The Selling Moment

Someone once asked me “what is the selling moment?”  I had probably used it in a discussion without much thought but it triggered him wanting to know the exact moment a buyer makes a decision to go ahead with a transaction. 

The thinking I had to do around that question triggered much of the sales curriculum I have written and has really become a key in helping companies make a good sales force better.   The curriculum is called the Solomon Sales System, named after the smartest of the “Judges” in the Old Testament.

Solomon Says: “All of sales is a Return On Investment equation.  The sale happens when the buyers perception of return, exceeds the investment.”  When you think about it, that is really all sales is.  Helping a buyer discover enough value for them in what you are bringing to the table to outweigh what it will cost them.  Simple isn’t it?  But simple does not at all mean easy.

Early career sales people often make the mistake that if they simply lower the price, the teeter totter will tip in favor of the sale and the buyer will buy from them.  Many times this is true though always to the detriment of the selling company and even the market as a whole. 

Lowering the price to make this sale has damaged the company brand, it has reduced the profit margin of the company and it has hurt the capacity to sell at a more effective price in the future.  It has set in the buyer’s mind an expectation of cost that may be inconsistent with the marketplace but in all events, devalues the product.  If this continues to happen, the long term effects are never good.  The companies investors want to know why their profits are down and they put pressure on the CEO or President.  The President puts pressure on the Vice President of Sales who puts pressure on the sales managers who put pressure on the sales people.  Guess who the sales people put pressure on?  Yep.  The buyers.

Wanna know why people have so much trouble with sales people?  Too many companies do not know how to hire or train their sales people.

A seasoned sales professional however will get to know the customer.  They will develop a relationship of trust and credibility and will listen with good ears to the buyer.  More importantly, they will strive to understand the ROI to the buyer.  Then, when they have the conversation about a product, they will match the features and benefits their product has to the needs of the buyer as well as possible.  They will help the buyer recognize how the buyer will look good to as many people as possible and how the savings over the long term will support the mission of the buyer.  They will do all this because they understand their own product and the needs of their buyer and the buyer will be happy to make a decision to spend a few more dollars to get what matches their needs more effectively. 

In technology, the Total Cost of Ownership has been reduced to an acronym that most understand, TCO.  In sales, when the buyer understands how a product reduces the TCO, they have a much easier time spending a few more bucks for it.  The customer is happier, the selling company is happier and the sales person has done a better job.

So normally I am a bundle of laughs and I’m having a hard time seeing anything remotely humorous here.  I do see a number of very important points that I am predisposed to expound on at greater length over the next few posts.  If you want to make sure not to miss them, subscribe via email below.  They will be on Management Responsibiltiy for sales, The ROI model, Growing sales skills, and a model for understanding how to build a sales effort.  Probably a few other things time will allow my mind to find.