Habit 40: Do You Like Us or Not?

June 19, 2017 Selling Comments Off on Habit 40: Do You Like Us or Not?

To continue with the “Account Development Habits”, let’s look at Habit 40: Know if your company is the preferred vendor or not and why.

Once an opportunity has moved in the sales cycle and you’ve qualified the opportunity as a “C”, submitted for approval, it’s very important to find out if the customer/prospect likes you and/or your company or not. You do that by asking a simple question. That question is: “Are we the preferred vendor?” It’s a straightforward and honest question that deserves an answer.

I find many salespeople, particularly those who are not “Top Performers”, have a lot of difficulty asking this question. I think it’s because they are afraid they are going to offend someone or they think its information that they do not have a right to know. I submit that in either case, they are completely wrong.

A salesperson invests a significant amount of time and money in developing any opportunity to the “C” level and has the right to know whether they are the preferred vendor or not. It is a simple question that deserves a simple answer.

Let’s assume that the customer/prospect will not answer the question or simply ignores it. That communicates a very clear message. The answer 90% of the time, when this is the case, is “No.”  At this point I would confirm that the answer is in fact “No” and move on from there.

If the customer/prospect answers the question with a very clear “No”, the very next thing that the salesperson should do is ask “Why?” and “What do I have to do to become the preferred vendor?”

Simple questions deserve simple answers and if this offends any customer/ prospect, it is easy to explain that the investment of time and money and the pressures from the salesperson’s supervisor required them to ask the question. If the customer/prospect still does not understand or is offended, it is clear that relationship development with the customer/prospect is going to be difficult and that the sale in question is probably lost. The “Account Plan” should reflect this status and further investments in this customer/prospect should be minimum.

“Are you the preferred vendor?” What a great qualifying question!

Habit 40: Know if your company is the preferred vendor or not and why.

“A Habit” is not work, but just a thing that is done every day and knowing if you are the preferred vendor or not and why is critical to your success in sales and can easily become a Habit.

TIME MANAGEMENT. For Top Performers every task is planned and focused on the goals that earn the results. Top Performers plan and then engage. They act on their plans, they work hard and they get results.

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