My observation of salespeople is that they desperately want to live at the value end of the equation but when push comes to shove, they tend to slide over to the price side to push deals across the finish line.

4 Key Differences

Seth Godin calls discounting price the “race to the bottom.” He has said it is a race you can’t win and that it is a race you don’t want to win. Here are four keys to having success selling value and staying out of the race to the bottom:

1. You must have table pounding conviction in the value that you and your firm provide. You can’t think it might be true. You must know it.
2. You must remember that value it is never meant to be communicated. It is meant to be demonstrated. Said differently, you can’t be going around talking about value and telling prospects how good you and your company might be. You must demonstrate it by having conversations with your prospects that your competition is not having. Remember, if you must tell people how good you are, there is a chance you are not all that good!
3. You must be willing to walk away when your prospect makes it clear that their buying decision is going to come down to price. I have a name for prospects like that – I call them “nonbelievers.” They do not believe in, nor do they have any appreciation for the value you bring to the table. Why spend a ton of time with nonbelievers?
4. Finally, none of the above will work unless you prospect with the appropriate intensity. You must take a “Seven Eleven” approach to hunting, meaning you are always open and working to fill the top of the funnel. It is hard to walk away from an opportunity if you don’t have another opportunity to walk towards.

And no offense to Walmart by the way. It is a fine place to shop. Just don’t try to sell like they do. It is hard to “out Walmart” Walmart!

 

These three qualifying questions will help salespeople sort all of their new business opportunities into two piles. Over on the left is a pile of opportunities that they want to go after. They believe they've got a good shot at winning the business because they are in their niche and in their market, so in the sweet spot. And over here on the right is another pile of opportunities. These opportunities are opportunities that they should walk on by. They're good folks, good men, good women, good businesses, but they are unlikely to leave the provider they're using today and move the business to their firm. 

The problem is of course, weak pipelines make cowards of us all. If there's not much or anything in their pipeline, then salespeople will be content to talk and work with whatever comes their way. It is the equivalent of going grocery shopping when hungry, everything looks good and almost everything makes its way into the shopping cart. So, let's start by looking at these three qualifying questions that will help engage more of the right prospects.  

3 Questions to Ask if You Want to Engage with the Right Prospects

Question #1: Do I want to win this business? 

The question every salesperson must ask themselves is, do I want to win that deal? Do I want that business? Do I want this firm or these people as a client or a customer? Are they going to be easy to work with? Are they going to be loyal to me? Are they going to be a believer in our value proposition? Are they going to have the wandering eye when every other firm offers a cheaper option? Do I want the privilege of working with them? 

That is one of the best things about a career in sales. You get to pick your clients.

 Question #2: Can I win this business?

The answer to this question is largely a function of whether or not the incumbent relationship is breakable. A salesperson must consider, can I win it? They can't win unless there are two things present at the same time. The prospect has a problem, a challenge, an issue that they have to fix. They’ve got to be in front of a company or an individual that has a problem that they absolutely have to fix. They're not kicking the tires. It has become a priority that they have to fix. 

And secondly, they have to be able to leave the incumbent provider. They have to be able, at the end of the sales process, to do what some would consider to be very tough. Does the problem hurt that much or would they rather live with it? The prospect always wants to avoid that difficult conversation of calling Mary or Matt at the current provider and saying, you're done. We're moving over here to another company. A salesperson can't win the business unless they have a prospect with a problem they have to fix. And they're willing to say, Bye-Bye to the incumbent.  

Question #3: How do I win this business?  

Question 3 is a matter of sales methodology and sales strategy. When a prospect says to a salesperson, “I've enjoyed our conversation. I'd love to see you put into writing what you think you can do for us.” That request might be fine, but let’s discuss the evolution of an opportunity. The prospect must have a compelling problem that must be fixed and be willing to leave their current provider. Two steps in the sales process.  But a salesperson must find out if they have the capacity to deal with it – meaning do they have the time, money and resources to take action.  And then a salesperson must make darn sure they are in front of the decision makers and if not, how and when can they meet with them. The how about engaging with prospects is the great pipeline cleaner.  Strong salespeople know that the best time to lose a prospect is today. There are more steps to this stage-based sales process, more than can be covered today.

Bonus Questions:

Another unwritten rule is that salespeople must get very good at talking their prospect’s love language. Their love language revolves around the problems they're having and the potential you have to solve them. What are the future growth opportunities that they might see? That's what they think about all the time. Any executive, any owner of a company, the men and women who put their sweat equity into building something - they're concerned about a lot of things. But at the top of their list are the problems and the things that threaten their business today. And as they look down the horizon around the corner into the next quarter or the next fiscal year, what are the potential opportunities that they would like to seize or take advantage of? These are the questions that will help you engage with prospects. 

In summary, all salespeople are going to lose deals they probably should have won. But there's one thing that is inexcusable and that is not being properly prepared for a sales conversation. That is not a matter of skill, that is a matter of discipline and being accountable and making the decision to pre-call. One way to engage with more of the right prospects is to have a prospect scorecard. A prospect scorecard will put a little bit of logic and methodology to the process.