Better is in the Eye of the Beholder

The two words that are guaranteed to trip up most sales people are "better" and "value." The latter we'll talk about in another post. Typically the "better" trap is set by a prospect at the beginning of a meeting. After introductions and polite conversation your prospect says, "so tell me how you are better than my current supplier." If your instinct is to jump to a features-and-benefits presentation, STOP! There is no way for you to answer that question and have any chance of closing the sale. There are three reasons why your prospects set the "better" trap: They have been trained by amateur salespeople who sell by claiming that their thing is better than what the prospect is currently using. They believed a "better" claim by an amateur salesperson and had the painful experience of finding out that what they switched to wasn't better. They want to be entertained by another salesperson exhausting themselves through an elaborate dog-and-pony presentation. Fortunately for you, the better trap is one of your prospect's weaker moves for controlling your sales interview. To keep your sales interview moving, and put you back in control, you can remove the better trap with one of the following: Kick the trap out of the way (gently) - you can't tell them why you're better, because better is in the eye of the beholder. Find out what "better" means - what has to be "better" for your prospect to do business with you? Uncover the underlying reason for asking - your prospect may have been burned in the past. Uncover that now or it will come back to bite you later. Once the better trap is removed, you will be back in control of the sales interview. Your prospect does; however, have many more traps at their disposal and will employ them all to force you into their system. Talk to your Sandler Trainer about the traps your prospects set for you and your options for removing those traps safely