Know the Pittfalls when Leading with Product by John Holland, Customer Centric Systems	<< Back
Salespeople are enthusiastic about their offerings and capable of extolling benefits (in their opinion) to prospects. Presenting product too soon can reduce the chances of making a sale. While easier to begin with product, there are many pitfalls to this approach. A salesperson calls on a prospect. After a brief introduction, the salesperson delivers a desktop presentation highlighting virtually every feature of the offering. The salesperson answers a few questions, provides literature, and leaves. Has this been effective use of the prospect's or salesperson's time? Many salespeople assume responsibility for disseminating information about their company, products and services. Many sales cycles begin with "spray and pray" approaches. At the end of the pitch, the challenge is for the salesperson to identify which features were of interest to the prospect ("hot buttons"). Relying upon product presentations to arouse interest, however, can lead to several undesirable conclusions. Once product is mentioned, prospects frequently ask: "How much?" When confronted with this question, it is often too early to discuss pricing. Salespeople provide evasive responses. This can create a negative impression, potentially causing the rep to be lumped into the pervasive unflattering stereotype of salespeople. There may be a desire not to scare prospects off, causing low figures to be quoted. Price is a qualifier and should be shared early in the sales cycle. Until the prospect sees potential benefit, however, the knee-jerk reaction will be that it seems expensive. Once that conclusion is drawn, the seller faces an uphill battle to regain mindshare. Given their enthusiasm and extensive product training, many salespeople feel compelled to present every possible feature. Assume a prospect is shown 25 product features, but only has requirements for 5. The prospect is likely conclude the product is too expensive or too complicated. They are also likely to raise product objections for features they don't feel apply to their situation. Some salespeople feel selling begins after the prospect says no, but most agree it is difficult to turn someone around after they voice an objection about a feature. As an alternative to leading with all features, the salesperson could discuss and diagnose the customer's requirements. By doing so, superfluous features for that prospect could be eliminated from the product presentation. Ideally, only the features the prospect needs would be presented, minimizing product objections and the potentially unfavorable conclusions the prospect might otherwise draw. When a salesperson encounters a person who will sit through a "speeds and feeds" sales call, another potential problem exists. In many of these instances, the prospect cannot a buy, but is more than happy to learn about new products. Based upon the prospect's excitement, a six month sales effort might be undertaken. These sales cycle often come to sudden, unhappy endings when the person in the prospect organization who must authorize funding asks what business problem they are trying to address with the product. Answers having to do with having the latest technology (without a return on investment) are unlikely to get the money allocated. By initiating sales cycles by talking about customer issues, these instances of free education can be minimized. Leading with product is a dangerous practice. Prior to earning the right to discuss product, salespeople should get prospects to discuss business issues. The next step is a diagnosis which helps determine which features to present (and which ones to omit). John Holland is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Customer Centric Systems and has spent over 20 years in sales and sales management in the information technology industry.
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Know the Pittfalls when Leading with Product