We work with a wide variety of equipment sellers and distributors. They sell widely differing types of equipment, to different types of customers and at
different price points.
But there’s one thing that is the same for each of them. It’s the question of pricing. How do you bring it up? When? And what kinds of options do you offer to make the customer’s investment decision an easy one.
This is a topic that has generated a lot of ink over the years. (Here, here and here are just a few examples.) In my 25 years selling to businesses, when people ask me when to bring up pricing, my answer is usually, the sooner the better. But that only applies if you bring it up the right way and offer appropriate options.
‘The right way’ includes making sure you understand your customer’s requirements. If the customer needs a Hyundai (they’re great cars), don’t try to sell him a Cadillac. Even early in the sales cycle, you need to be able to collect enough information about your prospect (what he does and how he does it) to have a clear picture in your own mind of the solution to his problems.
Offering ‘appropriate options’ includes offering monthly payments. And by these options early in the sales cycle, you accomplish several things.
Qualify for Pricing and Budget Too many salespeople hesitate when the question of pricing comes up. Often this is because the salesperson doesn’t want to hear an objection. But if a prospective customer doesn’t have the budget to buy, or needs/wants to take advantage of the Lease/Finance option, isn’t it better to find out sooner rather than later?
Offering these simple options helps address the pricing/budget question early. It also gives the salesperson the information he/she needs to make sure he/she is spending time selling to prospects that have the ability to buy.
Controlling the Buying Process At TEQlease, because we take the time to fully understand your products, your customers and your selling process, we are able to quickly and accurately quote monthly payments and provide “pre-approvals” based on certain minimum information. With these pre-approvals in hand, your salespeople are better able to control the sales process by understanding and controlling the prospect’s financing or buying process. In addition, with these pre-approvals in hand, your salespeople can feel confident that they are spending time with prospects that have the ability to buy from them.
At TEQlease, we provide a number of different options and online tools designed to help Vendors sell more products. These make it easy to calculate and quote payment options specifically designed with your company in mind.
For more information, call Brian Link at 818-222-1006