A few years ago my responsibilities included managing a services business accounting department. We were doing time tracking and billing manually and were ready to grow to using a commercially available software package. We had over 30 to choose from, so I had the staff review as many as they wanted and asked them to cut the list down to 4 finalists. When they had the four, I asked them to schedule a meeting with each of the sales people from the four finalists. I wanted to sit in of the sales presentations, so I could make the final decision.
We had a unique time tracking and billing process, and we knew that none of the finalists could provide all the functions we needed. When I asked the first seller if they could add the function we needed, without hesitation, he said, "No problem, and we can have it done in 30 days."
When I asked the second seller if they could add the function we needed, she said that she was not sure, she thought it could be done, but she would have to check with her development team to verify. She then said "...but I’m pretty sure we can do it and have the work done in 30 days." After hearing this second vendor provide a quick, we can do it, I started to doubt the first vendor, but I trusted the second because she said she had to go verify it. However, she shot herself in the foot and lost credibility when she said, "...30 days..."
The third and fourth sales persons sounded just like the first, "...no problem we can do it and it will only take 30 days." At this point I did not believe any of the sales people we had talked to. They had all lost credibility and I felt they were incompetent and insincere.
The morale of the story is that these sales people all lost my trust and confidence because of the actions of the group rather than the actions of the individuals. A successful salesperson would have differentiated him/herself by the way they sell. I would have purchased the package from the salesperson that said something like the following:
"I believe we can provide the functions you require, but let me take your requirements and review them with my development manager. If his review bears me out, I will get back to you with a schedule and cost estimate for us to provide you the functions you have requested."
TIP: Differentiate yourself by how you sell. Be a consultant not a salesperson. Show your buyer competence and sincerity. Take all three of these actions, and you’re on the way to a signed contract.
Epitaph: Since I did not believe any of the salespeople, we did not buy any package. We just continued doing it manually. Another sale lost to "no decision." |
