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Want Tomrrow's Did you ever wonder what it would be like to get a glimpse of tomorrow? How different would your life be if you could see things before they actually happened? Imagine how powerful you would be with that information. A man comes to you with three newspapers he’d like to sell. The first one is yesterday’s news. What would you give him for this newspaper? Nothing I hope. The second one is today’s news. What’s it worth to you? Based on the time of day, the price goes down by the hour. The last newspaper has tomorrow’s date on it. In this newspaper, you have all the scores for every athletic event that will be played tomorrow, every winning lottery number that will be pulled in the next 24 hours, what the stock market will do, even who is born and who will die. What would you pay for this? IT’S PRICELESS!! With tomorrow’s news, you can stay ahead of the game and always be one step ahead of everyone else. The value of being able to predict the day’s events makes you unstoppable. So what does this mean to your customers? They will pay you for this type of information. And pay you MORE for it. As you discuss the value you bring to your clients, a typical dialog should sound like this; “Mr./Mrs. Customer, as you look at what you’re trying to accomplish in the future, we bring you proactive solutions that keep you ahead of the game. Bringing you tomorrow’s news today, this helps you help your customers so you can provide the same philosophy’s to them; creative ways to not just meet the needs of your customers, but exceed them. That’s being proactive and not simply being reactive and reading yesterday’s news.” The goal of our clients is to stay ahead of the game; to be the first in their industry in everything they do. Well guess what, if you’re keeping them one step ahead, the business will continue to flow for your company. As salespeople, we always need to be doing our research. We need to find out where our industry was yesterday, where it is today and where it is going tomorrow. We cannot just sit back and wait for someone to make a move. We need to be the ones making the changes to better what we are doing. Too many times we rely on what we have brought our clients in the past to gain leverage. Reference my Masters story. When the gentleman I was wining and dining told me they were going in another direction for the deal, my response was to rattle off all of the things my company had done for him and spent on him to try and win the business. “I spent six thousand dollars to take you to the Masters.” “I took you to dinner a thousand times.” “I spent time with your family.” Our first instinct is to get defensive in these situations. And take a look at your own experiences as well. Surely at some point in your career, you felt you deserved more from your company. You didn’t think you were being compensated for how hard you worked or the hours you put in during the week. When it came time for you to discuss this with your boss or manager, they asked you why you felt this way. Chances are your arguments included, “Sir, I doubled my quota last month,” or, “I landed that huge deal with XYZ Company.” That’s great. So what? Now, guess what you are doing to them. You are making them defensive because you are making it about YOU. Make it about them. Your boss or manager’s focus has to be on tomorrow. They can’t be worried about a deal that you already brought the company. Their focus is on the deals that have yet to be completed. So next time you are faced with this situation, focus on the future. Give your client a glimpse of what they do not already see. Focus on what you can bring them that you have not already. Yesterday is already gone, but with the right “newspaper,” tomorrow will not be such a surprise. |
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