Monday, February 11, 2008

Business Owners Don't Buy Tax Deductibility

To be successful at selling anything to business owners you need to think like a business owner, not an employee. Sales people often struggle with this concept as until you own and run a business yourself some of the concepts are foreign.

The sales person tends to focus on the features of the product rather than address the key benefits to the purchaser’s business.

The classic statement a sales person will make is that the cost of this widget is tax deductible. Blah! Anything purchased for use in the business is tax deductible. Wake up! So what if it is tax deductible! It is a cost! A cost, is a cost, is a cost!

The businesses core reason for being is to make profits for their shareholders or proprietors. Selling something on the basis of increasing a cost does not make any sense to a business owner and in fact will dilute the respect they have for your advice.

Business owner’s buy for three key reasons

  • How can it reduce business costs?
  • How can it improve revenue?
  • How can it improve business efficiency? In other words how can what you are selling improve profitability?

Of course there are other things a business owner will consider like service, convenience, processing times, past experiences and a multitude of other issues. Of all of these things the key reasons a business owner will buy will always come back to these three core reasons listed above.

So when selling to business owners all benefit statements need to be expressed in these terms –

“With our replacement warranty the cost of replacing a faulty printer during the extended warranty period can be reduced by 80%”

‘The cost of replacing the ink cartridges on this printer is 30% less than the nearest comparable model”

“The new Microsoft Office package has many forms and templates available which will save you time and help improve the efficiency in you office”

Sales people tend to make the classic mistake of trying to sell on price rather than focus on what that widget can do for the business expressed in terms mentioned above.

If you understand the key customer benefit, want, need, fear or frustration and then communicate your solution in a way that addresses those key things you are well on the way to creating an irresistible reason why a customer should buy.

The golden rule in selling is to think like a customer, put yourself in the shoes of your business customer and watch how over night your sales results will grow.

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