Don’t Jump to Conclusions

“How’s business?  What kind of impact is the economy having on sales?”

We used to start social conversation by asking “what’s your sign” or “How’s tricks” but now the economy seems to be the center of attention for all conversation; business and personal. 

Just the other day I was talking to a friend who told me a story that has a lesson we can all learn from.

“Sales are down from last year, but not that bad,” he said.  “The biggest challenge is keeping my sales force from jumping to the conclusion that we have to discount to stay a viable option.”

Now if you’ve been watching the news or reading the paper you know that many retailers are doing just that.  Home Depot has a new television ad about their new lower prices, the car wash I talked about last week lowered their prices by $2 a service and some businesses – like Dennys are even giving food away for free.  Not lower your prices?

“One of my sales guys came to me the other day in a panic that we were about to loose a regular client,” he explained. 

“The word on the street is that ABC Corporation is putting a product out to bid that we’ve supplied for years.  You need to call them right now and lower the price or we are going to lose their business.”

“Now hold on Nellie,” my friend said.  “Let’s just sit back and make sure we have all the facts.” 

He called his contact within the organization and confirmed that one of the products was in fact being re-bid, however, only to one other company.  The competition was known for poor turn around times and less than stellar customer service.  My friend spend a good amount of time listening to the customer.  Asking about their business, their needs, their reason for the bid process and what they hoped to accomplish.  At the end of the conversation, the sale was confirmed at the original price.

“I think we learned three things from that situation,” he told me:

1.  Don’t panic.  Just because you hear something through the grapevine doesn’t make it gospel.  So before you  jump off the cliff, take a deep breath and then…

2.  Get all the facts.  And get the facts from the actual source that can provide the truth – not through someone who knows someone who once dated your customer.

3.  Stay in communication with your customers.  The fact is, companies are looking at ways to save money and that may mean that a contract you’ve had for a long time may be in jeopardy.  But if you stay in touch – asking how things are going – what can I do to help – what are your goals and how can we work together to help you be successful – in other words -HAVE A RELATIONSHIP with your customer, you are more likely to keep the contract without cutting costs.