Sucker for a Great Sales Pitch

Driveway NumbersThis weekend while doing my normal Saturday morning yard chores an older model white van pulled up. I didn’t recognize the van but the sliding door opened and out hopped a young man who could have been no more than 5 or 6 years old.

My first thoughts were he must be selling cookies or chocolate bars for his Little League team but he had nothing in hand. I was pretty sure he wasn’t from the neighborhood since it is common knowledge among the kids on the block that if the “old man” comes to the door when you ring our doorbell you won’t sell a thing. I’m almost positive the kids wait until I leave then ring the doorbell knowing my wife is a much easier sell. But I digress.

The young boy walked right up to me and introduced himself as Braden (which happens to be our oldest grandson’s name). Braden said he noticed that the numbers on our driveway had faded and asked if I would be interested in having them re-painted.

This is where my normal response of “no not today” or “we don’t need any” usually kicks in but this time was different. Young Braden had done his homework. He caught me outside and as he mentioned the faded numbers he was pointing to the driveway. There was no doubt that the numbers were nearly unreadable so I couldn’t deny the need.

I was quite surprised when “how much” popped out of my mouth.

I fully expected Braden to call his mom or dad from the van to discuss pricing but the young man had the pricing down cold.  Without hesitation, Braden explained he had several options. For $15 I could get the standard white background with black lettering. But if I wanted to add a Double T or State of Texas picture that would be $20. Braden had a $25 offer but I had quit listening at that point and was admiring his polished sales pitch.

Those that know me will not be surprised that I purchased the $15 option.

Young Braden, like a pro, signaled to his parents to get out of the van and get to work. He told them the option I had selected and began overseeing their work. Once they began working he came back over to where I was standing  and started telling me that when he grows up he wants to be a Driveway Sign Painter and  a Car Salesman.

I have no doubt that if Braden continues to hone his sales skills and with his natural abilities he will do great at whatever he decides to sell.

I even thought about giving him a business card and telling him to come see me in a few years. He was that good!

I only wish his parents were half as good at painting as Braden was at selling.

If you were expecting the continuation of the “Signs if you are a Rabbit” post, I should have it ready this week. I was finishing up a draft of the post when I received a really good real life example of being the Rabbit from a reader. It is a much better example that I had so I will be rewriting the post this week.

And heck, a great sales pitch is better than a silly old rabbit any time.

 

Are you the Salesman or the Rabbit?

Do you know when you’re the Rabbit?

I’m not talking about the cute little bunny rabbit with long ears and aiStock_000010211258XSmall cotton tail. I’m talking about the type of rabbit used in dog races to get the dogs to race to the finish line. Without the rabbit, the dogs would never finish the race much less win. The thing you always know is the rabbit never wins. The rabbit is there for only one purpose which is to get the dogs to run so the dog owner can make money.

How many times have you worked hard to get a new customer’s business only to find out later that they never had any intention to buy from you? They were either using you for price comparison (little intent to buy), keeping their guy honest (no intent to buy) or worse using you as a negotiating tool (the rabbit).

Price Comparison

I think we may all be guilty of comparing prices even when we have little intention of changing who we’re currently buying from. We use comparison shopping to confirm we are making good decisions. If you find a better price and  before buying from someone else you will probably go back to your regular supplier  and ask them to get right on the pricing. This is probably a good business practice and we have grown to expect such. I would be very disappointed if a good customer of ours finds a lower price and doesn’t give us the opportunity to justify or adjust our pricing. I can say that I am disappointed when we have the best price and a new customer chooses to stay with their current supplier but I can understand.

Keeping their guy Honest

I don’t know how honest it is to use someone just to keep their guy honest. I may be quibbling over phrasing between this and price comparison but to me this shows no interest or intent to change their present supplier. In most cases the customer will not ask a tremendous amount of effort from us. They are usually not going to spend much time making a decision unless our proposal is considerably less or much better than their current supplier’s. If their current supplier proves to be “not competitive” this may lead to an opportunity for good faith negotiations to begin.

Using you as a Negotiating Tool (Rabbit)

This can be possibly the biggest waste of energies and resources (money) that you and your sales team can have. You are the rabbit if you are brought into a project (sometimes quite large) and asked to provide pricing for the sole purpose of the customer using your pricing to negotiate pricing with a competitor with no intent to use you. For this to work, the customer has to convince you that you are a contender and they want your products or services. The understanding or promise is they are engaging you in good faith negotiations and if successful you will get the business. The better they can sell this promise the harder they know you will be willing to work for their business. The harder they can get you to work, meaning the more you will lower your price, the less they will have to do when they sit down with the real contender for this business. This method of negotiation while usually very effective is intentionally misleading. When it is exposed, a trusting business relationship with that customer is almost impossible.

Please don’t mistake my comments above to think that when you walk in to a new customer’s office and they don’t immediately start giving you their business that you are the rabbit. That is usually not the caseiStock_000015420837XSmall and certainly not my intent. Almost always your customer will follow a normal sales cycle. You must earn your way into their business and gain their trust before being welcomed to the final negotiation table.

In the early stages of negotiation it is very hard to determine if the negotiations are being done in good faith or not. You certainly will assume so until you start to see the signs that this may not be the case.

In my next post, I will discuss how to see the signs and start to recognize if you are the rabbit. If you have any examples of being the rabbit or being rabbited (if that’s a word) that you would like to share, please leave a comment below or send me an email at feedback@wewaonthenet.com.