Have you ever try to set up a meeting with a prospect and immediately heard this?
- Why should we buy from you?
- What makes you different than my current vendor?
- Why should I invite you in to see me?
- We are already doing business with you, so why should we look at this new product / service?
Sound familiar? Are you a bit tired of hearing this? Get used to it.
These are common questions that customers and prospects ask salespeople, and we can't fault them for that. They don't have time to waste, and they need a good reason to spend time with salespeople who know how to sell value-whether through a meeting or to view a new product or service.
We also know that people buy emotionally.
They are motivated to take action by moving towards what they want, or away from what they perceive as pain (something that can hurt).
Here's the problem:
Salespeople try to get appointments by discussing features and benefits (intellectual, not emotional), or use "I'll be in the area, can you see me?"
The outcome?
Lack of new appointments. Or if a prospect is interested in the product or service, the objection often is "your price is higher than your competitor."
Most everyone (your competition) has similar features and benefits, making you a commodity.
So what is the remedy?
- Sound different
- Be different
- Influence them toward what we know about human behavior
We need to know our customers and prospects so well that we can tell them in 30 seconds:
- What we do
- What problems we solve
- Why they would want to invest more time to hear if we can be a good fit.
How do we do this?
You should structure a good pain pitch with three elements:
1) Make it personal to whom you are speaking (is it a CEO, CFO, what decision-maker?).
2) Use emotional words (frustrated, concerned, difficulty with, excited about); remember people are motivated by gain or moving from a problem (pain).
3) Consider using a 3rd-party story, such as:
"Some of my clients have made a change to our product because they were frustrated by the number of times they had to slow down production or even shut it down to change the current part."
Take it away.
Ask a question in the negative, such as, "I'm not sure this is an issue for you?" or "you're probably going to tell me that this isn't an issue for you?"
Watch what happens.
Prospects are not accustomed to salespeople asking questions in the negative
People hate to be sold or have salespeople sound so positive; this approach is different.
What's the goal?
- Get the prospect to "admit" to an issue
- Or, disqualify early without wasting a lot of time
If the prospect says they have a problem, then we'll discuss the next strategy later. If not, then perhaps we need more bonding, trust, whatever to enhance the relationship
