Sale prices and more salesmanship *

Anticipating objections

Some objections, questions, or doubts in the prospect's mind are of such a nature that they are almost certain to arise in every sales interview unless adequately anticipated in the selling talk. With others, this may be true in relation to certain definite classes of prospects. In some cases a salesman may get an intimation from the prospect's attitude, or a remark he may let drop, of a special objection being formed in the prospect's mind. Ordinarily it is best, if possible, to anticipate these objections. When this principle is followed the objection seldom obtrudes into the sales presentation. A 'thought expressed is likely to be harder to change than one unexpressed.

To illustrate: If the salesman feels that the initial outlay for his product or service is going to be an obstacle, he may introduce, early in his selling talk, without mentioning price specifically, the statement that deferred payments make the proposition very easy to take care of. If his offering is higher priced than competing articles he anticipates this very natural objection on the part of the prospect by showing its superior advantages, or exclusive points.

If a salesman is offering a high-priced line, the matter of expense is certain to come up sooner or later. He may demonstrate the steady turnover and satisfactory profits. He pauses in his discussion to state, "Now this might seem like an expensive line at first glance, but the fact is that it is not an expensive one at all.

You see the increase in your profits will easily take care of the cost." Should he wish to anticipate the objection about changing lines, he may suggest : "Now you can see that this does not require you to discontinue the line you are carrying. It is merely a matter of rounding out your stock by adding merchandise for which demand has been created by advertising. This article does not compete with any other which you carry in stock."

This manoeuvre can be adjusted to any kind of offering.

When to mention price

The most common and probably the most formidable objection or obstacle to the sale in practically every line is the question of price. After all, the whole sales process is an endeavour on the part of the salesman to persuade the prospect to exchange a certain amount of money for the benefits and advantages offered. This suggests that, as a fundamental principle, unless sound judgment dictates otherwise in an individual instance, the mention of price should be avoided by the salesman until the quality and worth of the article, or possible profits from its resale, are firmly established and clear in the mind of the prospect. This point is so important that price, generally speaking, should not be mentioned early in the sales presentation even in response to the definite question of the prospect.

The specialty salesman's reply to the price question, coming up before he is ready to discuss it, might be: "Let us decide whether you want this first. Then we can talk price. I think I can put it within your reach." Or he may reply: "Will you grant me a favour? Before I quote you a price, permit me to tell you what I am prepared to give you for the price you may pay." Then the salesman slips back into his presentation.

Expert buyers, such as purchasing agents and buyers of lines for resale generally, are vitally interested in price with relation to quality. Possibly in some instances the selling talk might be a mere quotation of prices and terms. Even with expert buyers, however, it is good salesmanship, if at all possible, to get in some mention of special features or superior quality before stating the price even in response to a direct question.

Price opposition

The most common and difficult opposition which the salesman meets is that which arises out of prices. For that reason we shall devote considerable space to its several phases. The practice of forcing sales by bearing down upon prices is as old as business itself. Price competition always has been and still is one of the most troublesome problems of the sales executive and the salesman. It is generally agreed that price wars are disastrous. It is also agreed that "one price to all" is a sound business policy. Long ago this policy became well established in the retail business. It is seldom that one customer can get a price concession in a retail store which is not allowed to all customers.

Cut-price competition is a species of merchandising which has been universally discontinued. It is true that there are so-called "cut-price" stores and there are plenty of large retail establishments whose policy is to sell at a lower price than those which usually prevail in the trade, but even in such stores the same prices are given to all customers. The salesman has no discretion or authority in the matter of prices.

Maintaining price levels

This same policy is also established in the jobbing and manufacturing lines. It is not permissible to shade selling prices or make special price concessions to one customer which will not be granted to others. Sound business principles require that goods be sold on their merits and not on price.

Price-maintenance policies are now often put into effect, especially prices when the offering consists of a specialty controlled exclusively by the company, a line of goods put out under a private brand, or a patented article or line of branded products which has become standardized by wide distribution or extensive advertising.

On the other hand, in the case of staple lines subject to market fluctuations and direct competition, and upon which it is difficult to maintain a standard price, the distributor is often given some discretion.

This is also the case in those classes of business where estimates must be submitted and competition is keen. In many instances the salesman will be held strictly to a fixed, price upon certain of his products, but given discretion on others. A manufacturer of food products may put out some products under private brands that are extensively advertised and well established in the trade. Upon these the salesman will be required to quote the price with no variation.

The manufacturer may, in addition, offer an extensive line of unbranded products staple in the trade and not advertised. Upon these there may be keen competition. Market prices are subject to fluctuation depending upon supply and demand and upon trade conditions in the different localities. It is difficult consistently to maintain a price level on these. Here the salesman is given some discretion.

Price concessions discouraged

It may be said that while many salesmen still retain some authority to make price concessions, the general tendency is to hold strictly to prices fixed by the company. There are sound reasons for this. It requires no salesmanship to slash prices and thus secure orders at less than a reasonable margin of profit or at an actual loss.

Furthermore, price discretion may result in sharp practice. The salesman may be tempted to charge more than the regular price for articles on which the buyer is not so well posted. To do so warps the salesman's judgment. He begins to think that price is the only thing that counts and loses sight of the fact that there are other and stronger factors entering into sales. The habit of shading prices is an indication of weak salesmanship.

Nature of price competition

Price competition usually takes one of three forms: competition of cut prices, where the same article or the same grade of goods is sold at lower than the standard price ; competition of cheap prices, where a lower grade is sold, at a lower price; and competition for the prospect's dollar between dissimilar goods yielding different advantages or types of satisfaction.

While it is true that there is a strong tendency to maintain standardized prices, the fact remains that price competition is keen and troublesome. It probably always will be so. The price appeal is obvious and basic. It is grounded in a trait of human nature to purchase to the best advantage. It will never be eliminated from competitive distribution. The salesman must be well prepared to meet it.

There is a reason for the price given to a salesman by his company. This is so even though apparently that price may be higher than that asked for similar competing goods. The salesman must realize that his company is staking an enormous fixed investment and considerable sales, advertising and administrative expenditure on the proposition that the price is fair, that the prospect will recognize quality, and that, as a result, the goods will move at the price stipulated.

If prices are out of line, the company has infinitely more to lose than has the salesman. He may therefore rest assured that wise executive heads have given serious consideration to the fixing of any price. It goes without saying that he must know thoroughly what the reasons are and be able to communicate them forcefully to the prospect.

Handling price resistance

On a different page, we pointed out the necessity of gaining a complete knowledge of the special benefits and services to the prospect which are inherent in the offering. The best way to fade price out of the picture is to stress these special services in such a manner that price will become incidental. This requires salesmanship of a high order. The modern trend is away from competition in prices toward competition in services. There is considerable current criticism directed toward this claim that service is the prime element in modern salesmanship but this is due to ignorance of what is taking place in methods of distribution.

Service an answer to the cut price

One of the most striking features of present-day selling consists of the large place occupied by cooperative services provided by the company, the purposes of which are to enable the buyer to improve his business and widen his activities, or to enable the individual consumer to improve his personal position or situation and realize a greater degree of prosperity or comfort. When this is so of the salesman's offering he must realize that the service is just as much a part of what he has to sell as is the product itself. He must recognize that it is of real benefit to his prospect and bring this forcibly home in competition with similar products lacking the same degree of service.

This can well be illustrated by referring back to examples which we have already cited of methods developed by certain companies in the solutions of prospects' problems.

The wholesale grocery company to which we referred as having worked out solutions to some of the problems of independent retail grocers, perfected a plan which quite revolutionizes the methods of the ordinary store, including such features as concentrated buying to gain the advantage of quantity discounts ; reducing the number of brands carried and retaining only the best sellers to cut down investment in inventory and speed up turnover; store arrangements to have goods easily accessible and well displayed ; and a simplified method of accounting which has the special objective of enabling the retailer to watch his rate of turnover, cost of doing business and profit on all sales.

Surely the retailer is not wise to cut himself off from this constructive help for a small and probably temporary price concession on a few items. It should not be difficult for a salesman to sell him this viewpoint. The salesmen of this company not only sell goods. They sell a merchandising plan. They are selling staples but they are more truly specialty salesmen. They sell merchandising plans which retailers may capitalize.

The office machine manufacturer that out of every one hundred customers who ceased buying from a given company, one s dead or unaccounted for, five are influenced for definite reasons to trade elsewhere, fourteen have unadjusted complaints, either real or imaginary, three have moved to a different trading area, and nine buy elsewhere because of price ; but the astounding number of sixty-eight drift away for no special reason, simply because no effort is made to hold their trade.

With this as a basis the company developed a system of customer control designed to win back customers who had ceased buying, reduce the number of customers who were lost, sell a higher average amount to each customer, acquire new customers, increase results from advertising expenditures, and to provide a means of accurately checking results achieved along the lines enumerated. Surely if the prospect is made to see that in reality he buys not the machine but these very results, he will not be enticed away on a price basis. In this case, this, as well as durability of construction and exclusive features of the machine, is the answer to price resistance and lower-priced competition.

A manufacturer of flashlights, dry batteries and radio accessories was also referred to. That company distributes its products exclusively through jobbers. In addition to its salesmen calling upon jobbers, however, it maintains a still larger force called "dealer salesmen."

They call exclusively upon the retail trade. When these dealer salesmen take orders, the jobber is protected. That is, the order is turned over to the jobber to be filled and he earns the same margin of profit as though his salesman had secured the order. However, their main function is to help dealers move the goods.

They help and encourage the retailer to tie up, with the company's advertising, the wide reputation of the goods and consumer acceptance established by advertising. They emphasize to the dealer the company's service in the way of repairs, adjustments, and making good on guarantees. They help the dealer with stock display, window trim, store advertising, arrangement of goods, instruction of clerks and advertising.

The effect of this service is to cause the goods to move rapidly and automatically through the jobber's warehouse. It is the part of wisdom for the jobber to take a smaller margin of profit on these goods as compared with others in connection with which no such service is rendered, even though the quality of the goods themselves might be identical. The jobber will earn a larger net profit by doing so. Here again the real sale is an effective merchandising plan that moves the goods off the shelves of the jobber and the retailer and creates rapid repeat business.

The principle here is that where such services accompany the goods themselves, the salesman must be broad-versioned enough to recognize their value to his customer, to keep them constantly before him and as constantly in the mind of the prospect.

Sometimes necessary to cut prices

It is not always weak salesmanship to make special price concessions. Sometimes conditions are such as to make it necessary to' do so. What we have warned against is the habit. For it is easy for the salesman to get the "price complex" and consider that price is the whole thing or the main thing.

Sometimes the skilful salesman finds himself in a situation where it is good business to meet a cut price, to offer a special quantity price or to shade the price to meet the special circumstances of a case. There are times, in lines where the salesman is given some discretion in prices, when there is overproduction of certain lines and goods must be unloaded; when competitors are starting a special price-cutting campaign, and the salesman will lose a valuable customer by failing to meet competing prices; when the salesman must estimate prices on specifications and competition is keen; or where, owing to local trade conditions, customers cannot handle the goods without special price concessions.

Many other exceptional circumstances where it might be good salesmanship to make price concessions could be mentioned. Where it is done, however, the skilful salesman lets it be clearly understood that it is an exceptional case, that he is not a price-cutter nor his company a price-cutting concern, and that he treats competing customers alike.

Tact and personality in handling objections

In overcoming sales resistance the matter of personal influence is a big factor. It is so broad a subject that we shall discuss such phases of it as the art of personal contact and the force of personality in later chapters. However, in passing we might suggest a few points of tactfulness which are effective in this connection.

Discuss; do not argue

An order is seldom gained by wrangling with the prospect. In the course of an argument each party is likely to become more set in his position. He is out to win an argument and his mind is closed. A courteous discussion opens the other man's mind. Therefore a good salesman will concede the apparent reasonableness of the buyer's assertions and courteously present the facts to prove his case. To be sure, he does not "concede himself out of court," but he avoids a combative attitude. He stands firmly for his own case in a reasonable, polite and open-minded way. In short, he discusses. He does not argue. There is a distinct difference.

While it is necessary to meet the prospect's objections and answer them, the salesman is effective in doing so only insofar as his tactics harmonize with a friendly interview. If anything he does or says creates a hostile attitude he has probably defeated himself. It must constantly be borne in mind that almost invariably a sale results from a friendly get-together.

Good sportsmanship

It is poor sportsmanship to lose one's temper or show impatience because the buyer offers opposition. There is some truth in the familiar term, "the selling game," which indicates that the salesman should be a generous winner and a good loser. He meets resistance in the spirit of the trained athlete and he makes friends by it. That is by far the best attitude in which to meet sales opposition.

The basic principle involved was ably expressed by a salesman for a printing house. He had put up a long, earnest, and masterly talk to secure a large contract for his concern and had lost the order because the prospect thought that another house with larger equipment would make quicker deliveries. It was difficult, of course, for the salesman to accept defeat smilingly. Realizing that he had lost the sale, before the parting he sought to relieve the tension of the interview by exchanging with the prospect a few short remarks not especially relevant to the subject that they had been discussing.

He lapsed into a story that illustrated a point; the prospect responded with one which illustrated another ; and when both were laughing heartily, the salesman prepared to take his leave. The buyer looked at him admiringly. "You are fairly cheerful, considering that you have just lost a sizable contract." "Mr. Prospect," returned the salesman smiling, but in earnest, "if I should ever start to leave your office without a real smile on my face, call me back and give me the opportunity to leave in the right way."

Discussing competitor's goods

The salesman who shows animosity toward a competitor is really advertising him. It indicates that he considers his rival a dangerous one. A good proportion of objections arise out of competition; hence it is important that the salesman adopt a proper attitude toward competitors.

A salesman should avoid being drawn into controversy regarding his competitor's goods. He should know all about them, their strong points and their weak points, so that he may touch these points indirectly in his presentation, possibly to call attention to exclusive points with reference to his offering.

Some lines of goods seem to invite comparison—addressing machines and typewriting machines, for example. It is best to anticipate the selling points usually made for rival machines by emphasizing similar, but stronger or exclusive, points with regard to the machine being sold. Another method is to point out the fact that the machine being sold does not have certain weak points.

Here the salesman may enumerate the weak points of a competing product without mentioning its name or maker. Whenever the prospect definitely mentions a competing article and asks how it compares with the one being discussed, the answer should always be given so as to savour as little as possible of what is commonly termed "knocking." The comparison should generally be accompanied by the admission that the competing article is a good one, followed by an elaboration of the exclusive points of the product being sold.

Objections are not necessarily antagonistic

We have been discussing objections as if their purpose were mainly to get rid of the salesman or to avoid a sale. This is not universally the case. Very frequently the questions and even the objections of the prospects are favourable signs. They indicate an interest and frequently a genuine and healthy desire to know more about the salesman's offering. Even in cases where they do not indicate this latter attitude on the part of the prospect, they can still be used by the salesman as stepping stones to his goal.