Successful selling is the objective of product and aftermarket salespeople.
Successful selling is an outcome that many businesses fail to achieve. Even with the uncertainty of fluctuating revenue, margin, and profits, our sales and marketing efforts are still selling speeds and feeds, not pieces per hour. However, there is a logical solution for OEMs and their Channel partners. You can make two changes in parallel:
- Invest in building or upgrading your service business
- Train every customer-facing employee to talk about and sell your solutions effectively.
Doing one without the other will lead to major disappointment, but doing both together will help you reverse declining sales trends and win back disappointed customers—both yours and your competitors.
Let me explain.
People purchase your products because they need the outcomes they get from using them. If customers get better outcomes than promised, they are delighted. They are disappointed if the outcomes fail to live up to the promises made. Everyone is so busy that they do not care how the outcomes are achieved—whether through speeds and feeds, special features, or sophisticated technology. Customers want to get what they paid for.
Outcomes, Not Features
The simplest way to start is to sell outcomes. Don’t sell a milling machine that can plow a ¼-inch wide, ½-inch deep, 6-inch long groove in 316L stainless steel in 30 seconds with an end mill rotation rate of 10,000 rpm. Instead, get drawings of a few typical parts from your prospect, set up a demonstration for the buyer to show the cycle time for producing each part, and convert that time into pieces per hour or shift: outcomes, not features.
Upgrading a service business should involve two short-term, or Phase 1, objectives:
- You must be able to promise minimal annual uptime while working scheduled downtime into your plan. The uptime commitment allows customers to calculate output per hour, shift, month, or year and plan their business accurately.
- Train your field service technicians to look at a customer’s site (manufacturing facility, data center — whatever is appropriate for your business) and be able to talk about ways that the customer can increase outcomes, reduce costs, or mitigate risks. Again, it helps the customer plan and improve outcomes.
Achieving successful selling
Achieving both objectives will allow you to have a significant impact on your short- and long-term sales objectives. From there, you can transition to Phase 2 — starting or accelerating your work on moving from preventative and reactionary service to predictive and proactive service. But that discussion is for another day.
Related articles:
- A Selling Truth – Cures Sell Themselves, Prevention Takes Persuasion
- Explore the Advantages of Consultative Selling
About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals whose primary goal is to help capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. We focus on our services, manufacturing, customer experience, and engineering strengths to provide superior solutions and meet our clients’ needs. If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization sell successfully, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.
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