Marketing Article - How to sell a pencil

[JWC sr.]

I got the below short article today from a group that I belong to called Cattle Growers and I thought I would share. I think it has a lot of merit, sometimes we get so caught up in bloodlines, show records and the STORY we have to tell.

We forget to listen to the prospective owner/buyer about what they want. They end up leaving the farm empty handed and totally confused. LOL I know I have done this before myself!!

John

How to Sell a Pencil

Posted: Sunday, August 9, 2009 - 3 comment(s) [ Comment ] - 0 trackback(s) [ Trackback ]

Category: Marketing

Below is an article originally written by Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales.

While not specific to the livestock industry it provides excellent insights on how to better discover your prospects needs and make more sales.

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If I gave you a pencil and asked you to sell it, how would you go about it?

This is one of the most basic of interview questions for sales reps, and the answer reveals so much about your previous training, your understanding of the sales process, and ultimately about what kind of sales rep you are.

So, what is the most effective way to sell a pencil? Well, first let’s look at how most sales reps go about doing it. When I’m interviewing sales reps I love using this technique. After letting a rep tell me how good of a closer they are, I pull out a pencil, hand it to them, and tell them to sell it to me. And off they go!

80% of sales reps start the same way – they start pitching. “This pencil is brand new, never used. It has grade “2” lead and a bright yellow color so it’s easy to find. It comes with a built in eraser,” etc.

Some reps can (and do!) talk about it for 5 minutes or more before they ask a question or ask for an order. As the sales rep rambles on, I begin to yawn, roll my eyes, etc. Amazingly, this just makes them talk even more! “What’s wrong with these people?” I think.

Now let’s look at how the top 20% go about selling a pencil. As soon as I give a top rep the pencil, they pause, and then they begin asking me questions:

“So how often do you use a pencil?”

“How many do you go through in a month?”

“What other locations does your company use pencils at, and how often do they order them?”

“What quantity do you usually order them in?”

“Besides yourself, who’s involved in the buying decision?”

Quite a difference, huh? I’ll tell you right now, I listen to hundreds of sales reps in a month and they can easily be separated into these two groups: Those who pitch, pitch, pitch, and those who take the time to understand their prospect’s buying motives, and properly qualify to understand the entire selling process.

Now let’s see which category you fit in. When you speak with a prospect for the first time, how much of your script is focused on describing and pitching your product or service as opposed to questioning and uncovering buying motives?

If yours is like most scripts I review, then it’s filled with descriptions of what you do and how your product or service helps them. Most scripts attack the prospect with a barrage of “value statements” that turn people off and make them want to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Want a better way? Then take a tip from some of the best “pencil sales reps” and change your script and opening to focus more on questioning - discovering whether you’re dealing with a qualified buyer, and what it might take to actually sell them.

Without knowing this, you’ll just end up with a lot of frustration and a lot of unsold pencils at the end of the month

 

[Karen S]

Good Morning John,

Very good article! I can relate to the pencil. I'm a license insurance agent here in Texas and know the meaning of listening and "fishing" People in general get all hung up on "price" of their insurance instead of looking at "Value". Selling horses is no different. Folks all the time think that the best "Value" is either the cheap horse or the most expensive. That's not necessarily the case. Neither can be the best value.

The best value for the prospective buyer is a horse that will fit their needs. I just sold our older gelding over the weekend to a family that was looking for a good kids ridding pony for their three and their six year old boys. In visiting with this family, they had been out to look at horses for the past two weeks. Saw all kinds, pretty ones (the wife's words), ugly ones, fat ones, skinny ones, catch me if you can ones, ones that bite, ones that kick, ones that didn't want to be touched and the list went on. I stood there and listened to it all.

This person isn't into the Miniatures or the Shetlands, but was given our website to go look at the ones we had for sale. I asked her what she was looking for and how was the pony going to be used. That's when I found out about wanting a broke pony for her two young sons. She was looking at one of our mares, which would have made a wonderful ridding pony, but she wasn't broke to ride but she had someone that could break her to ride, thus making it a bit longer before her sons could ride her. I then brought out our older gelding, told her about him and that he was broke to ride. Two totally different horses.

I asked her to take each pony out and handled them, and I asked her to allow the boys to visit with the ponies and let them chose which one they liked the best. Both of these boys gravitated to the older pony. Why? because he was quiet, stood still, lowered his head so they could talk with him and they crawled all over him and he stood patiently still. I went and got my childrens pony saddle and saddled him up for them to ride. This family stayed for over two hours and ended up buying that older pony. I had mentioned that those older ponies are worth their weight in gold when it came to teaching someone how to ride. When the youngest got though with him the pony would be 20 years old and could go on to the next family who had small children.

The main thing I picked up on was "Broke" pony. She was willing to buy a pony that wasn't broke to ride, but ultimately that is what she really wanted was one that had been there done that.

You're right, the majority of the time people are too worried about doing a sales pitch instead of "Fishing" for what the client really needs. Even in this tough market, where horses are a not a necessity, we are still foruntate enough to sell ponies at the price we are asking for and placing them in buyers hands. They know the "Value" instead of the "Price" or the "Service" instead of "No Service". One insureance agency may be cheaper than the other or do you want an agent that you can sit in front of and visit or do you want to deal with an "800" number? Value or Price which one do you want? If the value is there, an agent that will meet your needs, price won't matter, even if it may cost you a bit more, in the long run you'll actually save money and become a client for a very long time.

Thanks again for a wonderful article. It does apply more than people think.

Karen