Friday, March 14, 2014

JUST E-MAIL IT OVER

It is no secret that we have become a technological society. Everthing now is, like me on facebook, link up with me on linkedin, how many followers do we have on twitter and the list goes on. If you are like me you are probably seeing more stuff on facebook than you ever wanted to see.

So too, technology has taken over our industry as to providing proposals for our prospects. How many times in recent memory have you just e-mailed a price or a couple of sheets to a prospect along with the price for service? Be honest, how many times?

Before going any further let me mention there are some very good ways of preparing proposals and e-mailing them to your prospect electronically if that is the way you choose to go. If you were at the last ISSA tradeshow you saw some great examples of this by companies who provide this service.

But the question remains. Are we getting so technologically savvy that we forget that maybe the best way to present a proposal and close the sale is by sitting right next to the prospect and discussing what we have to offer? It's easy to put your features and benefits down on paper for them to read but aren't you missing something? Isn't it important to see the body language of the prospect when they are reviewing the information? Don't you want to see them frown or grin or show no expression? Doesn't that give you a sense of what you need to do next rather than sitting in your office wondering what they are thinking or saying as they go through the information?

How does your electronic information answer some of the following questions if you're not there?

Your price is too high

Let's talk in greater detail about the training and benefit program for your people

These specs aren't exactly what I want

What happens if?


There are many more but you get the picture. I personally want to see the prospects body language when we are talking about the specifications and the pricing connected with those specifications. I want to be able to explain our pricing, detail our training program, and how it benefits the prospect and I want to be able to adjust specifications on the spot if need be, or adjust pricing to meet the adjusted specifications. I want to be able to answer their questions in person if they ask what happens if? O sure, they can make a list of questions and e-mail them over to you and you can ae-mail the answers back but let me ask you---Who has the upper hand when you are just e-mailing back and forth? HINT, HINT, IT IS NOT YOU.

I may be from a really old school but after I have spent considerable dollars creating a prospect list, and even more dollars finally getting the prospect to allow me to present a proposal, I really don't want my computer or their computer deciding if I get the business. I want to be there, see their reactions, answer any questions, ask questions that I may have and provide an overall solid person to person presentation of why they should contract with my organization.

Oh, I know. The prospect tells you they are so busy that they can't take the time to see you so "just e-mail it over". Do you oblige? Or, do you say, "Mr./Ms. prospect, the potential of having your company as a customer of ours is extremely important and I would like to present our information in person. I am willing to meet after hours or over breakfast before you go to the office some morning, but it really is important that I am able to discuss the information with you in person. It will only take one hour of your time".

Now what happens if they say okay but they don't have one hour? You ask for 45 minutes etc. and provide them the Reader's Digest version and prepare accordingly and don't go over the alotted time unless they have questions (which is good) or need additional information.

So how about it? Are you content to "just e-mail it over", or do you want to expend the effort to maybe force the issue a bit and get in front of the prospect? Let me suggest you work hard at getting that person to person presentation.

On another subject, David and I are experimenting with a couple of different formats on our weekly tripodcasts. I hope you are listening and when those new formatted ones crop up here and there let us know what you think of them. Again the pod casts are free and available at www.tripodcast.com.

Till next time. By the way, I would love to hear your comments on this post. Agree? Disagree? Let me know.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Dick, of course face to face sales is always best; however, in today's world that is not always possible, as you are well too aware. When face to face sales meetings occur, what is left behind for the client? Hard Copies? This is neither engaging nor the best way to leave information behind for your potential client. Additionally, if you cannot meet face to face what should someone do? Send PDF's that are flat and not engaging and do nothing to bring your brand from your marketing material and your website into your proposal? Such are the cases to embrace the latest technology in proposal delivery like Paperless Proposal as you and I have discussed in the past. Please have a read of a blog posted today on sellingpower.com by Barbara McCormack, Senior VP of Sales for Securitas USA the largest provider of Security in the world. She blogged today on this very subject: http://blog.sellingpower.com/gg/2014/04/give-your-sales-team-the-gift-of-increased-productivity.html
Look forward to seeing you in NY at BSCAI and WFBSC. Laurence Abrams, CEO, Paperlessproposal.com