You, like almost everyone else, are guaranteed to be leaving success behind with nearly every interaction. Whether from face‐to‐face appointments, telephone conversations, or marketing messages, you are bypassing huge potential for enhancing your sales success by leaving money on the table.
You may feel a little challenged by what you have just read and consider your conversion rates to be high, your customers happy, and business good. When growing a business, every moment counts, and regardless of your current level of success, the objective is always to reach a little higher and maximize your opportunities. Too many people enter a sales opportunity with the mindset that there are just two potential outcomes: success or failure. Instead of seeing things so black and white, color the shades of gray by building a number of successes in each interaction, raising the typical bar, and challenging yourself to see just how much you can get from every moment.
What this means is that you need to plan your levels of success before each opportunity and consider what there really is on offer. You might have an appointment with someone who has shown an interest in one particular product or service. Open your mind and think: what else could this person provide you with?
Things to consider:
Again, if you don't ask, then you don't get!
There is always more available to you. By considering the size of the opportunity before being within it, you are likely to achieve more from it.
This chapter explores some of the ways that you can get more from your moments and build on your successes.
In modern business, your reputation is everything, and repeat transactions, follow‐on sales, and referrals are vital to growing organically. When selling yourself, your product, or your service, it can be easy to become a little overzealous in your promises because of you desire to look good in the moment or make it easier to win the sale on the day.
Leave room in your sale to overdeliver with your results, and never, ever sell something for more than what it is. Making false promises can result in you sounding too good to be true and your value not matching the price you have presented. If it does not add up, the result is that the consumer loses trust in your ability to meet your commitments.
When things sound “too good to be true,” the internal question asked becomes, “What's the catch?” To resolve this issue and win people around to your way of thinking, there are some simple solutions:
The first lesson on pricing was served to me as a fourteen‐year‐old businessman, and the simplicity in this lesson has been reiterated in numerous offers, with dozens of clients, and still is something I need to continually remind myself of in my own business.
As a child I built a wildly successful car valeting business that started by asking for just £3 to hand‐wash a vehicle. I soon realized I could charge £3.50 without any detriment to the decision‐making process and was often given £4 for my efforts. The next natural move was to try £4.50, and this magically resulted in an added convenience to customers, as they paid with crisp five‐pound notes and said, “Keep the change.” I was on a roll and stepped again to £5.50, but I was immediately faced with resistance. Customers would postpone their appointments, defer their cleaning, or cancel altogether. I learned that the ceiling price for the service offered was £5, and I found this by testing it.
I meet many business owners who tell me proudly how they convert 100 percent of their opportunities. The truth is that we should price some of our customers out of the marketplace, and until we do so, we have not yet found our optimum price point. Your price should be calculated by what your product or service is worth to your consumer, and not what it costs you. Providing you can provide it at a price they are prepared to pay and make a suitable profit, then you are in business.
Look at your current pricing and consider it from the point of view of a customer. What does it say? How would you interpret it and what would you think if it was presented to you?
As your knowledge and experience grow, so does your competence, and in turn your prices should follow suit. In every profession, experience brings rewards. By improving your sales skills, you will be able to better demonstrate your value to your customers and improve your remuneration accordingly.
Test your pricing and continually try new price points until you are certain that you have found an optimum point. You may then look to introduce a premium and a value offering to sit on either side of your core product or service. If a customer is happy paying $5,500, then would it make any difference if you asked for $5,650 or $5,685? Keep nudging until you hit the point of resistance, and know that every dollar you successfully add to your pricing is 100 percent profit, with no additional expense and no additional workload.
Shortly you will learn the principles associated with securing an additional sale or upsell from your customer. Often overlooked, though, is the ability to rescue an otherwise unsuccessful opportunity with the introduction of a downsell. Customer acquisition is the most difficult action of all areas of business growth, and it is, therefore, useful to look for ways of capitalizing on all those sales scenarios in which you don't get the primary result you are looking for.
When you're unsuccessful in securing your initial outcome, consider what you could introduce as an alternative. This may mean resorting to an “easy first yes” or perhaps even just a small part of the anticipated order.
What I do know is that part success is far more satisfying than complete failure. Having the agility to introduce smaller decisions if your first action fails will bring significant additional business to you and provide you with the chance to overdeliver and reach your initial objective over time.
In my business, there have been many discussions in which it has been impossible for a client to secure my services as a speaker or trainer in person. The downsell has been a bulk order of books or an online training course. This would have always been a long way off of the initial goal, yet it still secured a profitable sale and in many cases resulted in further work with the client.
By not having a predetermined downsell, you create many scenarios where both parties lose.
The mastery of introducing a valuable additional sale at the point of purchase can be taught by studying one of the most operationally efficient businesses in the land. The global franchise McDonald's has mastered the ability to grow the average size of an order by asking a very direct question to all customers ordering one of their meal deals. The invitation to “go large” or “supersize” teaches you much of what you need to know about successfully introducing an upsell:
Understanding the elegance of this example, you should ask yourself if these workers are more skilled or less skilled than you. If this can happen in a global fast food retailer, then I am confident that you can replicate this in your business and achieve significant incremental revenues. Follow the rules, ask the question, and approach with the following mindset:
The customers of McDonald's would have never missed the extra fluid or the handful of extra French fries. Making the extras available is all additional profit, and it won't be missed unless you make it available and invite your customers to step up.
There are only three organic ways to build a business:
When you are out shopping as a consumer, you are continually viewing examples of how companies are looking to entice an action from you to achieve one of these outcomes. I am asking you to open your senses and learn from the examples that exist all around you. By creating appropriate offers around your products and services, you can significantly influence the quantity and quality of transactions and improve your selling success.
There are six different types of offers I want to bring your attention to, and each has a very different application in order to maximize its results. When you understand how to use offers in your business, it's amazing what you can do to trigger even more of the right kind of results.
You see these offers littering point‐of‐sale cards on the shelves of stores across the globe. Three for two. Buy four, get one free. Buy two for $5. Each of these offers is designed with a very specific purpose. The primary purpose of a multibuy offer is to switch loyalty to a consumable good, and you'll often see it on items such as toiletries. The initial compelling offer could be enough to entice you away from your previous chosen brand, and the quantity you leave with creates a commitment that may shift you to the new product as your new brand of choice.
If the offer were a discount off a single item, then the opportunity to switch your loyalty would be significantly reduced. Instead, the multibuy offer encourages you to buy more of the product than you really need. You become familiar with using that product, so when you go back to the store next and you see no special offers across any of the products, the product that you purchased through the offer is now your habitual choice and you have switched allegiance.
Use multibuy offers to add quantity to consumable items and encourage increased loyalty, so that the buyer becomes more invested in you and your products or services.
Although many offers can be used for many reasons, the primary reasons to discount ahead of a negotiation are first to clear unwanted stock and second to provide a highly incentivized, incremental sale to a brand new client.
Clearing through old stock is essential in any business, and even within a service‐based offering you have chances to make price‐led incentives to work through old material. Many coaches, consultants, and trainers have developed materials for purchase over the years that are no longer part of their core offering. Bundling these together and offering them at a fraction of their original price can be a great way of securing revenue from otherwise redundant items.
The second use becomes more relevant when you are aware of the lifetime value of your customers and are prepared to forfeit margin in a first transaction with the belief that you can make it back in follow‐up sales. These offers need to be heavily targeted for maximum effectiveness and combined with a preplanned sales process to then grow the account later.
A conditional offer is a way of creating a set of qualifying criteria customers must meet in order to access an additional benefit. Qualifications could include
The condition becomes the objective you are looking to achieve. Examples are
Conditional offers can grow average transaction value, introduce new customers, increase loyalty, and drive future sales.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs highlights the human need for belonging. In a world craving consumers' attention, having customers that belong to you is a huge asset. Almost every service‐based offering has the ability to develop a membership model and for a recurring fee provide a package or bundle of services. Spreading their payment over a period provides a reduced barrier to entry at the start of a relationship and often an increase in total spending over the lifetime of the customer.
Turning your infrequent service into a recurring monthly overhead allows you to become habitual in your customer's routines. Also, through spreading their investment over a scheduled payment plan, you could be allowing them to decide to choose you earlier. The easier you make that for people, the more you can grow your customer base and their loyalty to you.
If you have a consumable product, something you'd like people to buy more than once, consider how you might be able to encourage your customers to commit to a recurring transaction and keep them coming back without having to decide. They decide once to receive until they say stop. That's a membership offer.
The best examples of these offers always exist on the cosmetics counters of department stores during the holidays. You might find that a typical bottle of fragrance is priced at $52, and that might be for the 1.5‐ounce bottle. Moving to the 3‐ounce bottle raises the price to $75. Now that the spend is over $75, the buyer qualifies for an exclusive gift of a purse, makeup bag, or beach towel with a perceived value of $50‐plus. The result is that, given the choice between the two bottles, the bigger bottle is the clear winner because of the perceived extra value and since average transaction values are significantly increased over this period.
Gifts are used to drive transaction value across many markets and at all levels of transaction. Learn from the examples you see in your local food delivery outlets and watch how their offers of gifts are all at very precise points that mean you need to order just one more item to meet the criteria for the gift. Our local Chinese delivery offers a free sample platter on orders over $35, and our typical order for two totals just over $33. The result is I almost always order an additional dish to access my “free” gift.
A loss leader is selling something for less than what it costs you, with the primary purpose of driving additional traffic. A major supermarket retailer in the United Kingdom delivered an aggressive campaign for the launch of a Harry Potter book. They priced the book at just £5, and this in‐demand product, combined with a very low price, resulted in floods of people choosing to buy that product from that store.
Where did they position that loss‐leading product? Right at the back of the store—driving traffic through their organization and steering buyers past a variety of other products and offers, using the loss leader to secure masses of incremental sales on the day. You see this same approach with limited supplies of ridiculously priced products for high‐volume sale days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Buyers are trained to ask you for discounts. This certainty should have you prepared in advance with a response.
Consider a scenario in which you asked for a discount in your life, perhaps on a substantial purchase like a house or a car. When you achieved a reduction in price, I imagine you felt a sense of achievement and satisfaction…only later to question yourself, wondering whether an even better price was possible. In the same scenario, the seller is similarly questioning whether you would have paid more. The result is that both parties are not convinced they achieved the best deal.
When you buy something in a retail store, you accept the price is the price and go about your day without a second thought about that transaction. You are comfortable that you paid the same as anyone else would have paid on that day and feel content in your purchase. Do all that you can to protect the integrity of your pricing and provide consistency to all buyers.
The only time to consider altering your pricing is if what you are getting in exchange for the discount is something that equates to the reduction in fee. If you are being asked for a better price, then think: what can you take in return? Things to consider are as follows:
Question their request for a discount, listen to their answers, and instead of altering your price, look to see how you can enhance your value to them without reducing the price.
Ways you can consider enhancing value are as follows:
Often overlooked and immensely valuable to your customers is the pure convenience attached to doing business with you. The easier you are to transact with, the more likely you are to secure the dozens of marginal opportunities that exist year after year.
Large companies like airlines and technology businesses that make things like ride‐sharing apps polarize this with the pure convenience of doing business with them. A click of a button, the remembering of my details, and synchronization across multiple communication devices means that my ability to shop with any of their competitors is reduced to almost impossible.
You may not offer this same level of convenience, but you can easily increase the value you provide by thinking about what the buyer values most. What are the little things you can do that remove barriers to transactions? How can you join the dots on their behalf when things are complex? How available can you make yourself when things do not work out as planned?
I have worked with my current print supplier for years, and I have no interest in ever changing. I am continually presented with the opportunity to change supplier, and I am certain many of these options could provide more attractive pricing. The reason for my loyalty is that they make everything really easy for me. They take an order over the phone and provide a 70‐day account, they then make minor amendments in‐house to artwork files without rejecting them and without further expense, they take calls in the evenings and on weekends, and they have moved mountains to meet impossible deadlines and challenging logistical demands. The convenience factor that they provide makes them our default supplier and someone I regularly recommend. They are a partner to our businesses and get rewarded for the value that they bring. Take a look at your own processes and see how easy you make it for your customers. Simply by removing any barriers and being prepared to be flexible, you will win more business.
Succeeding in sales requires huge self‐discipline, personal responsibility for growth, dogged determination, and resilience to setbacks. The quest for more, more, and more can quickly have you on the treadmill, working harder and harder without focus or awareness of the world around you.
Earlier in the book we talked about your high payoff activities, and one that was mentioned was the importance of planning and review. When people are given the choice of performing well, doing better, or doing their best, the consensus is always to try your best. My personal belief is that this approach can self‐sabotage your potential, because the likelihood that you actually did try your best is minimal. By focusing on “better” as opposed to “best,” you can discover the components to improve that will have you on a journey of continual self‐improvement.
To activate this process, I regularly set aside time to properly plan and review my actions through a process I call my Four Rs. I encourage you to do the same.
Take a moment to do a thing that is relaxing for you. Sit in your favorite spot, go for a walk or a run, or take a long shower or bath and consider just how far you have already come. Look backward to the start of this period and reflect on all that you have achieved. Stay present in the moment and don't look to the future at all—be kind to yourself and enjoy reliving the experiences that have helped you along so far.
Once you're relaxed, it's time to sit down and work on the work you have already done. Work through the appointments and actions you have recently completed, and list the specific things that went well. Stay away from any criticism, and exhaust every component of practical positivity from your previous actions. It may help to write out physical lists and keep focused until you have exhausted everything that you succeeded at and would like to keep as part of your protocol.
Now is the time for you to look for improvements, only instead of cataloging the things that you did wrong, look through the lens of what you would do differently if faced with the same opportunities again. This is your time to be true to yourself and look at the improvements you can make and the opportunities you left behind. Identifying these as actions for “next time” is a kinder and more productive process than beating yourself up about failing to achieve.
Following every activity or action, there should always be a next step. Your previous activities can all be repeated and should be scheduled in periodically. Many of the prospects and customers you have created need to be contacted again, and your list of improvements for next time should all be applied to specific and tangible events. Choosing to take action and apply the lessons you have just discovered keeps you sharp and continuing to improve. Scheduling the tasks to specific actions, calls, and meetings keeps you in control, protects your memory, and frees your anxiety to focus on growth.