Show Me The Money!

It's never easy to talk about money - but as a top salesperson, you have to boldly go into those situations - with confidence and questions at the ready! Today the Whetstone Group walks you through this delicate process of the sale.

Problem: Why is money so difficult to discuss? Salespeople frequently hear from prospects that budget is "no problem" at the beginning of the sales call. However, once things start to get close, the story sometimes changes. We're told that we "have to sharpen our pencil," "get more competitive," or offer "additional discounts." And yet, once the sale is won, price seems to evaporate as an issue and pressure is put on the vendor to improve quality or service. Often we hear from salespeople that money is the number one issue in getting and keeping the business. We need to have more competitive pricing, better discount structures or we just can't compete. You've heard it all before.

Analysis: There are several reasons that investment or budget is discussed only superficially. First, is the unfortunate, self-limiting belief (that afflicts many, but not all salespeople) that discussing financial issues is impolite. Second, experience has shown us that a discussion of price typically deteriorates into a negotiation situation which is uncomfortable. Third, we're afraid that the prospect may not be able to afford our product. Fourth, deep down, we may not be convinced that our product is really worth what we're asking.

Prescription: Don't ever get yourself into a situation where you're making a proposal without finding out two things: 1) how much the problem is costing the prospect, and 2) how much they'd be willing to spend assuming your solution completely fixed the problem. It's imperative that you understand all the financial parameters related to the sale. One effective way to make sure budget and related money issues are discussed is for you to set a "trap" for yourself. It goes something like this: "Mr. Prospect, one of the things that I sometimes find difficult to discuss is budgetary issues related to purchasing my product. I'm not sure why that is, but I want to make sure that we take some time to talk about that today. Is that okay with you?" This "trap" lets the prospect know up-front that money issues will be part of the discussion and gives you an excuse to bring them up. You might say, "Do you remember that we wanted to discuss your budget for this type of purchase? Can we do that now?"

Oh, yeah! One last thing -- don't spend your valuable selling time with someone who doesn't have the financial resources to buy your product or service.

Whetstone Group is a sales process improvement company that focuses on helping companies implement a proven sales process that will increase sales, shorten the selling cycle, increase closing rates, and improve margins. Learn more at www.whetstonegroup.com

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How (and When) to Talk About Money

"I learned early in my career not to save the money discussion until the presentation stage of the sales process," says sales trainer Chris Lytle. "In fact, if the customer doesn't bring up the money question in the first meeting, I do."

"I started doing this when I was a young advertising salesperson. I would tell my prospects what our average weekly order was. That way they would know what it took to make an impact on our audience. Most of them appreciated the information."

"I recently discovered another approach to bringing up the money issue. Mahan Khalsa suggests committing to memory your version of the following:"

"I don't know how much this will cost you. Every client situation is unique. However, other companies in similar situations and trying to get the same results you've been talking about tend to invest between $X and $Y. Can you see yourself falling somewhere in that range?"

"Khalsa believes Y should be about 25-50% more than X. A range of $100,000 to $150,000 is more believable than $100,000 and $2 million."

"Not one prospect has ever dropped dead because you talked about money early," says Lytle. "But a lot of salespeople have suffered tremendous disappointment because they didn't raise the money issue until it was time to make the proposal. When it comes to finding out that your prospect doesn't have the budget or isn't thinking as big as you are, remember this: Bad news early is good news."

Chris Lytle is a sales trainer, speaker, and creator of "Max," a web-based, interactive training platform for salespeople at any stage in their careers. This revolutionary creation is a unique combination of tools and real-world behaviors that align with the way customers say they want to be approached and sold to. Learn more at www.max-atm.com

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