Are you telling your customers what they need to know in order to buy?
Last weekend, I judged at a high school debate tournament here in Kansas City. Longtime readers know that I was in debate and public speaking in high school and college; it’s a big part of making me who I am. So I enjoy it a lot. But, I inadvertently stepped into the middle of a current debate controversy – and therein is a sales lesson, because I see the same problem in the world of selling.
When I debated, the affirmative’s burden was to explain to the judge what their plan was, and prove that it was worthwhile. The “plan” involved telling the judge (essentially, the customer in the debate) what you planned to do, how you’d do it, and what it would cost. The current fad, however, is for the affirmative to leave out the details of “how” and “cost,” and let the judge make up their mind without those. I did make up my mind; I voted “negative” in each round where the affirmative took this approach. My reason is simple – I can’t buy if I don’t know the cost. This led to a very upset debate coach. Read on, because as I said, I see the same thing in selling every day.
Said coach decided to accost me in the judge’s lounge complaining that I had unfairly given his team a loss. I’ll leave out the nerdier points of the conversation, but suffice it to say that I explained to him that I couldn’t buy something when I couldn’t evaluate the cost – and he probably didn’t either in real life. He walked away upset, but understanding why I did what I did.
You see, the reason that some teams have taken this tack is also the reason behind some of the really lousy selling methodologies today – FEAR. In debate, the idea is that if you don’t address cost and funding, the negative can’t attack you on this basis. In selling, it’s the same.
Some selling methodologies refer to explaining your processes, and showing your price, as “spilling your candy,” and construct complicated defenses to prevent the customer from getting ‘your’ information. As the philosophy goes, if the customer doesn’t know your information, they won’t use it to find a different vendor. Here’s the problem – if you go this route, you’re expecting the customer to buy without knowing what they’re buying.
Why does fear motivate us so much in selling? I think there’s a simple reason for it – salespeople are unconvinced of the value that they, and their company, bring to the table. Further, they lack confidence in their ability to execute the sales process and communicate that value to the customer. So they’ll engage in defensive selling in an effort to prevent the customer from buying anywhere else – instead of engaging in affirmative selling that shows the customer the real reasons why they should buy.
Here’s a clue – if your customer is curious enough about your competitors, or unconvinced of your value, they’re probably going to shop you. And there’s NOTHING you can do to prevent that. The only thing that you can do to win the sale is to convince your customer that you prevent the best value in the sales arena.
Here’s another truth of selling – communicating our value is our job as salespeople. If you don’t feel you can do that, you have a very fundamental problem with your skill set, and you should fix the problem rather than try to patch around it with evasive tactics that only annoy your customer and ruin your relationships.
So, the next time you’re worried about ‘spilling your candy,’ ask yourself one key question:
Am I withholding information that is necessary for my customer to buy?
If you are, how do you expect to close the sale?
Stop playing defense, and instead worry about WINNING the sale. Much like the failed debaters that had me as a judge, you’ll be more successful if your ‘plan’ for your customers explains what you plan to do, how you plan to do it, and what it costs.
