Price slashing is the only away that many sales people know how to conduct business! What price peddlers don’t realize is that by being known as always cheaper, they are never able to call on highly profitable accounts.

Price sellers cannot solicit high margin accounts because they lack confidence, suffer from low self-esteem and have limited product knowledge. Some of them are even proud of being CHEAPER and include phrases on their business cards stating they offer the “lowest prices” in town. These individuals are never successful and fizzle out quickly.

Cheaper sellers lack proper sales training and are lazy because they have not taken the time to learn the benefits of products they sell. Superior sales people are trained and know that pricing information is the last talking point in a sale.

There are other benefits to making sales at higher profits than just earning higher margins. Here are a few benefits to selling at higher prices.

HIGHER prices weed out the tire kickers!

HIGHER prices tell prospects that you value your time!

HIGHER prices get you paid faster since customers value your effort!

HIGHER prices give you flexibility!

HIGHER prices make you MORE money!

The practice of HIGHLY profitable selling is appealing, but to make these kinds of sales you must find customers that are willing to pay more. There are potential prospects that never place orders unless they are sold at lower prices. You should distance yourself from cheapies the minute that you learn they don’t care about quality, reliability and service-things that lower prices destroy!

The most effective way to avoid price shoppers is by asking the right questions. Many sales people spend countless hours looking for products and ideas, and then discover that the potential buyer intends to put them out for bids. Smart sales people learn quickly if prospects are looking for additional prices. When they discover the fact, they excuse themselves from the process and move on to another contact that is interested in the more important aspects of commerce.

Many times when we have left catalogs with first-time customers, they will ask what we are going to charge them when they place an order.

Obviously, we want them to pay what is shown in the catalog, so we have developed a clever reply to this price-oriented question.

We say, and I am not kidding, “What would you like to pay?”

Nine times out of ten, their reply is, “A fair price.” With that response, the door is now open to tell them why we need to get the price shown in the catalog.

Shana Anderson was one of the 150 distributors who attended my (3) seminars at the ASI San Diego Show!

Hot Dogs at the ASI San Diego Show!

Ron Nielsen & Ed Calafut have the Truebite booth ready to ship back to New York!

Distributors that are able to do this on a consistent basis suffer less frustration, create more selling time and lead a more prosperous life than individuals that allow objections to curtail their efforts. Here’s what you need to do to keep objections in check and cause your clients to sign on the bottom line frequently.

Keep objections to a minimum—the best way to limit negatives is to keep them from coming up in the first place. Keep objections in check by asking three questions when interviewing prospects -what is your budget, when do you need them and what quantity are you looking for? These type of inquires may seem elementary to some, but most distributors never ask all three of them at once and try to proceed with the selling cycle without securing this all-important information.

Limit product choices—multitudes of sales people who are attempting to appear professional offer prospects too many selections at the beginning of the sale. For example, if someone is looking for bags, most distributors will send the contact dozens of selections without first knowing if they are interested in most of them. A better policy is to offer three choices and ask the customer if you are heading in the right direction. In the majority of instances, three choices are enough and with fewer choices there are less headaches to contend with. Ninety percent of the time when we send prospects three choices; they end up buying one of those selections.

Impress buyers—with more people out selling than ever before, you frequently encounter prospects that are currently buying from your competitors. When you discover this fact, take a testimonial marketing approach by providing the prospect with letters of recommendation that are provided by your clients. Obtain these by asking your current customers for written testimonials regarding the quality of your work and then show them to anyone who brings up the ‘I am already doing business with someone else’ excuse. We keep at least twenty letters touting our work on hand that we provide to prospects when necessary.

Be a Deliverer—a frequent objection that stifles many sales people is the subject of rush orders because they cannot turn them in a timely manner. That is a big mistake since the sale of them is a highly profitably part of running a business. Make sure that you are able to handle fast orders by developing strong supplier relationships created by paying invoices on time and meeting supplier contacts in person. The best way to do that is by attending shows that key personnel frequent. We keep strong relationships with at least ten suppliers that can process rush orders for us in a one to four day time period.

Committee selling—most times when dealing with larger accounts the final buying decision is made by groups of people. There is always a front person that collects the samples and ideas and then presents them to the decision makers. In order to speed the decision making process along, make the front person your advocate by staying in touch and frequently asking them if anything is happening and if they may need more information. Sales will wither if you allow large corporate buyers to think about things for too long. On many occasions we ask the front person if it is permissible for us to talk to committee members ourselves. That helps move things along considerably.

Price Issues—trying to secure orders based on price leads to a dead end selling street, but in some instances you are forced to address the issue due to budgetary restraints. When someone inquires about receiving a better price, ask him or her what price they think is fair to pay. None times out of ten, they will let you know exactly what they are willing to spend. We never arbitrarily lower our price without first knowing what the customer is willing to spend. On frequent occasions we tell prospects if they pay up front we will grant them a more favorable deal.

Lost Contacts—it seems that people change jobs now more than ever before and when they do, there is a chance that you can loose a key account. To keep job changes from becoming objections, keep in touch with former clients and ask them as much as you can about the person that took their place. With that information in hand, contact the new buyer immediately and schedule a time to visit with them. When you do, point out the good work that you have done for his new company and ask to continue the buying relationship. We think job changes are a good thing, since most times we are able to keep the client and also create a new one by doing business with our former customer at his new place of business.

Objections are career killers and have sent thousands of sales people packing. To make sure that you don’t suffer a selling decline, make sure to ask the how many, when do you need and how much do you want to spend questions of every prospect that you come in contact with.

That means that you should pitch these programs to clients as a way for them to decrease their health insurance premiums and increase the overall health of their employees.

Since Health and Wellness programs are laced with promotional items, their sale is an excellent way to increase the number of orders that you write.

When talking to prospects about these programs, let them know that with ROI being the integral part of their bottom line, integration of these programs will increase their profitability substantially.

This statement will certainly get their attention!

If they don’t answer and return your question with a question asking
what industries that you specialize in, politely excuse yourself and leave the booth. Truly great companies don’t release products until they know who buys them, so don’t waste time with suppliers who lack sufficient product knowledge.

On another note, there is an amazing lack of follow by suppliers in this
industry. While at shows, on at least five hundred occasions, I have
visited suppliers and ordered catalogs or samples that have not been
sent to me for months.

By the time they show up, I have forgotten about the vendor and have no interest in selling their products. When visiting non-network suppliers, find out when they plan on sending the materials and if they say there is an extended time involved, forget this vendor and approach one that can expedite your request. Use the same policy when placing phone or e-mail sample requests!

In the case of hoodies, they currently match the youth markets desire to move away from sleek styling into wearing clothing that creates a more bulky appearance. They are offered in cool colors that include neon’s and are perfect sellers for the college market, too.

Crew sweatshirts are popular today because of the introduction of upscale appliqués and 3D embroidery. These embellishment techniques make crews pop and give you the opportunity to present an older product as being new again.

Tanks have come a long way since their introduction on the beach and you can find them in numerous styles and colors that can be pared with designer jeans to create a dressier look.