advice

Your organisation should be the go to people when it comes to advice on your product & market. Make it easier for your customers to freely benefit from your product or service.

3.    Always learn

Foster a culture where you are always looking to improve & innovate. Ask your customers, research your competitors, and ask yourselves where improvements can be made. Then make sure you make them!

4.    Consistent

Your brand can only grow if you consistently add to its equity. Simply put only

“Make promises you can keep and keep the promises you make.“

With all the tools available online you have little excuse to keep a close eye on your promises e.g. turnaround and response times, speed of web pages, delivery timings etc

.5.    Continuous improvement

Customers expect the service level that is right for them so you can no longer have a standard rather a current service level that might well be better tomorrow.

Most customers don’t buy just the cheapest. They consider if there’s an additional ‘price’ in dealing with a company. Make sure that other ‘price’ is excellent value through excellent customer service.

 C.A.R.E.?  Customers Are Really Everything

Here are some of my previous posts on becoming a better customer centric organisation;

Don’t talk when selling!

How being too helpful isn’t helpful when it comes to sales

Free or Fee?

10 ways to become a better business

Social media drives purchase & recommendation

Don’t talk when selling!

Sounds strange doesn’t it? However silence is a very powerful selling tool. Of course you’ve already done all the hard work by enthusiastically consulting, listening & directing the customer to the decision but as soon as you see that buying signal – SHUT UP FOOL!

At this point the customer does not want to hear more features or benefits rather they want to quickly get through the ordering process. 

I’ve already talked about ‘active listening’ in this previous post  Listen very carefully – I shall say this only once! but here is quick tip I use to stop myself getting carried away & hitting the customer with more facts & figures;

Top tip: when it’s your turn to respond to a customer, paraphrase what they have said.

For example;

Customer: Your product is actually cheaper than the XYZ version I’ve also been looking at

You: So you’ve discovered that our’s does all the things you are looking for but is better value?

Customer: Yes

You: That’s great. Let me take some details & we can arrange to get one sent out to you tomorrow.

By paraphrasing you can take onboard what is being said & avoid the trap of talking yourself out of a sale.

A great salesperson is a great listener & a great questioner. Beware of the great talker!

How being too helpful isn’t helpful when it comes to sales

Having spent some time recently helping on a client’s customer service line, I’ve talked to quite a few people who just can’t seem to make up their mind. We go round & round as they ask for more clarification on what I think is a fairly straightforward decision.

My first reaction was to put it down to plain indecisiveness but when I sat back & thought through the calls again, I realised being more helpful wasn’t helping! The more choices I supplied & the more questions I answered, the harder the decision became & in the customers eyes, the more important it became.

On hindsight I should have taken them back to the start of the call & provided a simplified choice such as;

“As I see it you have two choices, Product A or Product B. Now Product A has features x, y and z whereas Product B has features w, x and y. From what we’ve discussed, Product B is really what I think you are looking for. Does that seem right to you? Yes I agree, let’s sort out (next steps)”.

Of course you can up the ante if the intention is to try & get your product on a consideration list. Here a few choice technical descriptions & longer explanations of the benefits can help to increase the perceived importance of your product.

However, for me less is definitely more. Fewer options, straightforward language & explanations, easy to follow & short process all make it much easier for the customer to go along the decision path you are pointing out.

So next time you feel yourself slipping into the mire with a customer, remind yourself it’s not them being difficult or indecisive but probably you being too eager to help – get back to the straightforward choice & help them follow that easy path to a sale.

Listen very carefully – I shall say this only once!

It’s a common situation. You are finally in front of that ideal potential new business prospect, you’ve researched their business & competitors as per my previous post& you are keen to start firing questions. After all you want to impress them with your knowledge, years of experience & show them how keen you are to work with them! At the first opportunity or slight pause you are off.

Unfortunately you have confused questioning with listening as the most powerful communication tool.

BTW I’m not taking about just hearing or even worse just waiting for a gap to speak but hard, focussed listening. If done correctly it can;

• help solve problems & disagreements – not just at work!
• help us learn by seeing opinions through other people’s eye
• improve our empathy & understanding

If you achieve these 3 in your meetings then you are well on the way to exploring potentials where you can add some value & hopefully win some business.

The question is, how do you become a good listener? There are lots of descriptors about the right type of listening & the attributes you should display but I found this pretty good checklist to run through whilst in reception;

• Look for other person’s point-of-view & feelings
• Involve yourself in the conversation
• Summarise to confirm your understanding
• Takes notes
• Evaluate what’s being said
• Neutral about your own views

And yes it spells LISTEN!

Often we can find ourselves starting to form opinions & judgements as we walk in the door or after the first introductions. I’ve found a good tip is to use the simple act of opening my note book or more recently launching Word on my tablet as a prompt to clear my mind ready to begin listening.

We know ourselves how good it feels when someone else understands what we are saying. We finish the meeting with a real sense of purpose & knowing we can now get on with some positive actions – all because someone took the time to really listen!

When to sell & when to negotiate?

Do you sometimes find yourself in awkward sales positions having to negotiate your way round a problem or a misunderstanding?

Does price become the issue rather than value?

Perhaps you are relying on negotiation skills too heavily & should reconsider the client’s priorities & needs & how you can help them achieve results.

Here’s a number of customer reactions & what I think is the correct response – sell or negotiate;

But what to sell & what to negotiate on?

Here are some possible options for each customer expression;

• Needs should be addressed & satisfied.
• Objections should be clarified & where appropriate corrected.
• Interest should be turned into an order through further rationale of added value.
• Acceptance should be turned into an order.
• Demands should trigger review & analysis from the customer’s perspective.
• Consideration should be supported by your best proposal & reiteration of how you add value.
• Rejection should trigger the fall back plan

I talked about the concept of a leadsperson rather than a salesperson in this previous post. The idea was that a good sale is one where the customer is lead or guided to an advantage that delivers the best possible results.

I think we could change that to leadsconsultant, as good selling is all about providing good consultation based on relevant knowledge.

What is it you actually do?

How many times have you been asked this question?

Whether in first meetings, on the golf course, down the pub  or at networking events, having a succinct & well thought out answer will avoid that embarrassing pause that makes you look silly or stop you from launching into your life story in the hope that something useful will fall out 20 minutes later. Meanwhile your questioner suddenly has a pressing meeting & ‘is it ok if we aim to finish in about 10 minutes?’.

Here are3 tips to help you prove your worth to the buyer & quickly get to the point where you can start to ask some questions, identify some needs & discuss how you can help solve them;

1. Write down a sentence that describes your company’s positioning & what you deliver. Share this with other people in your organisation & ensure you are all broadly saying the same thing.  You don’t have to repeat parrot fashion the company line, your own words are much better but you do have to be consistent.

Once written down you & your colleagues will find yourselves adapting the sentence depending on the circumstances but the core message will remain the same.

Here’s ours for FJR Communications

‘We are an experienced marketing consultancy demonstrating improved results for clients through independent marketing director support, key action identification & account managed strategy implementation via a long list of trusted specialist partners. ‘

2. The natural follow on from explaining your positioning is to list the problems you have solved for other clients. I’ve found a good way is to hand over a nicely branded list & let the buyer read through & hopefully identify a few that they are experiencing.

Here’s an extract from the full marketing service sheetwe developed as Founding Partner of springboard, a 20 strong consortium designed to broaden our business development offering & list of specialists;

• Where can we get some quick customer leads & what return should we expect?
• Do we really understand all of our potential customers, their media habits & competitive buying decisions?
• Are we confident our proposition & brand image are the very best, clear & aligned to our customers needs?
• Do we really need social media?
• Is our website on page 1 of Google, is it attracting, capturing & managing enough of the right customers?
• Do our emails & PR get read & remarked upon?
• Is everyone in our business marketing us effectively particularly our sales team?

Of course if you are about to hit a screaming 3 wood to the green, agree to take their card & email over the list!

‘Any on there that are relevant at the moment?’ should get you nicely into a discussion on where you can help add some value.

3. Even if your list doesn’t evoke a positive response (it should if you’ve done your homework before the meeting – see this previous post) you still have the opportunity to show how you deliver on your initial statement.

For example at FJR Communication ‘our  results based service covers marketing strategy assessment & development, channel neutral digital & traditional marketing plans, interim marketing director support & supplier sourcing, negotiation & implementation management’

So next time someone casually asks ‘what you do’ you are prepared, can put them at ease, demonstrate you know what you are talking about & quickly move on to how you can help with their issues.

No more Ronnie Corbett monologues!

Being just a friend doesn’t win business anymore

Use to be that a tenacious & yes sometimes manipulative sales person could do well. Back when I was buying £M’s of media, I met lots of them!

Then in the 90’s the internet exploded & there was the beginning of a shift in power. Customers started to research, compare offers & generally took back control of the sales process.

Much like the Direct Line ad, the slippery genius of a salesperson recognised that to succeed they had to work on the relationship AND deliver their promises.  The era of the long lunch, promo gifts, discounts and free overseas trips was born.

Fast forward to today & a good client relationship is almost a given (or at least should be!) in today’s highly competitive & undifferentiated market.  So how are some businesses succeeding?

I think it’s marrying a good relationship with good information.  In doing so a salesperson can help customers look at new revenue streams, improve efficiency & capabilities.  This new type of salesperson is willing to drive innovation, develop insights into a customer’s market & lead a customer to a solution.

Being a friend is no longer enough. Customers want someone who will help them develop an advantage by guiding them through an increasingly complex & ever changing environment.

Perhaps leadperson is a more appropriate title?