IDEA: Standardize your sales calls. Train your sales personnel to discover and offer what the buyer actually needs.

Write a list of questions and comments that your sales personnel should ask when they go see new potential customers. Do this so the management clearly understands why customers like or dislike your company. You will not get it unless you prepare a list of questions for your representatives to get answered.

Some sales people will know what to ask automatically, some will not.  Try to improve the overall group of sales people by reviewing these before they waste time in front of potential clients attempting to get new orders to bring home.

Questions to ask potential customers:

• Ask who is the actual buyer, decision maker versus the one who processes orders and see if those are the same people or are those positions different people?
• Ask who makes the ultimate purchase decision in the buyer’s organization.
• Ask what the buyer’s purchasing limit is (dollar limit) without getting further approval.
• Ask the buyer what other vendor or vendors he uses or has used in the past and why he likes or prefers them.
• Ask the buyer what his other vendors do that make his job easier?
• Ask him for the most important reasons why he initially chose his other vendors.
• Ask him for the size of the company and associated locations throughout the organization (future sites to sell).
• Mention to buyers that your company’s ability to obtain contracts with the buyer’s sister divisions will entitle all of them (including the buyer) to corporate discounts yielding prices lower than current pricing provided specifically for him.
• Mention that further freight discounts can be offered if all locations’ orders can be sent to one centralized location within the customer’s organization versus independently sent to each location. (His organization may already have trucks delivering to other locations every day or weekly already.)
• Ask how the buyer heard about your firm if he contacted your company first.
• Ask if there was any other reason why he called you. You want to know how and why customers come to you. (i.e. understand the effectiveness of mail campaigns, call-ins, yellow page advertisements, flyers passed out at trade shows, business cards left on marketing tables at trade associations, referrals through internet social media or various websites, referrals from other happy customers).
• Ask the buyer what other problems he has in purchasing with other vendors because you may be able to suggest your own preferred vendors to him which will allow both to receive a discount on goods or services provided.
• Ask the buyer if he buys the same types of materials your firm does and if he is interested, you will have your own purchasing people provide him current pricing they are receiving from other vendors. This may save him money, make him look good for his boss and help to cement a customer relationship for the future. Mention to him you may buy a lot more than he does so your rates may be lower for comparison.