Posted by Dave Kurlan
Last week, I was training a sales force to sell value - an absolutely revolutionary concept - when the unthinkable happened, not once, but twice in the same training. As incredible as it was to me, it clearly illustrates why it is so darn hard for companies to get their salespeople to sell value.
We had just spent an hour demonstrating a consultative approach to selling, a prerequisite for selling value. We then spent another hour on the 4 keys to selling value. We were in the middle of a role-play when Dick asked, "Why do I need to ask all those questions when all he wants is a price? Isn't there a scenario where I can just quote him a price?"
Sure there is, Dick! If you are prepared to be entirely obsolete - right now - then go ahead, skip the questions and the whole conversation, and quote your precious price. Because we don't actually need you if all you're going to do is quote a price. Your prospects and customers can get that online - and quicker than you can come up with an answer for them. Today, prospects and customers have zero use for a salesperson whose value is limited to knowing prices and technical specifications.
It got even better after I was done with Dick. Bob told me about Tom, a customer who can't buy from him because Tom has to buy from his brother-in-law. Apparently, Bob's wife will kill him if he doesn't buy from Tom... Anyway, there was a scenario where Tom couldn't get what he needed from his brother-in-law, so he called Bob and asked, "How much?"
Of course, Bob wanted to quote a price, but I suggested that we role-play because there was probably another way to handle the call. I played Bob's part in the role-play and wanted to take the call in a completely different direction. Instead of quoting a price, I asked, "Tom, does your wife know you called me?" and "Why can't Tom deliver this for you?" and "You only want to make a one-time purchase?" and "Why should I do that?"
While Bob was thinking transactionally about the small order he might easily get, I was thinking about how we can leverage this turn of events and convert this into Bob doing a favor for Tom instead of Tom doing a favor for Bob.
The one thing that always gets in the way of selling value, is when salespeople want to quote prices! Stop-quoting-prices! There will be plenty of time - LATER - to let them know how much they will pay you when they decide to buy from you!
