Planning winning sales calls

Short message today.I’m off to the airport to escape rainy NYC and fly back to sunny San Diego.Despite living in Manhattan for nearly 10 years now, I’m still a Californian. NYC summers are not for me. Hot, humid, sticky weather is not something I’ve adjusted to.My patient wife points out that I love Hawaii and that it certainly is humid there. Yes, it is, but the islands have their trade winds blowing nearly 300 days a year to keep everything pleasant. Plus they have mai-tais. Which take the edge off of everything...

Understand how decisions are madeWinning a deal is how the buyer expresses their opinion of the value you offer.Similarly, losing a deal is how the buyer expresses their opinion of the value you offer.A competitor beat you by doing a better job of demonstrating the value of the outcome(s) the buyer could achieve with their product.In the absence of differentiated value, your customer will buy from the seller that adds the least cost to the transaction.(In the complete absence of value, the buyer will choose to make No Decision.)Therefore, even if you sell a commodity-type product, you need to add value to the buyer experience through how you sell. Otherwise, they will buy the option that adds the least cost to the transaction (i.e. the lowest price.)When a seller complains that the buyer made a “price decision,” s/he is missing the point.The buyer made a value decision. You didn’t offer enough value. So, the buyer chose the option that added equivalent value with the least added cost.Bottom line: the buyer’s decision is a referendum on the value you provide.- Andy