Buyers Dodging You?
Have you ever played dodgeball as a kid? There's one player left on the other side you are trying to nail with a ball. He zigs and zags, runs, stops, starts, jumps and ducks in an effort to avoid your repeated efforts to hit him with the ball. Sales is a game of dodgeball. You repeatedly try to hit buyers with your sales pitch while they relentlessly avoid you.
I'm generalizing. Some buyers are professionals and understand it's there job to receive your sales pitch, review it and hear what you have to say. If they are really good, they will also consider your attempts to manage their objections. Unfortunately, some buyers are not professionals, they generally don't like their jobs and in some cases use their position to exert power over others.
Here are 5 principals that when used together may help get you that coveted meeting:
Acceptance: You are not special, nor is your product. This is a hard reality to accept, particularly for owners of new brands/businesses. This is particularly true in the CPG world. CPG buyers see thousands of new products a year and the vast majority of them offer no unique benefits but instead are existing products wrapped in new branding and packaging. Tips: Be sure your product has unique features and benefits. Then, take the time to build a sales story by testing your product for 6-12 months in a handful of independent easy-to-sell-to stores where you can clearly show strong sales…then scale the sales results up to showcase the incremental sales you can offer buyers for regional or national store chains. For example, if at an independent store a product sells 24 units per month per store….how many units will you sell across 200 stores! If it is more than products currently on shelf, you're in.
Patience: It is not uncommon to spend six months or more trying to get a return email, social link or telephone connection with a buyer. Be patient, be polite and follow-up regularly without harassing or stocking buyers. Daily calls and emails is overkill. Flooding buyers with automated email sequences is even worse. Tips: Use your good judgement here. In many cases your buyers may not be considering your type of product or service at the moment because they don't have a need for it or because they are not reviewing that particular type of product at the moment. This is particularly true in CPG retail channels where buyers review different categories once a year according to a review calendar. You need to find out when they are reviewing and then turn up the heat just prior to the review to get a meeting.
Humility: This tip is surprisingly important, particularly for new sellers and new business owners. Think about your customers' needs first rather than simply your sales objectives. Positioning your products as value adding tools to their business is paramount. Never bash the competition and if you notice opportunities to help grow your customers' business, serve them up polity with humility. For example, soft pitches like "I think with our support XYX products will add incremental dollars to your business while helping to differentiate you from the competition." This is a good soft sell. While direct attacks like "We will sell more than ABC which are terrible products,." This approach might work against you.
Prudence: Get to the assistants or the VPs first rather than the key decision maker who may have no time. Assistants may have more time to hear your pitch and consider your product while VPs may forward your email along to their buyers who will feel pressure to respond to you. No guarantee you will make the sale but you can't hit a homerun if you don't get a chance at the plate.
Courage: Lastly, master the "Double Tap". Have the courage to pick up the phone and call, and do so either early morning or at the end of the day. If you call between 9-4pm, chances are you will speak to the voicemail. If you do, leave a message and follow up immediately with an email…this is the double tap technique. When you do connect with a buyer by phone it will jolt them to attention. Be confident and quick with your initial pitch, then ask to formally present with samples. You'd be surprised how many meetings we get using the good old fashion telephone and the double-tap technique. It works but it does take courage…you may have to speak to the buyer live…yikes.
Happy selling!
