Sorting through the Stalled Sale

Let’s ask ourselves what percentage of “maybes” are actually prospects for whom your product or solution is perfect, but who stall because they suffer from a rare disease that makes decision making more painful than root canal surgery.
I actually have a friend that really cannot make decisions, about anything. I usually order for her in restaurants, because any menu involving more than 3 choices makes her cringe. Her father once told me that as a child, she actually used to burst into tears over deciding what breakfast cereal to eat. Certainly, I think it is honest to say that decision paralyzed prospects exist, but I also think that honest analysis reveals that most of the time, the stalling prospect is not paralyzed from making decisions..

The stall is usually a FEAR symptom of one of the following factors:

1- Loss– Usually the fear of losing out on the benefits of other options. So in my friend’s case, the indecision about selecting Cheerios for breakfast, is the fear of the loss of not having Frosted Flakes for breakfast.
2- Inertia- Inaction is a comfort level for thousands of people, dealing with thousands of decisions, based primarily on the fact that not making the decision consciously, allows the decision to be made for them by circumstances requiring no effort or thought, and hence in their minds, absolves them from any bad consequences. Again, in my friend’s example, if I selected the entrée and she doesn’t enjoy it, she is free from blame, since it was my choice.
3- Unaddressed Issues – This is probably the most common block to a decision, and the one most easily fixed by the sales person. Simply stated, it means that as sales people, we have not correctly identified the most pressing issue that the prospect needs solved. Even if our problem solves it, unless that issue has been identified and discussed during the presenting and negotiating, a little voice in the back of the prospect’s brain is telling them “What about XYZ? How will that be handled?”

Fortunately, all of these sources of fear are relatively easy to fix, through the use of questioning and validating. In other words, a stalled sale is usually a sign that you missed something in your research and questioning phase, and need to go back to it.
So, take a step back, and get off the merry go round of calling every week to ask if they’ve made a decision yet. It is time to go back to the black board and review the prospect’s needs. Put it through the lens of the three factors above and ask yourself these questions.

1 – How is my solution different from others that the prospect may be having trouble letting go of? Price? Complexity? Write down what questions can I ask the prospect on my next visit that will identify the continued interest in another solution? What’s so darn good about the Frosted Flakes anyway?

2 – Where is the real pain, or real negative consequence of no action for the prospect? Very often, customers can get tunnel vision and only see the pain of taking action (risk, money, hassle, interruptions). It is your job to help them focus on the risks, costs and hassles of NOT taking action. And if you happen to discover that there are NO real urgent or pressing risks to inaction, then it is your job to move on to another prospect. So, what questions are you going to ask on the next visit to determine what will happen if the customer makes no decision?

3 - What else could be an issue for this customer? Chances are you know, just from being a professional who is knowledgeable and informed about his industry, but guess what? You still need to get the customer to tell you. You do not assume it, and do not suggest it. I cringe when I see a salesperson make suggestions on additional issues. The risk there is in opening up another can of worms and adding a worry that didn’t exist if you guessed wrong. Better to lead the questioning until the customer tells you. A prospect will feel unburdened and relieved at recognizing the issue, which causes some physical and emotional responses that are actually facilitators to action. But the real beauty of that approach is that about half the time, the prospect was not fully aware of the additional concerns. By helping the prospect identify it, and creating solution for it, you have just evolved yourself from a salesperson to a compatriot. Now the prospect sees you and your company as allies in solving issues, and will also respect your focus on finding solutions, instead of just making a sale. So again, write down what questions you are going to ask on the next visit that will lead the prospect to share additional concerns and issues.

Real life example - A few years back, I was managing a team of commercial landscape maintenance contract sales people. Our company called on property managers and proposed annual contracts for maintaining the grounds. One of my sales reps (we’ll call him Donald) had an account on his monthly report for three months without progress, so the next time we rode together for the day, I asked him to schedule some time with that prospect. Donald had gone back over and over again, and even lowered the original bid price. I was convinced that this prospect had used our proposal to get his current vendor to drop their price, and that being done, this was a dead lead. I went into the meeting with that assumption.
Very early in the meeting though, my ears began tingling with the hunch that the customer had not shared or realized there was another issue. It clearly was not a price issue, because even though we were proposing a number slightly higher than the current vendor, he did not take the opportunity to turn us down. Something else was bothering him. So I started asking a lot of questions about why he was considering us at all. What was wrong with his current vendor?
Donald caught on to what I was doing, and being more technically informed on landscaping matters, began throwing in more industry specific questions. What that line of questioning led us to, was the prospect’s realization that the current vendor was not only doing poor work, but was not addressing some other risk issues. In this case, it was some overgrown trees that posed a risk of dropping limbs into the parking lot. Our standard contract did not include tree trimming, and even though the current vendor’s didn’t either, Mr. Prospect had been feeling reticent to make a change, since the change in vendor would not solve the tree issue. Landscaping quality would have gone up, but the trees would still be a risk. Voila! There was the other issue.

Now, I didn’t identify the issue, Donald did, using focused, and very poignant questioning. But prior to that meeting, Donald had moved on from discovery and research, and simply didn’t think of going back to it. In his mind, he had correctly bid on the specs given to him by the prospect. The prospect had not asked for help with the trees during the original questioning phase, but it was still an issue. Either because he didn’t fully realize it, or because he had not linked the two.

The result of that meeting was that a week later, we signed a contract with this prospect, and also sold him additional tree trimming work for his parking lot. All it took was re-opening the questioning phase.

Fall event

Join us at our next event, "Fall into Business" a casual happy hour to meet fellow professionals.

All event details at this link.

http://fallintobusinesscbs.eventbrite.com

New Regulations on E-banking

Fresh off the newsletter.

http://images.delivery.net/cm50content/wellsfargo/bis_hosted_pages/20100901_BBR_NEWS/upfront1.htm

How are we motivated

Insightful presentation on what really motivates people.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Article worth reading

I always like articles that shed light on successful marketing strategies (which are, of course sales strategies as well) This was worth the read.

Why Tiny Tresemme Is Rising to Top of Hair-Care Heap
'Professional Affordable' Positioning Hits Right Note in Today's Economy
By Jack Neff
Published: August 30, 2010




BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Its unimpressive headquarters adjoining one of the company's shampoo factories in Melrose Park, Ill., looks from the outside a lot like a retro 1960s schoolhouse. It's a space certainly less grand than the headquarters of L'Oreal in Paris, Unilever in London or even Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.



But this relatively humble abode is home to Alberto-Culver's Tresemme brand, which accounts for about a third of the company's sales and is posing a palpable threat to rivals many times its size. Tresemme just keeps gaining share -- to the point where it is now mounting a credible threat to become the No. 2 overall brand in a crowded $6 billion U.S. mass hair-care market this year.

Of course, that's a place L'Oreal's Garnier Fructis won't surrender easily. But one thing is clear: Tresemme, a 63-year-old brand acquired by Alberto-Culver in 1959 and a distant also-ran for most of its life, is showing remarkable spunk in the face of much younger brands from much bigger marketers. Led by Tresemme, Alberto-Culver blew away the competition in organic sales growth last quarter at 12.7%, backed by a 20% increase in ad spending. The brand received $56 million in measured media support last year and $32 million through May of this year, according to Kantar Media. Tresemme works with Mullen, Winston-Salem, N.C., after switching agencies from Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis in June.

In a hair-care market that's fared poorly during the recession and at-best weak recovery, Tresemme may have found the perfect niche. It's priced between the entry level bargain brands, such as Unilever's Suave or Alberto's own declining VO5, and premium brands Pantene and Fructis.

"Our positioning of professional performance at an affordable price is really hitting a sweet spot right now for women," said Casey Keller, president of Alberto-Culver U.S. The positioning has been around more than 10 years, but since the recession "I think that positioning is even more relevant to women."

Mass hair care
Brand Sales
Pantene $436 million
Garnier Fructis $221 million
TRESemme $211 million
Source: SymphonyIRI
Most recently, Tresemme's "professional affordable" positioning has taken the best P&G, almost 50 times Alberto's size overall, could give. A major restage and overhaul of P&G's Pantene, backed by a big increase in ad spending and promotion, delivered a 0.5-point share gain for P&G in the $3.3 billion mass hair-care market (excluding colorants) for the four weeks ended July 11, according to Symphony IRI data, the first full month of the restage. For the same four weeks, Tresemme also gained 0.5 points, backed by a big increase in advertising and promotion too.

As the promotion cooled off during the four-week period ended Aug. 8, Tresemme appeared to hold its ground better than Pantene, per SymphonyIRI data from Deustsche Bank, which showed Alberto-Culver gaining and P&G losing market share in shampoo and conditioner.

Those data don't include Walmart or club stores. And Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz said the Pantene restage might actually have helped Tresemme at Walmart, where he said Pantene got a slimmed-down product count and shelf space, opening room for Alberto-Culver.

Tresemme remained around $10 million behind Garnier in the 52 weeks ended July 11 and had less than half the sales of Pantene. But it's been growing faster than either. Tresemme is already the clear leader in hair spray and styling products and was the only of the leading brands to gain share in all four major segments of mass hair care, also including shampoo and conditioner, in the past year in SymphonyIRI data.

One of the brand's most successful new products for this year, Fresh Start, a "dry shampoo" at mass, let's women forgo the time -- and expense -- of a full shampoo for a while longer. "We find women are skipping shampoo occasions, either for color preservation or hair preservation," said Mr. Keller. "They're able to spray it in their hair to freshen it up and make it feel nice, look nice, smell nice."

Mr. Schmitz believes Tresemme's former branded-entertainment tie-in with "Project Runway" and current deal with Bravo's "The Fashion Show" has played a big role in the brand's success. Alberto-Culver expects to continue the latter relationship, as well as further bolstering its styling credentials by increasing digital support around Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York next month.

Even so, uneasy lies the head that wears the hair-care crown: The U.S. has had a tendency to anoint a new leader in the mass category about once every decade. Pantene has been an exception, now entering its third decade at the top as challengers such as P&G's own Herbal Essences or Garnier Fructis either stalled or slowed short of a serious threat.

Tresemme is the only challenger that keeps chugging along, and P&G veteran Mr. Keller sees no reason why it can't ultimately claim the title -- though he's making no firm predictions either.


Market share movement (in percentage points)*
52 weeks ended July 11
Hair spray Styling Shampoo Conditioner
Pantene -1.0 -0.7 +0.2 +0.1
Garnier Fructis +1.0 -0.4 -0.6 -0.3
TRESemme +1.5 +0.4 +0.7 +0.4


Four weeks ended July 11
Hair spray Styling Shampoo Conditioner
Pantene -0.2 +0.7 +0.1 +1.6
Garnier Fructis +1.3 +0.3 -0.3 -0.1
TRESemme +0.2 Flat +1.1 +0.6
*For daily hair-care categories
Shampoo category excludes dandruff shampoo
Source: SymphonyIRI

Why you should hold your price.

Price objections come up often in sales, but usually, they are a complete red herring. Prospects use them to distract from the real objections. Training your sales staff to hold price during sales calls is essential on several fronts.

First and foremost, dropping price too easily sends the wrong messages to a prospect. It implies you were overcharging, or that you do not believe in the value of what you are offering as a solution. Smart prospects will throw out price objections as a way to test your sales force. Yes, occasionally, they actually want your solution and are attempting to squeeze into their budget, but most of the time, a price obejection is a sign of something else.

A price objection is almost always a good indicator to dig deeper and do more fact finding. During the discovery process, You need to train your salesforce to always focus on uncovering the following factors:

-Problem/Issue that needs solving
-Cost of not solving this issue
-Savings/Revenue generated by your proposed solution

With these three things identified and communicated back within the proposal, the price objection becomes overcomeable, because one can lay out an ROI and discuss it with the prospect. You are providing a numbers based discussion item to a numbers based objection.

I recently presented a proposal that included a page on the ROI estimates based on numbers the prospect and I had discussed during the process of discovery. As the client signed, he mentioned that out of 7 proposals he had received, mine was the only one that even addressed the ROI calculation. AMAZING. 6 other companies took the time to meet with the customer, and send in a proposal, yet did not do the homework of isolating the consequences and implications in terms of costs and revenue.

If your prospects consistently object on price, you have not done your homework in ascertaining value and ROI of your proposed solution. (either that or you got the math wrong)

If your proposal does not represent a wining ROI, then you should never submit it to begin with. No one objects on price when they see and identify the value of your proposal. They may try to improve the ROI by asking for a better price, but ultimately, budget concerns will usually yield to a good ROI.

So don't lower your price, unless you need to in order to provide a good ROI. Instead of not only providing a good ROI, but making sure that prior to proposing your solution, the prospect has identified and been made aware of the negative consequences of inaction, and the positive implications of action on your proposal.

Then when a price objection occurs, you know it is either a cover for another objection, or easily discussable.

Great Article On Networking

http://1to1discovery.com/top-10-networking-mistakes/