Comments on: When All Else is Equal, How do you Differentiate Yourself? http://www.btbtraining.com/2009/04/15/when-all-else-is-equal-how-do-you-differentiate-yourself/ Business development and strategy , sales and marketing, social media Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:06:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Niall Devitt http://www.btbtraining.com/2009/04/15/when-all-else-is-equal-how-do-you-differentiate-yourself/#comment-2472 Niall Devitt Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:43:42 +0000 http://www.btbtraining.com/?p=313#comment-2472 Hi Julian, I'm back, you make some truly top points. I particularly like the example you give of how you previously handled salespeople. I think it's fair to say that many salespeople have such a narrow starting point to their conversations with prospects, they leave themselves very little room to actually start a conversation. The skill, as you point out is in having a much broader conversation so that you have an opportunity as a seller to go through everything that it is important to the buyer. How you sell is every bit if not more important than what you sell, but many salespeople fail to come to this realisation. Thanks so much for a such great insight, Niall Hi Julian, I’m back, you make some truly top points. I particularly like the example you give of how you previously handled salespeople. I think it’s fair to say that many salespeople have such a narrow starting point to their conversations with prospects, they leave themselves very little room to actually start a conversation.

The skill, as you point out is in having a much broader conversation so that you have an opportunity as a seller to go through everything that it is important to the buyer. How you sell is every bit if not more important than what you sell, but many salespeople fail to come to this realisation. Thanks so much for a such great insight, Niall

]]> By: Niall Devitt http://www.btbtraining.com/2009/04/15/when-all-else-is-equal-how-do-you-differentiate-yourself/#comment-2371 Niall Devitt Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:02:41 +0000 http://www.btbtraining.com/?p=313#comment-2371 Julian, Thanks for the heads up, I will fix it now. I apologise but I will respond to your great comments later in the week (I am involved in a pretty intensive sales programme till next Thursday) Julian, Thanks for the heads up, I will fix it now. I apologise but I will respond to your great comments later in the week (I am involved in a pretty intensive sales programme till next Thursday)

]]> By: Julian Beatty http://www.btbtraining.com/2009/04/15/when-all-else-is-equal-how-do-you-differentiate-yourself/#comment-2358 Julian Beatty Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:45:53 +0000 http://www.btbtraining.com/?p=313#comment-2358 This is such a great topic, particularly when times are tough. The first thing I have to comment is that I agree with all that Dave has written. These are the classic points so often overlooked by sales people under pressure to make up the numbers. The main point I want to make, is that the comment by the buyer is a classic: Sales people tend to focus on the product too much and not on the customer as mentioned by Dave, but as a former purchaser I used to pass off sales people by either saying they had nothing new to offer, or to ask them to price some products so I could tell them they were too expensive. When sales people hear either of these two from a buyer they should back off and recognise that their pitch is wrong and not working. At this point you need to scramble to make sure the door is not closed in your face for good. I believe one of the key areas to avoiding a commoditized world is to add as many dimensions as possible to the sales negotiations and this can only be achieved by understanding what dimensions matter to the customer. The commoditized world is one where selling is only on one dimension - price. There are so many other dimensions to consider - terms, transport, packaging, rebates, discounts, stocks, JIT,MRP, PPV, standard cost timing, labeling, bar coding, tracking, customization, blending, combining of services, pooling of resources, technical support, after sales service, the list goes on... PS - By the way - the link to discounted membership of TSE does not seem to work. This is such a great topic, particularly when times are tough.

The first thing I have to comment is that I agree with all that Dave has written. These are the classic points so often overlooked by sales people under pressure to make up the numbers.

The main point I want to make, is that the comment by the buyer is a classic: Sales people tend to focus on the product too much and not on the customer as mentioned by Dave, but as a former purchaser I used to pass off sales people by either saying they had nothing new to offer, or to ask them to price some products so I could tell them they were too expensive. When sales people hear either of these two from a buyer they should back off and recognise that their pitch is wrong and not working. At this point you need to scramble to make sure the door is not closed in your face for good.

I believe one of the key areas to avoiding a commoditized world is to add as many dimensions as possible to the sales negotiations and this can only be achieved by understanding what dimensions matter to the customer. The commoditized world is one where selling is only on one dimension - price. There are so many other dimensions to consider - terms, transport, packaging, rebates, discounts, stocks, JIT,MRP, PPV, standard cost timing, labeling, bar coding, tracking, customization, blending, combining of services, pooling of resources, technical support, after sales service, the list goes on…

PS - By the way - the link to discounted membership of TSE does not seem to work.

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