Strength in Numbers

Wow, it has been a while since we have posted. Please accept my apologies. The key word though is "we"! For about a year now, I have been working on a plan that allows me to scale the business with people who are just as passionate and committed to helping the small business community as I am. I wanted another owner in the business. Someone with passion, skills, and skin in the game. Commitment and accountability. This effort has has taken place to help me achieve my Personal and Company Vision.

I am so excited to welcome and introduce you to Bob Dodge, Senior Partner in The Alternative Board - Denver West. Bob is experience with the opportunities and concerns that challenge top business owners and leaders. His professional career spans more than 25 yeas as an executive, consultant, facilitator, coach and trusted business advisor to leaders in a variety of industries.

In late September and early October we will be running a series of educational events where you can come meet Bob (and see me) and hear what he has to say. You'll definitely walk out with value.

Now that Bob is on board hopefully we can do a better job updating our blog more frequently!

Welcome Bob!

Are You Negotiating Away Margins?

I recently met with a business owner who wanted to know how I trained salespeople in “negotiation.” After a little questioning, I was really struck by his misconception that their salespeople SHOULD be negotiating, which in layman’s terms is lowering price or offering some concession in exchange for a promise to buy.

Trusted advisors and top salespeople do everything they can to AVOID negotiating. Their job is to uncover the costs of the prospect’s problem and then to determine what budget is available to solve it BEFORE they propose a solution. The predominant problem many sales people have is that they simply aren’t comfortable talking about budget and cost impacts until the end of the sale. So they are forced to negotiate at the end, attempting to close the sale in spite of inadequate financial information.

Salespeople who rely on negotiation at the end of the sale usually exhibit these symptoms:

• Think that buying is primarily an intellectual process, not an emotional process

• Don’t understand the costs associated with the problem or what’s at stake financially early in the sales process

• Feel the product or service they sell is extremely expensive

• Are uncomfortable talking about other people’s finances

If you have salespeople that regularly require permission for a reduced price to get the sale or blame the competition’s price after losing the deal, look to the symptoms above to gain insight into the attitudes that drive these behaviors and outcomes. Please understand that I’m not saying that top salespeople NEVER need to negotiate. The point is to differentiate the strong salespeople who rarely need to negotiate from the weak ones that must negotiate every time to close a sale.

Examine the beliefs and behaviors of your salespeople when dealing with money issues, so they can minimize the need to negotiate at the end and sell more, more often!