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In the first part of this article, telecoms sales expert, Andy Preston, explains some of the buyer thinking that goes on in prospect’s buying process, that most salespeople aren’t even aware of.
Whenever I’m working with a telecoms company, one of the main reasons they tell me they wanted to work with me specifically, was that they wanted to get more of an insight into the way that buyers think.
And by the word buyer, we’re not just meaning professional purchasing staff here; we’re meaning anyone that has responsibility for dealing with the purchase of mobiles and associated products.
A lot of my work is about the buyer mentality; and how to tap into that, as before I was a top selling salesperson in my own right, I was a professionally trained buyer, which gives me a unique perspective on what makes people buy, and what makes them not buy.
So why do I say that most telecoms and specifically mobile salespeople are often too late? Here are my reasons.
You’re too late in the process
If the prospect has been looking at their next mobile contract for a while, the fact that you’ve only just bothered to call them up is going to count against you in most cases.
They might give you an appointment, as they’re going to get a number of competitive quotes after all, but just because they’ve agreed to speak with you over the phone or see you face to face doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got a good chance of winning their business.
Add to this the fact that most of your competition will only call the prospect shortly before their contract end date, and then you wonder why buyers think you’re all the same?
That isn’t really helping you stand out from the competition, is it?
You’re too late to be considered properly
I’m talking specifically here about the timing of sending your proposal. In my experience proposals about mobile phone contracts fall into one of two camps, the back-of-a-fag-packet type, and the 20-page proposal type.
If you prefer the longer type proposal, be aware that the time it takes you to prepare the proposal is crucial. Note: I’m not advocating you do a back-of-a-fag-packet job here, just making you aware of the impact time can have on the success of your proposal, or not.
Here’s a bold statement. The longer it takes for your proposal to reach the prospect, be prepared for the fact that the less likely you are to win the deal.
Why do I say that? Simply because the proposals that reach the prospect first are more likely to be studied closely, compared to when they have 10 or more to look through. And if they’re read through a few already, how closely do they really want to study yours?
Part two of this article coming soon! Stay tuned…
Andy Preston is a recognised sales expert who specialises in working with mobile phone companies in particular, helping them generate more appointments, stand out from the competition, and close more deals. You can see and hear more about Andy at http://www.andy-preston.com/.