Selling the right product to the right person at the right time

Posted on 08. Jan, 2009 by Craig Killick in Marketing & Sales

Selling is all about timing. It’s all about someone needing / wanting what you have at that moment when you make contact. Take these real scenarios I have experienced in the past when calling people:

• An existing customer: “I never knew you did that, I used someone else.”
• Existing customer who I haven’t spoken to for a couple of months:  “Another company called me last week so I thought I’d give them a go.”

Sound familiar?

There’s one key way to counteract this particular situation with existing customers and that’s by staying in touch with regular communication so when they are ready to buy- you are on their mind.

But, can you fit your sales proposition around what your customer needs or wants at a specific moment in time – on their terms? I was in Mothercare with my wife at the weekend buying baby stuff. My iPhone allowed me to compare their prices against prices online and I could make quite a saving if I ordered online. As the customer in this instance, I had time on my side – I didn’t need it enough there and then – so I had choice.

Bearing in mind that a rough economy may see the value of what you sell decrease, due to supply and demand, or you may even see your sales proposition change completely, how flexible can you become when you are selling, so that you make the sale?

I sold a product yesterday for a third of it’s recommend price – if I didn’t I wouldn’t have made the sale. Profit margin is still 100% but the value of the product to the customer was a lot less than my perceived value of the product. No-one is wrong and no-one is right about the actual value – it’s unknown. But, I’d much rather be flexible and make the sale than remain inflexible and not.

Tags: sales