A priceless way to lose business

I need to buy a product that I've never bought before.

I don't have a clue how much it costs. I search Google and your website appears near the top of the list. I click on it.

Will your site give me an answer to my question about price? If I'd buying a specific widget I'm sure that it will, because a shopping cart without prices won't sell anything.

But what if I'm sourcing a bespoke product? Say a patio door, some business consultancy, or a new website design. Will your website give me some indication of the potential cost?

Because if it doesn't, I'll probably move on to check a competitor's website. And I'm unlikely to come back to yours. Ever.

Making it easy for customers

If you make it hard for customers to find their way around your premises, you'll probably miss out on their business.

This is true of either a bricks and mortar or virtual showroom or shop.

Most customers want to learn about your products, not your processes. You'll sell more if it's easy for them to look at what you offer, easy to get help when they need it and easy to purchase.

Do you know why you lost that sale?

Knowing why you lost one sale is probably more important that understanding why you won another.

It's great to know when your price, expertise, experience or aftersales service secures you a new deal. It says you're doing the right things and that, if repeated, they could win you more business.

But understanding why you were beaten by a rival could be even more insightful. Sometimes the reasons can be surprising. But many small firms fail to follow up deals they've failed to secure and as a result miss out on information that could help them do better in the future.

The easiest way to find out why you missed out on a piece of business is to ask the customer. Some won't tell you, but many will, and the reason is often more than just price. Customers are often willing to spend more if they're confident that they'll get what they pay for.

Here are some reasons why customers don't buy from you, even if you beat other suppliers on price:

• They didn't like the sales person. Never forget that people buy from people.
• You failed to return a call. You can't be sure when the customer is going to make a buying decision, which means you have to stay in touch.
• Your business was the wrong size. The scale of a supplier's business is important to some customers.
• Your approach did not meet their expectations. For example, they wanted more detailed pricing estimates than you were willing to give.
• They didn't think your product did exactly what they wanted. How well did you understand and manage their needs?

This is not an exhaustive list, but it should be enough to give food for thought.

Having examined the reasons why you lost a sale, the next step is to take action, if appropriate. You may not want, or be able, to fix every potential issue with your sales technique or the product you sell.

But by gaining some understanding of why a customer chose to reject you for someone else, you've secured some vital information which could help you to turn the next potential loss into a win.

Why Objections to a Sale are a Good Sign

If you sell to other people you probably dread them raising objections. Particularly if sales is not your strength.

Learning how to overcome objections is a key part of sales training. But what's not always taught is that the objections themselves are a good sign.

Of course people in sales would prefer their prospect not to have any objections because it would make the sale much easier. But in the real world people do put up reasons why they shouldn't buy a particular product.

However, the presence of an objection should be seen as an opportunity, not a problem. That's not just management-speak. If a customer says: "But it can't do this" or "It can't do that", they're asking for a response. That's an open door for addressing their concerns, and it might be a way of finding out more about the customer's real issues or their understanding of the product.

What the customer really wants to hear is assurance that their issue will be addressed by the product. If they really didn't want it they wouldn't even waste time talking to you. That they're willing to invest in the engagement implies that they have a genuine interest, but also a genuine concern.

It may be that they're right and the product doesn't do what they want, and it's not appropriate for them. Perhaps a different (more expensive?) product would suit them better. Or maybe you've established that it's time for the conversation to end. Sometimes that happens.

Either way, try to look at objections as being positives rather than negatives. Think about the sort of questions you'd ask if someone was trying to sell to you. You don't raise objections just to be difficult; you do it to get clarification and to help you make the right decision.

Looking at objections in this way might just help you to approach your next selling engagement with more confidence.