Ever had a business plead with you to buy their product?
True story that happened to my uncle of mine. On the prowl for a new compact sports car, he tracked down just what he was looking for: electric blue paintwork with cream leather seats and a sweet set of alloys would turn the eyes of every 50-something on his leafy street green.
B2B or B2C, every customer has their own priorities when deciding to buy. In Noel’s case price was a key factor, so he was shopping around for a good driveaway deal.
The quest narrowed down to two dealerships with quotes that fit his budget. So he headed into the showroom of dealer A armed with their original quote to negotiate a package that would pip dealer B’s. The salesman, who I’ll call Andy, welcomed Noel back with the supreme confidence of a shark circling its dinner.
“Right this way,” he beamed, as they approached the object of desire gracing the floor. Replete with a sign on the windscreen reading SOLD TO NOEL.
Naturally taken aback with this brazen gun-jumping, my uncle could not recall signing a contract with Andy for anything.
“What’s this all about?”
“You’re here to finalise the purchase, aren’t you?”
“Not as far as I’m aware, no.” Flashing dealer B’s offer, “Can you beat this?”
Studying it for a moment, Andy said with voice rising, “I thought we had a deal. Our package is outstanding value.”
“But B’s is better.”
“What about our service?! What about our reputation?!” Poor shrill Andy was beside himself. He’d had it all sorted, and in his mind was probably spending the commission.
“I don’t really care about those. I’ve got a budget to fit.” Shrugging, Noel sauntered out.
A shark went hungry that day.
And a week later Noel was spied cruising away from dealer B with the top down and Meat Loaf tearing up the speakers.
Post mortem
So what went wrong for Andy?
He had the product for sure, and on top of some hubris, Noel told me later that Andy failed to find out what was important to him – in this case the driveaway price. Andy had been so busy trying to sell the dealership’s vehicle servicing and promote its reputation that he swam straight past what his customer really wanted.
The takeaway for any business – whether you’re a car dealer or an advanced materials maker – is that in the customers’ eyes it doesn’t matter how proud you are of your reputation, rightly or otherwise. It’s whether you can solve their problem or satisfy their needs.
That means asking the right questions to qualify prospects, negotiating an agreement, or even parting ways if you’re not a good fit for each other.
To find out how I can help you communicate the value your prospects are seeking, get in touch here and we can schedule a Zoom meeting.
If you’ve had an experience like this, feel free to share it below.
