 “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Benjamin Franklin One of the most common conversations I have with CEOs and company owners is how to get their sales teams to focus on value rather than price. Selling value is a major challenge for companies in Australia as the cost of doing business is high, productivity is (generally) low and consumers are extremely well informed. There are several ways to deal with this:
Many years ago my wife & I bought a second hand car – the salesman was sleazy offering this and cutting that, I should have been more weary but my wife loved the car and despite my gut screaming at me I yielded and paid $15,000 for the car. Two years, a reconditioned engine, a new gearbox & $12,000 later we traded the vehicle for $3,000 - it still makes me angry nearly 20 years later. Earlier this year we needed to buy another car – we visited about 10 used car places including one where we felt very comfortable with the sales person and went back three times. On the last visit he had almost exactly the vehicle we were after with a price tag of $17,990 on it; my wife loved the car (as did I) so I backed my self to negotiate it for a few grand less. I started at $15,000, increased to $16,000, then $16,500; to cut a long story short we paid $17,990. The salesman was extremely respectful but stood his ground, as a trainer of sales people I loved it – he had the confidence, understood his product and knew his customer, I was so impressed I’d buy another vehicle off him tomorrow. The other day I was running a workshop on why people make decisions – it was pretty straightforward as two of the team had been on holidays recently and we ran through why they chose Hawaii & Korea – they came up with something like 20 answers and only went to price after prompting, they made it too easy. It’s very interesting that when people buy they don’t necessarily exhibit the same behaviours as when they sell. I am not one for paying more than I have to but as marketing guru Zig Ziglar says “People buy off people they like, know and trust”. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au
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 Many years ago my wife and I were looking to buy our first house, we took some advice and identified a list of key attributes - location, number of bedrooms, potential, yard size, outlook etc. Invariably we had a budget and had to compromise getting to about 6 – 7 things out of 10 we were after before the price jumped up. I find hiring staff very similar – The War for Talent – has been going on for 20+ years depending on who you listen to, which has necessitated a different approach that means we have to find reasons how & why we can help employees succeed in a role NOT why we shouldn’t hire them – another test for good management & leadership. Recruitment can be a lottery, a consistent and comprehensive process is important to ensure good decisions and outcomes; if you would like one of the better tools I developed over the years as part of my process click here. Like real estate, in recruiting we don’t often get everything we want or need, and if we get to 6 - 7 things out of 10 we have to keep exploring why & how we should bring a person in & support them to succeed. Speaking with a client the other day he added that the key is to get as many as 6s and 7s on your payroll as you can then for leaders to ensure they develop them into 8s and 9s as team – love it, Boom!!! **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  “Competitors push you to achieve more” - M Cobanli
1. Never underestimate them One of my old bosses taught me about the concept of positive paranoia which is an extremely useful mindset when lining up against someone for a big deal. 2. Know your competition
3. Act quickly if you see a threat
4. Size matters but make sure it is not a disadvantage
5. Protect your key people & information
**Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.” Leonardo Da Vinci Many businesses I come across and have worked in sometimes struggle with saying “No” to the wrong sort of customer. You know the ones - they play you off against your competitors to squeeze the lowest possible price, complain about late deliveries / quality threatening to back charge and then pay well beyond terms. We all have them; the key is to maintain your intestinal fortitude, not make poor decisions and spend the time you save by concentrating quality customers that appreciate who you are and what you do. Leaders who are clear about their Why, Purpose and Strategy are more confident in saying “No” across the range of decisions they need to make – the very act of understanding, with absolute clarity the answers to these questions provide the focus that businesses need. Just last week I was speaking to a client who runs the following sense check over an idea before spending money / time / effort / on an initiative. i. Do we REALLY want to do this?
ii. Do we know we can do this as GOOD if not BETTER than anybody else?
iii. Are we going to MAKE MONEY out of it?
We all have so much choices these days, questions like this ensure: - Customers become more aware of the value you can add - Employees to be clearer about who you are and what you do - Leaders support and empower their teams to say “No” These days risk of being “a jack of all trades or master of none” is just too large to ignore. *Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au |
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