Can You Spot a Valuable Prospect?

Credit: Jean Hull

Can you spot a valuable prospect? Do you give up too easy? Do you hear statements like, "he's all about price" or "that one is a waste of time" from members of your sales team? Are you guilty?

Years ago, a company I worked with lost a rep. He decided that production was a better fit. He stayed with the firm but moved into a different role.

This "orphaned" his account list. I handed off his active customers to anxious reps. There was one, however, nobody would agree to take. The reason, "he's a price buyer and it takes too much work to sell him very little."

So, I took it myself. I did look up the history. The most anyone had booked with him (10-year history) was $20,000 in twelve months. If he took any work at all it was barely worth it.

I called the contact and let him know I would be his rep. We "grabbed a sandwich" as we say in the south and talked about our respective careers. We also talked about the company he represented and how he saw his role.

Fast Forward: We did more than $2 million in sales with him the next year. More than that was booked in year two. We became his most valuable resource. We took over his fulfillment along with almost 100% of his printing.

What changed? How did a $20,000 annual account nobody wanted become one of our largest clients? How did we go from being one of many bidders to top dog?

The answer was/is really in the listening (discovery). The client had work. We just weren't the company he was hiring. He had a better partner. They weren't better equipped. They were just better at paying attention...to more than quote requests.

We had been bidding specs. We had not been asking what mattered. We had not taken time to get to know the client. We reduced ourselves to prices. The client didn't.

Talking to the client and getting into what mattered showed empathy. It elevated the relationship. It moved conversations from money to possibilities. It set up the opportunity to ask "what if."

If your client relationships are all about solutions toss this article aside. But, if you ever hear yourself say, "they buy on price" take a pause and challenge yourself to do better. If you have reps that say this, spend some time in training.

People don't buy stuff without a reason. They have a problem to solve. Help them solve it and you become valuable. Price it and you become a bidder...a computer that spits out numbers.