An End to Price Wars?

Tired of getting beat up on price? Tired of losing clients to web stores, manufacturers who sell direct and competitors who seem able to undercut you at will? Maybe it's time to reconsider the role price plays in your business.

Price will always be a primary issue for any business, but should it be its only competitive point? More and more, successful print and promo distributors are saying, "No, not by a long a shot."

There's an idea, generally referred to as "consultative selling," that is becoming increasingly popular in the print and promo community. Instead of selling from a purely "product-and-price" angle, the salesperson takes a more ad agency-like approach and focuses on solving the client's core problem. In other words, what makes the client seek the items in the first place?

It's perhaps a subtle shift in business philosophy that can be vital for the growth of your company. When your goal is to solve problems rather than just provide product, clients will begin to judge you based on results, greatly reducing your vulnerability to price wars.

Consultative selling is how you beat the web stores, the under-cutters, the manufacturers and the IP thieves. It's how you broaden your business's competitive traits, build a list of clients who are more loyal and harder to poach, and even increase your profit per sale.

Interested? Good. To get you rolling past your price-obsessed peers, here is a list of 10 tips on the consultative sales approach.

1. Begin With Their Core Objective, Then Work Backward

Identify the company's needs. "The process starts by asking the right questions (the consultation) to help determine what promotional products, services and creative message/campaign (the value) can help reach that core objective," said Dan Livengood, senior manager of business expansion and professional development, Newton Manufacturing Co., Newton, Iowa. As Bruce Felber, MAS, director of marketing and sales support for the Image Group, Holland, Ohio, explained, it's about aiming your questions at a customer's needs and wants, as opposed to just selling a product.

2. Research the Client and Its Market

A knowledge of your client's basic business strategies and the overall market for its product will greatly improve your consultative efforts. "Understand how your prospective client goes to market before walking into your very first meeting," said Livengood. "This prelude helps the consultant ask the most intelligent and pertinent questions, and establishes credibility immediately."

He continued, "For example, let's say you call on a manufacturing firm, and after conducting research regarding the organization and its focus on safety, you could lead with, 'I read you are certified in several manufacturing safety initiatives and make that part of your company's mission. Do you currently have a safety or rewards program in place? If so, how do you promote it to your employees? Do you have a safety theme, internally? Do you communicate it to your industry in any way?'"

Customers are the experts on their business. But Livengood believes when the salesperson researches a client's industry, background and company events, he or she can present an original—and often overlooked—marketing approach to the client. "Customers appreciate the extra value they receive when you offer a creative campaign starting from the moment you research their industry," he said.

3. Find Their Main Priorities

Besides the core goal(s) of a promotion, companies will often have a handful of main, overarching long-term goals: become a market-leader, focus on customer service, show a sense of humor, etc. Livengood noted that asking questions like, "What are your top three priorities on how you want your industry to view you and your brand?" are necessary not only to establish credibility, but also to uncover more opportunities to help your client moving forward.

4. Go for the "No"

Ask leading questions that will get a "No" from the client. Every time they say "No," you're qualifying clients and honing in on their core needs. "Once they say 'yes,' then you start hooking them, but you want to ask these kind of leading questions," said Felber. He reasoned that the idea of asking such leading questions helps reveal the client's fundamental needs (e.g., "I need this new product launch to succeed or I'm fired...") rather than surface ones ("My boss told me to buy some decorated pens or whatever...").

5. Find Out Where They Want to Go

Felber mentioned the goal of your consultation should not be to find out what your client(s) are doing, but where they want to go. If a client is working on a new product launch, he suggested finding out what the product is worth and researching its overall market. In addition, how much does the client think it will generate in the first year and who is the expected buying audience, because these questions lead to solving the client's core issue(s).

6. Ask the "B" Word

"Most people are afraid to [ask], 'What's your budget?" said Felber. "It's not easy for everybody to ask that question, and buyers sometimes don't like to answer that question because they think, 'Well, if I tell you how much I want to spend, you'll make sure I spend it,'" he remarked. "But you have to sit there, like I do with my clients, and say, 'I can't work in a vacuum.' I don't want to be working on a $5,000 dollar budget when you've got a $2,000 [budget], and on the other hand, I don't want to be working on a $2,000 budget if you've got as much as five.

"You'll get a lot of answers, and the most common one is, 'Tell me what it costs and I'll tell you if I can afford it.'" Felber explained that getting around this pat reply is sometimes as simple as saying, "Okay, you've got a $5,000 dollar budget?" If the client responds with something like, "Oh no I don't have that," then you can say "Okay, $2,000?" and so on.

7. Offer a Campaign

"I always say offer a campaign as opposed to just product, because a campaign is easier to deliver an outcome," said Felber. He mentioned a few traits promotional campaigns typically have, such as theme and call-to-action.

8. Brainstorm With the Client

"If you brainstorm with your client, then the client takes ownership of it," said Felber. "They're not going to say, 'Oh that was a lousy idea' if they helped create it. They'll also buy into it easier. My job is to execute it. I don't really care who comes up with it."

9. Bill Your Time

An uncomfortable idea for some, billing clients for your consultative time is nevertheless a core part of the process. "I don't think it's unfair to ask a client for money up-front to cover your time or even get some profit out of it (if you're smart, you should)," said Felber. "If I charge somebody $1,000 or $2,500 or $3,000 just for building the campaign, that's worth something. Then I can sit there and say, 'Yeah, here's what it costs to consult with me, I'd love for you to execute with me, but if you don't, that's okay too, because I'm still going to get my money up-front."

Felber suggested billing per job, rather than by the hour. "When you do it by the hour, the client always thinks you're nickel and diming them," he said.

10. Protect Your Ideas With a Contract, if Necessary

A downside to consultative selling is if you're not careful, your ideas can get stolen. A client or prospect may be mining you for ideas only to turn and take them to a lower bidder. There are, however, some steps you can take to protect yourself.

"As far as protecting your ideas, it is always wise to post a disclaimer at the bottom of a creative campaign presentation stating, 'The following is the intellectual property of ... etc.,'" said Livengood. "Be completely honest with your client[s], and encourage them to help protect your idea," he added. "Trust is very important in business. Contracts should be used thoughtfully where both parties benefit and are protected.

"If your client is a 'bidder,' don't put yourself in a position to share too much of the campaign idea," stated Livengood. "Give them a teaser to first entice them, then give them the opportunity to purchase your complete offering once they understand the value you bring."