Tired of being beat up on price?
Replace price conscious buyers with customers that appreciate value-added services
By Don Beveridge -- Industrial Distribution, 1/1/2000
It's a new year, and it's time to get out from under the customers who do nothing but beat you up on price. Life's too short -- and your expertise and customer service too key to their own success -- to live that way.You say you have no choice but to sell to those accounts? Well then, you're targeting the wrong customers. Your territory is made up of clients that you choose to sell to. If you are being beat to death by the price problem, then what you're saying is your customer list is made up of price buyers.
In the long term, productive salespeople do not allow a territory to evolve to an all price-motivated clientele. The best sales reps understand it is their responsibility to find new value-added buyers, prioritize them, and bring them into the fold. Ideally, they are customers who value problem solving, and are willing to pay for empathy and expertise. Believe me, they are out there. You just have to seek them out.
Successful sellers gain those more desirable customer lists by prospecting for "value-added-buyers." What percentage of your time are you calling on wholly new accounts, value- added motivated new accounts? Five percent? Ten percent? Fifty percent? It probably depends on your existing price sensitive customer list. But what I do know is that effective, productive salespeople have customer lists that are in an evolving state.
We all know that your list probably contains some customers that you should drop this year anyway. That's right. Cutting loose non-profitable, price bickering accounts that no longer deliver a return-on-investment -- relative to your time, effort and expertise -- will allow you to pursue more profitable customers.
Managers need a plan as to which value-added, motivated buying accounts will be added to your customer list next year. Our territories must be ever changing and evolving. Put those price buyers in a "telephone" territory. Put those price and specifications purchasing agents in a "mail" territory. Then, get out into the marketplace and seek out businesses that recognize and are appreciative of your expertise. Keep in mind that in most cases, the latter may not be purchasing agents.
Remember, the best salespeople are able to maintain purchasing agents in administrative capacities, never allowing them to get into decision-making capacities. Remember too that purchasing agents are "price buyers" and will beat you to death for a lower price. General managers, vice presidents and plant managers are the individuals who are in need of problem-solving ideas and expertise. They are the value-added buyers who should make up a good part of your customer list, and who will reward your expertise.
Attack your client list and make it change with the same tenacity you attack your sales objectives. Prioritize who you sell to with the same determination you exhibit relative to achieving sales goals. In the long run, it will make a major difference in your ability to exceed your sales targets
Don Beveridge is president of Don Beveridge Jr. & Associates. He can be reached at 561-793-4330.
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