Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/105134
You Can Always continued with this prospect, the less likely they'll be to share any additional information or awareness with you as one of the losing vendors. Step Two is meant to position your acceptance of your buyer's decision and to affirm the company they chose. Both of these efforts will help lower their resistance so you can learn more by saying something like, "Well…thanks for calling to let us know of your decision. I'm sorry we won't have the opportunity to do business with you and your company. It would've been an enjoyable experience getting to work with you and your team. But congratulations on choosing Johnson Distributors, they're a good company and I know they'll do a good job for you. Now that your decision is final, would you allow me to ask a few questions so I might learn how we could do a better job next time we work with you or any other company considering our products (or services)?" Your third step is to ask them questions about how and why they made their final vendor selection. The key to learning as much as possible from a competitive loss is to always remain positive. A buyer will shut down and stop answering your questions as soon as they feel they are receiving any challenge or resistance to any of their answers.That is why you want to affirm the vendor they did choose; otherwise, you will come across as challenging their decision and will only shut down any information or insights. The other critical key to learning more will be based on you taking personal responsibility for losing the business. It isn't that your competitor stole anything from you. They just did a better job of connecting with the buyer and communicating their value and approach compared to any other alternative. The best approach to generating the most customer input and feedback will be based on centering your questions on what you could have done to have better understood your buyer's real wants and needs and to have better explained and demonstrated your value and uniqueness. Buyers never make dumb buying decisions; they always 42 FEDA New s & View s The other critical key to learning more will be based on you taking personal responsibility for losing the business. It isn't that your competitor stole anything from you. make the best business decision based on all the information available at that time. Therefore, if your buyer chose someone else, it has to be because they felt your competitor would be a better fit or would do a better job for them and their company. Your questions to this buyer are meant to help you learn what you could've done differently or done better in your attempt to understand their needs and to propose solutions. Consider asking questions like the following: "What did you like most about the vendor you chose?" "What did they do that other vendors didn't to prove their value to you and your company?" "What do you wish we would have done that could have made us more competitive?" It's Never About Price If you've read my past newsletter articles, you know that price is never a buyer's final and most important determinant. There is always another reason besides "I chose them because they were the lowest price." The only way someone can win the business based on price is if they first prove there's no decrease in value associated with this lower price compared to the competition. So even if your buyer tells you that you lost on price, keep your questions focused on the perceived value differences between you and the vendor that won. After all, the only way your competitor won with a lower price is if they first proved they could provide equal or greater value than any of the other competitive alternatives. The greater your perceived value compared to your competition, the more you can charge and still win the business. Never accept your buyer telling you that you lost on price. If they tell you they chose your competitor, either because your competitor's prices were lower or your prices were higher, ask questions like the following: "How did they prove you weren't going to be giving up any value buying from them and their lower price?" You can also test the value of your major selling points or areas of uniqueness you were promoting by asking,"Through our research we thought you and your team were most concerned about after-sale support and parts availability, were we accurate in that assessment?" You also might ask,"What did we do best?" or "In your opinion, what did you perceive to be our strongest strengths that we could bring to your company?" In addition, a final question to consider asking is, "What one thing, no matter how small or insignificant, could have helped me and my team to do a better job in our attempt to prove our value and to win your business?" Lastly, you want to make sure you end your customer conversation with a positive future-focused comment. Say something like, "I hope you and your team will allow us to stay in contact and to hopefully propose again in the future. When would be an appropriate time to check back to see how things are going and to see if we might offer to help?" Good Enough To Get Better? The goal of professional selling is to always learn something of value from any effort you invest in a prospect or customer—not just to win the sale, but to also identify how you can become more persuasive, more efficient,or more effective in your next selling effort. No one wants to lose a sale. But when you do lose,what questions can you ask your buyer that can help you learn and improve so your next selling opportunity is either more successful or at least easier? After all, we know you're good. The question is are you good enough and persuasive enough to ask the right questions,when you do lose business,so you can still learn what else you can do to increase your competitive advantage and ability to win the business next time, even at a higher price? K