296: When Is Too Much, Too Much In Sales

<p>The most common complaint we get from clients about their sales team is that they are too passive.  They are great at farming, but not great at hunting, growing the size of the existing business and finding new buyers.  “It is as if they were working for the buyer and not for our company, because they bend over backwards to keep the client happy. Maybe too happy”, is not an unusual comment.  On the other end of the scale is the American style hard sell effort which takes no prisoners, brooks no hesitation and keeps pushing until a deal gets done.  For Japan, that will never fly, so we need something in the middle.</p> <p> </p> <p>Where is the line though?  When is too much, too much?  Some schools of thought are that you need to push until you get regular resistance, because that is the point where you realise you have taken it to the limit for Japan.  This whole equation is complex.  Ultimately, I believe we need to become the trusted partner of the buyer.  When they feel we are working to help them succeed, we are on the right track, without forgetting who we are working for and who pays our salary and commissions. </p> <p> </p> <p>In my view, weak salespeople just fold in the face of every client demand, no matter the consequences for their own firm.  This is especially painful when it comes to revenues.  Many times, these salespeople are earning commissions on what they sell, so you would expect that their own self-interest would dictate that they do not discount too heavily to win the business. Unfortunately, because they don’t have skills around explaining the value, they cave and drop the price every time, even though it hurts them financially.  Their view is that they would rather have a client gained at a big discount, because finding new clients is so much harder.</p> <p> </p> <p>Generally speaking, in Japan starting low and then trying to elevate the buyer’s appetite to pay more for the existing solution doesn’t work all that well.   Once they get you down to a low price that then becomes the ceilin