But there’s one thing that is the same for each of them.  It’s the question of pricing.  How do you bring it up?  When? And what kinds of options do you offer to make the customer’s investment decision an easy one.

This is a topic that has generated a lot of ink over the years.  (Here, here and here are just a few examples.)  In my 25 years selling to businesses, when people ask me when to bring up pricing, my answer is usually, the sooner the better.  But that only applies if you bring it up the right way and offer appropriate options.

‘The right way’ includes making sure you understand your customer’s requirements.  If the customer needs a Hyundai (they’re great cars), don’t try to sell him a Cadillac.  Even early in the sales cycle, you need to be able to collect enough information about your prospect (what he does and how he does it) to have a clear picture in your own mind of the solution to his problems.

Offering ‘appropriate options’ includes offering monthly payments.  And by these options early in the sales cycle, you accomplish several things.

Qualify for Pricing and Budget  Too many salespeople hesitate when the question of pricing comes up.  Often this is because the salesperson doesn’t want to hear an objection.  But if a prospective customer doesn’t have the budget to buy, or needs/wants to take advantage of the Lease/Finance option, isn’t it better to find out sooner rather than later?

Offering these simple options helps address the pricing/budget question early.  It also gives the salesperson the information he/she needs to make sure he/she is spending time selling to prospects that have the ability to buy.

Controlling the Buying Process At TEQlease, because we take the time to fully understand your products, your customers and your selling process, we are able to quickly and accurately quote monthly payments and provide “pre-approvals” based on certain minimum information.  With these pre-approvals in hand, your salespeople are better able to control the sales process by understanding and controlling the prospect’s financing or buying process.  In addition, with these pre-approvals in hand, your salespeople can feel confident that they are spending time with prospects that have the ability to buy from them.

At TEQlease, we provide a number of different options and online tools designed to help Vendors sell more products.  These make it easy to calculate and quote payment options specifically designed with your company in mind.

For more information, call Brian Link at 818-222-1006

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Historically, those assumptions have always been that buyers follow a distinct and linear process when it comes to making buying decisions.  According to research from a leading research and advisory company (here), the current reality of how B2B buyers buy is quite different.  Rather than a linear process, most buyers work through four different, parallel streams any time they make a significant buying decision.

These four streams include:

• Exploration: This is where buyers begin to identify a need or opportunity and investigate ways to address it.  This includes working with vendor representatives, talking to colleagues, and doing research via the internet.
• Evaluation: Likely solutions are investigated in greater depth.
• Engagement: Solution providers are brought in to discuss solutions and apply them to the buyers specific need
• Experience: Increasingly, pilots or proof of concepts are involved to demonstrate specific solutions

Because these are not a linear sequence of steps along a well defined sales process, it’s not uncommon to have a situation where a given buyer might be engaged with one provider and still exploring other options with other providers.

The key here is that successful salespeople will focus more on understanding where a buyer is in his decision making process, and making it easier for them to buy, than on trying to fit them in to a predefined process that represents how salespeople want to sell.  In fact, the same articles referenced above indicate that the role of the sales force is more important than ever.

As the B2B selling landscape continues to evolve, it becomes vital that salespeople use every available tool to align themselves with how buyers want to buy.  That includes the many economic advantages of providing financing options. 

The post Selling B2B: What’s New? appeared first on TEQlease Capital.