Today at work I got a call from a vendor. This vendor sells a particular product we use a lot of, so I’m willing to listen. I always check the prices against our current vendor to make sure we’re getting the best price. This was one of the most disastrous discussions I’ve ever had with a potential vendor. Here’s some tips for those of you who have the unfortunate job of selling products to people like me:
Tip Number One
Make your sales pitch obnoxious, fast, and loud. When the customer asks you to give them some of the specifications on your products, tell them something like, “I could give you any specs! But I’m not going to do that because we both know specs are useless. You need to try our product to see how great it is.”
Tip Number Two
Don’t listen to what the customer says. When they tell you that they don’t want to purchase an evaluation unit unless you can give them specs, tell them again about how the specs they’ve asked you for twice now don’t really mean anything.
Tip Number Three
When you quote the fantastic, price saving cost of your product, which happens to be over twice the customer’s current reputable local vendor, laugh and tell them that your product will still save them money because your product will double their efficiency. If they point out that your claim is based on specs, stall for a bit and then relaunch your sales pitch.
Tip Number Four
If you agree to send them an evaluation product so they can independently test your claims, fax them an order for your product instead. They won’t notice the difference.
Tip Number Five
If they do notice that you sent them an order confirmation and they fax it back with a note saying this order was never placed and will not be honored, call them right away and say, “C’mon man! I thought we were doing business!!”
Tip Number Six
If the customer puts you on “hold” to look something up, like specs on the product they currently use (even though you know specs don’t mean anything) you should always assume that you are actually on hold, not just mute, and talk loudly to your other sales associates about them and whether or not this stuff is all worth the potential sale.
These steps are a sure-fire way to increase your sales and gain new customers. And if they don’t work, well, those customers just didn’t want to “save money!”