Stop selling from your own wallet; here is a case in point.
I am renovating my front landscape (new second driveway, fencing and auto gates, walkway, and foundation plantings).
We are getting this work done before our upcoming wedding anniversary celebration.
In redoing the second driveway, we have to deal with a nasty sinkhole that would hinder the new build.
The hole started 6 months ago and has been getting worse. The contractor dug it out and found a very old broken pipe.
Thank god they found the culprit!
Before: The Culprit
After: The Fix
The solution their capable young designer suggested was to cap it off and fill it with sand. We were told that it was a common solution in New Orleans, though someone on the crew joked it would last at least 5 years.
Uh…I want the 10-year solution. So I reached out to the owner of the landscape firm and asked what he would do if this were his driveway.
Given the critical location, he suggested crushed limestone with extra reinforcement at the top where the new driveway strips were being poured.
It was a costly change order (for a small hole). I am glad they finally sold it to me.
Why Sales People Try To Sell The Less Expensive Solution
My change order may have been un-needed, but the anxiety I had over the sinkhole was real. You can never trust the shifting swampland of New Orleans.
Our responsive designer had been overly cautious with our money ever since he first met us.
But I never sent that type of frugal buying signal.
What drives salespeople to try and save money from the onset?
- Youth?
- Lack of having done work at his own home?
- Poverty mentality?
- Selling from his own paycheck?
It’s a busy year, make sure you are selling both what your clients want AND what they need.
Make sure you are selling both what your clients want AND what they need. Click To Tweet
Your Challenge: Educate Your Sales Team To Never Assume The Depth Of Your Client’s Pockets
On a trip to Marathon Key, FL with a group of my peer group clients, our host shared a joke that his clients tell him:
“My pockets are deeper than your arms”.
We all chuckled.
It is important to never assume how much budget your client has AND what they deem as a priority and important.
It is your job to educate your team to do consultative selling, check for signals, and to suggest the ‘best options.’
Regards, Jeffrey Scott!
P.S. Join us at Drost Landscape facility tour this August, where you will see sophisticated selling in action.
Register before May 8th and save $400 per ticket.
