Sales training ideas – 6 ideas for keeping a healthy sales attitude.

Sales requires you to have a thick mental skin. Not only do you have to handle your personal problems, but you also must deal with many professional problems. Lost sales, an angry customer, or a botched service call on your best customer’s equipment—all of these can challenge your attitude. While no one is entirely immune to the effects of negative events, there are a few things you can do to build up your mental immune system and help ensure that you succeed in sales.  

6 Ideas to Stay Positive in Sales 

1) Stay healthy.

Eat, sleep, and exercise. Use common sense. You know how much sleep you need, and for the most part you probably have a real good idea about how to eat right and exercise properly. If you have a problem in any of these areas, you won’t be able to focus well on anything including selling and sales.   

2) Find ways to keep yourself mentally pumped up.

Get some motivational books, tapes, and CDs. Look for stories, movies, and music that inspire you. Make a list of all the tremendous events in your life, everything you’re thankful for, and all the times you want to remember, and then focus on those as much as you can. Use affirmations such as “I can do it,” “I am the best,” and “I feel healthy, I feel happy, I feel terrific.” Say them with as much enthusiasm and energy as you can when you first get up in the morning and during the day.  Keep in mind that you control what happens to you. It is what you strive to become and the obstacles you overcome that will determine how you feel about yourself. Look for challenges, conquer them, learn from them, and grow. Take time out on occasion to focus on the big picture. Also, strive to achieve balance in your life.  

3) Assign the proper meaning to events.

Probably the best way to make yourself immune to the negatives of life and develop an extremely strong psyche is to adopt beliefs that empower you. See problems as challenges to overcome. What can you learn from each situation? How can you best handle each situation? How might you look at the situation differently? Is it just your negative attitude or is there a real problem? If there is a real problem, face it head on and tackle it immediately. 

4) Keep your perspective.

Very few things are matters of life and death. One large sale made or lost will not make or break you. If you lose a big sale, you might have to work harder to recover; however, there are more sales to be made. If you make a big sale, enjoy it but don’t rest on your laurels. And don’t take things personally. A rejection of your offer is not a rejection of you. 

5) Be positive yet stay grounded in the real world.

Be cheerful and optimistic, expect the best, but have a plan for when the worst happens—because occasionally it will.  

6) Watch your mental diet and stay away from negatives.

Your mental diet is just as important as your physical diet. You have to watch what goes into your brain. Here are some suggestions for counteracting the negatives in your life and focusing only on the positives: 

• Avoid television except for inspirational stories or movies, sports, and other “good” television. Avoid negative movies, stories, and music.
• Instead of watching the local news, watch the national news or CNN.
• Skip the local newspaper except for the business, weather, and sports sections. To stay abreast of current events, scan the front page.
• Instead of listening to music on the radio, listen to motivational, inspirational, or educational tapes or CDs.
• Be very selective about whom you hang out with—they will have a major impact on you.
• Work at a job in which you are growing, or where there is potential for you to grow.
• Your thoughts are the one thing over which you have complete control. If you don’t like them, change them. While it may take some work, but you’ll find that if you do work at it, little by little you can develop the habit of having only positive thoughts.
• Avoid negative environments. A smoky bar in the bad section of town is probably not the most productive place to be. Use your best judgment.
• Avoid any situation that tends to bring out negative emotions. You will have to attend a wake or funeral from time to time, or visit someone in the hospital, and you should. Don’t break accepted social rules; just don’t torture yourself with situations or places that continually bring you down.  

Your attitude and your state of mind are extremely important to your long-term sales success. Put lots of good things into your mind and surround yourself with the right people. If you do what you need to do each day with a positive frame of mind, and never give up on your goals and beliefs, you will be successful in sales.

Sales training ideas – What to do when you lose a sale.

In today’s sales training idea we’ll talk about what to do when you find out you just lost a sale. Why? Well, because someone just called me and said, “I lost a big sale I was sure I was going to get. What should I do?”

Okay, here’s what to do:

1) Find out if it’s a done deal. Did the prospect already sign a contract?

2) Do you still have a shot? Quick question to ask: “Ms. Prospect, is there anything I can do to still get the business?” If she says “yes”, find out what.

3) Find out WHY and get competitive information. Find out why you lost. This works best if you get in front of the person who made the decision and if you get there soon after the news. In other words, you don’t want to get the information from the secretary. She won’t have all the details as to why you lost and she won’t have the emotional reasons to open up to you. The decision maker may feel bad and thus, will be that much more open to telling you specifically why you lost and to give you actual, documented competitive information such as proposals.

4) If it is a done deal, thank the prospect for the opportunity and ask that the door be open in the future.

5) Send a “Thank You” Note.

6) Stay in touch and continue to keep your name in front of the prospect.

7) Get back to work. Use this as motivation to work harder and get more sales.

The bottom line: When you find out you lost the sale, find out if there is still something you can do to save it. If you can, do it! Learn what you can from the situation and finally, get fired up and go get other business.

Sales training ideas – 4 points to consider that can have an impact on your sales calls and cold calling.

When it comes to selling, you want to have everything possible going in your favor. Obviously proposals, presentations, product knowledge, follow-up, and other “major” items are important, but at the same time, you want to have the little things going for you to. Every little bit helps, and in this article we will talk about some of the small things that impact the sales process. While some of these items are more important than others, they can all impact your sales. 

4 Ideas for Success in Sales 

1) Your appearance

Often clothes are the first thing people will notice about you. Observe what customers and other salespeople in your industry are wearing and mirror them. You always want to err on the side of overdressing. Your goal should be to be the best dressed but not at a completely different level. Watch for wrinkles, spots, dirt, tears, etc. in clothing. Also, take care of your clothing. Hang suits and other clothes up as soon as you take them off at the end of the day. Have four or five different business suits or outfits so you can wear roughly one per day, each day of the week. You will significantly increase the life of your clothing by alternating it. Keep your shoes polished and well taken care of. If you’re a woman, you usually have a few different pairs of shoes to match different outfits. Like clothing, try not to wear one pair too often. Men should make it a point to have at least two pairs of shoes that they alternate. Dress in appropriate colors and refrain from gaudy jewelry. The objective with clothing is the same as your physical appearance: look clean, crisp, fresh, and professional. With regard to physical grooming, deodorant, cologne, or perfume (although not too much), bathing regularly, and taking care of yourself properly should do the trick.  Breath is probably one of the most overlooked areas. Proper dental hygiene and using mouthwash or breath mints after you eat should take care of most breath issues.  If you can, brush your teeth and use mouthwash after each meal. If you can’t, strong breath mints, or the like, are the next best thing. You should make it a point to always have some good breath mints with you at all times.  Another way to attack bad breath is by preventing it to begin with. Coffee, alcohol, dairy products, garlic, and several other foods create a thriving atmosphere for bad breath.  

2) Your Handshake

Your handshake gives a definite impression to other people and is especially important in the world of sales. A firm handshake will make you appear confident and self-assured, while a weak handshake can undermine any confidence you may have. While a firm handshake is the objective, you don’t want a bone-crushing handshake. It should be firm but not overwhelming. Your hand should be warm and dry. If you have sweaty hands, hold the palm side of your hand on your clothing before shaking someone’s hand. This is much more subtle than wiping your hand on your clothing. When you approach to shake hands, look at the other person’s hand briefly. Aim the crux of your thumb and index finger at the same spot on the other person’s hand. Once the crux of your fingers hits theirs, grab hold and shake firmly. Look the person in the eye and smile while shaking hands. If you come across someone who is unable to shake hands with their right hand for any reason, shaking the left hand is fine. If he or she is unable to shake hands at all, touching on the arm or shoulder is appropriate. 

3) The Pen You Use

Okay, this one may seem small but again, it’s the small things that count and you want as many as possible going in your favor. On all your sales calls you should have a high-quality pen and make sure it works. Also, have a backup pen. By high quality, we mean a Cross pen or something similar. 

Note 1: Many businesses give out company pens. If you have a good-quality pen from the company you’re calling upon, bring the pen with you and use it while you’re on the call. 

Note 2: All the pens you use should have black or blue ink unless you have a great reason related to your business that dictates another color. 

4) Some Things to watch for at the Customer’s Facility 

Your approach to a sales call begins in the prospect’s parking lot, sometimes even before. We know of one person who was cut off in traffic and gave the other driver a “not so nice” gesture. The driver proceeded to follow him into the parking lot of the company he was calling on. The salesperson was horrified to discover it was the CEO’s secretary. Not good.  When you get out of your car, you never know who can see you from which window or who is in the parking lot with you. You must act as if you have a TV camera and open microphone focused on you at all times. We all know of examples where people have said something inappropriate, not realizing that others were listening. Watch what you say about the competition and other people anytime you are in public. It is a small world—as many of us have learned the hard way. Do not park up front in the “prime” parking spots. These are reserved for customers and sometimes upper-level management, not salespeople. Heaven forbid you should park in the President’s parking spot. And don’t laugh—it happened to a salesperson we know. Again, not good. You should park in spots at the back of the lot or spots that are the farthest from the facility. 

The above ideas are not mentioned much in sales training and some would argue that they are common sense. While that may be true, there are plenty of salespeople who don’t concern themselves with where they park in a customer’s parking lot or some of these other obvious items. Again, you want as many things as possible working in your favor. They may only make a small difference, but we do know of cases where parking in the wrong spot, wearing too much jewelry, and handing a customer a competitor’s pen have become big factors and actually cost salespeople sales.

Sales training ideas – What to carry with you on sales calls and while cold calling.

Every business has certain tools of the trade. For example, to service the banking industry we needed equipment literature, maps of our territory, a to-scale ruler to measure architectural drawings, a tape measure, and lithographs on all our equipment.  

What to have with you on all cold calls and other sales calls 

In addition to the tools of your particular trade, you also need the tools of a salesperson, such as plenty of contracts and other paperwork, an extra pen that works, your computer, a calculator, and other items needed to present your ideas and execute contracts.

If you’re on the road, you also need a map or GPS, some money, credit cards, AAA, and a cell phone. 

Make a list of the items you need to do business, and check it before you start your day. The key is to be prepared for anything.  

In addition to having everything you need for your cold calls, you also need to be able to react to the hot prospect who is ready for the presentation and the sale now. If the prospect asks to see what you have, a comeback such as, “Well, actually, I was only planning to drop off some information today” will kill you. Or, just as bad, “Well, I’d like to do my presentation, but I don’t have my material and contracts with me.” You have to be able to shift gears quickly if a cold call turns into a presentation. If you’re in sales long enough, it will eventually happen. 

Have price sheets, contracts, computer demos, and other presentation support materials in your car in case you need them. Also, make sure you look your best and have your best sales lines ready. 

In addition to the above, make sure you’re prepared for situations you may run into if you are out on the road. We mentioned AAA which can be helpful however, you also want to be prepared for inclement weather and just in case you get stuck somewhere for a while. Bring appropriate weather gear and always keep some bottled water and protein or energy bars handy. 

The bottom line: have everything you could possibly need for any selling situation and/or any situation you may run into out on the road. If your presentations require equipment that you don’t typically carry with you, set up a follow-up presentation appointment for the earliest available time, even later that day, if possible. If you’re prepared for anything, your cold calling and sales calls will tend to go much smoother and you’ll be much more relaxed in the process.

Sales training ideas – Setting sales goals and objectives when selling.

When selling you need to have daily, monthly, and yearly sales goals for cold calls, presentations, and sales. Let’s start with cold calling.  

• How many cold calls do you plan to make?
• How many leads do you want to get?
• What are you trying to accomplish with your cold call?  

First, how many calls do you want to make? How many calls you will make depends upon the logistics of your sales territory. For example, if you are selling office products door to door and you have many companies in a small geographic area, your goal may be twenty, thirty, or even more cold calls per day. If you are selling a product only to manufacturing plants that are twenty to forty miles from one another, you may be able to fit in only three to five calls a day.  

When setting a goal for the number of cold calls, err on the high side. You will need to do some research to get an idea of what is typical for your industry, and then add to that number. For example, if ten cold calls a day is a decent number based upon demographics, geography, and what the typical salesperson is capable of, make your goal twelve. If the typical number is three, make your goal four.  

If you are a new salesperson at a new company, most of your “call” time will probably be devoted to cold calling. As a result, you should be making far more cold calls than the average sales rep who is busy with all other aspects of the business. Again, your goal should be to make more calls than anyone else out there. 

Next, how many leads are you looking to get? Are you looking for five leads out of every ten people you talk with? Two out of ten? One out of ten? Again, your goal will depend upon what you are selling and what the industry averages are for your product or service.  

Find out the average number of leads the top salespeople are getting and work to achieve that number. Eventually your goal will be to surpass it, but set your initial “leads” goal at the average of the top producers. If you hear numbers between two and three out of ten, set your goal at three.  

If the top producers no longer cold call, discover what numbers they were at just before they stopped cold calling. In addition, find out what they do now to bring in new business, and see if there are any ideas you can work into your own search for new prospects. 

Now that you have set your goals, what about the objective of your cold call? Is your objective to set up an appointment, and then return at another time and do a full-blown presentation? Is it simply to drop off information and get the name of the key decision-maker, or is it just to find out if there is any interest at all? And, if there is interest, are you prepared to go for a sale right then and there?  

Once you’ve set your cold call goals, next determine how many presentations you want to do and how many sales you want to get. Again, break them down to daily goals so you know what you have to do every day. Having goals and keeping track of them is the surest way to success in sales.

Sales training ideas – Planning logistics while cold calling.

If you are driving to sales appointments, you want to plan your daily sales calls ahead of time to make things as easy on yourself as possible.  

How to plan your sales calls for time efficiency  

Group your sales calls together based upon geographic location and minimize criss-crossing your territory. For example, if you are cold calling four prospects in the western part of your territory and you come in from the east, on your way you can cold call two in the east, then call on the four in the west, and finally catch another two in the east on your way home. Also, if you have an appointment in the east on Tuesday, and another account in the east calls to set up an appointment with you, ask if she can meet you on Tuesday as you’ll already be out that way. You can also make some cold calls in the east.  

As you set up your day, keep grouping in mind; it will save you much time, effort, and energy—not to mention gas. 

If you have a large territory and you have to travel a great distance to make a cold call, it is a good idea to phone first and try to schedule an appointment. That’s better than arriving unannounced, only to discover the prospect is not there. 

The time of day you make your cold calls can also be important. What is the best time of day for your industry? For example, if you are calling on retail establishments, you can bet they won’t be too busy late Monday mornings or early Monday afternoons. On the other hand, Friday afternoons or Saturdays will likely be very busy times when cold calling should be avoided.  

Note: Be careful about assumptions you make when you cold call. For example, if you get to a location at 12:05 p.m., don’t just assume the person will be at lunch. Also, remember that if you are just starting out and primarily making cold calls, your objective is to get as many cold calls in as possible, regardless of when it’s “best” to catch people.  

Simply keep the logistics of “timing”, location, and other factors in the back of your mind when planning your sales day. It can save you lots of time, effort, and energy, and ultimately help you make more sales. 

Sales training ideas – 3 creative ideas to get in the door.

Okay, so you’ve called, mailed, e-mailed, you may have even stopped by in-person and still, you can’t get that prospect to see you or talk to you. Well, depending upon the other places you can spend your time, you may want to leave this person alone. For purposes of this discussion though, we’ll assume you’ve still decided to pursue the prospect, what now?

Here are three ideas to try:

1) Go out and buy some cheap baby shoes. Attach your business card and a note which reads, “Just trying to get my foot in the door.”

2) A helium balloon in a box, attach your business card to the bottom and request a call. Note: Make sure they have low ceilings or you have a long string.

3) Go to a Halloween Store and buy some plastic skeletons. Attach a business card and note which reads, “This is me waiting for you to call.” Stick it in an envelope and mail. If you can only find larger skeletons, use a large envelope.

The above ideas are a few of the many you can come up with. By the way, these work best with what we call Driver and Partier Personality types, not so well with Amiables and Technicians.

One final note, if these ideas don’t work and you still decide to pursue try these ideas. Find someone else who knows them and get an introduction. Run into them outside of the office at a fund raiser, golf tournament, the club, etc. Use persistence and build a relationship via the mail, e-mail, and/or voice mail. Eventually 99% of people with give you a shot due to either your persistence or the current vendor ticking them off.

Sales training ideas – Selling the right way.

I just got something in the mail from IBM, it said: STOP selling what you have. START selling what they need.

Hm, that should go without saying.

Okay, most salespeople should know to say what someone needs as opposed to shoving somwthing down someone’s throat, but I guess a lot don’t, and IBM put it in pretty simple terms. You want to focus on what the prospect wants and how you can help. Put that person ahead of you and your commission. In other words, if you take care of your prospects and customers, your paycheck will take care of itself. It’s almost like the old proverb about chasing happiness. If you chase it, it eludes you, but if you partake in the activities that make you happy and simply get busy living, happiness will follow.

Bottom line: In order to sell more and make a ton of money, focus on the prospect’s needs and not on the money. If you chase the needs of the prospect, the money will chase after you.

John Chapin   www.completeselling.com

Sales training ideas – How to find out exactly where the competition is on price.

Selling against the competition can offer some unique challenges and one of those challenges can be finding out exactly where the competition is on price.  

Let’s assume the prospect tells you the major differentiator in his decision was price. If you do have individual items broken out in your proposal, as opposed to just a total price*, say the following: 

“Certainly the bottom-line number is a factor, but generally I find that key items always carry a higher price than our competition’s. 

“For example, our tires are under warranty for twice as long as the competition’s because of our higher-quality rubber. This means they are typically about 35 percent higher in price, but I tried to squeeze my price as much as possible. I should be reasonably close to them with the total proposal price. Was I somewhat close or not close at all?” 

After you ask the question, it’s important to be quiet and wait for the prospect to respond. If the prospect comes back with, “You were somewhat close,” continue with, “Was I off by $1,000 to $1,500?” If the prospect comes back with, “Not close at all,” you continue with, “Was I off by $3,000?” 

The total price of your product will dictate what number you use when responding to the statement that you were somewhat close. For example, for the “somewhat close” response we used $1,000 to $1,500 to represent a product that might sell in the range of $30,000 to $45,000. If your product sells for $500,000 and the prospect tells you you’re somewhat close, that might mean anywhere between $5,000 to $30,000. Everything is relative. Use the lines we’re giving you and plug in numbers that make sense for your product or service. 

Once you’ve asked if you were off by a certain number, the prospect will either respond with a yes or no. If he says no, ask, “Was I was closer than that or further away?” Whatever he says, throw out a number that corresponds with the answer. For example, if he says closer on the 1,000 to 1,500 number say, “Was it only $500?” If he says further away, you would say, “Was it $2,500?” 

Continue in this fashion until you nail down the competition’s price. If the prospect gets tired of answering questions, at least get an affirmative answer to one of your ballpark numbers. By getting a yes, you will at least have a general idea of where the competition stands on price. 

Note: With this technique your approach is very important. You need to be very relaxed both in body posture and the tone of your voice. It also helps if you project an image of being defeated as you ask these questions. If you are too direct and forward with this line of questioning, it may seem like an interrogation. 

* - If you have items in your proposal that typically carry a significantly higher dollar value than the competition, you want to break those items out in your pricing. That way you can point to them specifically, sell their value, and perhaps even remove them if they are a deal breaker and there is no other way around the issue.

Sales training ideas – 5 key areas to look at when competing.

Selling in today’s competitive environment requires us to sell value more than ever. When selling value, you want to focus on five key areas. 

5 pillars of selling value 

1) Product Efficiency

Where is your product or service better, faster, stronger, or more reliable than the competition’s? Does your machine turn out ten widgets per minute as opposed to the competition’s eight widgets? Does your machine have a faster printer or processor? Is there anything that your product produces more quickly than the competition’s product? 

Does your product have better uptime? Is it more reliable? Again, these can’t be vague items; you need to be able to quantify them. For example, if yours has more uptime, what are the actual percentages and how can you document those? What do the percentages mean in bottom-line dollars to the customer? Do your machines average 99.6 percent uptime versus the competition’s 97.2 percent and what are the time and dollar results of that? Are there any areas where your product or service is more reliable than the competition’s? 

Is your laundry service faster? Do you turn around dry cleaning in two days as opposed to three or four? Does your service show results more quickly than other methods available? Can your business deliver pizza in twenty minutes as opposed to thirty-five? If you’re a personal trainer, can you get people the results they’re looking for in six months as opposed to a year? Can you respond quicker and get people going faster? 

Is your product, or any of its parts, stronger or more wear-resistant than the competition’s? Do you use stronger, more wear-resistant steel or other alloy? Can your product handle one million flexes versus the competition’s 750,000? Do you have 1 terabyte of memory versus 500 megabytes? Is the signal on your communications lines stronger? Is anything about your product or service more powerful than the competition’s? 

The bottom line: where is your product or service better, faster, stronger, and/or more reliable? 

2) Your Company’s Efficiency

In what areas is your company more efficient than the competition? Do you fix equipment right the first time versus making two or three trips? Is your response time faster? Do you have a faster repair time? Are your repair people more experienced and better trained? Do you have more support? Are your technicians more customer-friendly? Test the bottom line again: Where is your company faster, better, or more efficient than your competition? 

3) Your Product or Service’s Longevity

Does your product, or anything associated with it, last longer than the competition’s? If so, how much longer? Do your machines last, on average, 33 percent longer than the competition’s machines? Does the motor inside your product last twice as long as the competition’s motor? Do your machine gears last longer? How about your warranty?  

Does your service, or anything associated with it, last longer than the competition’s? Is there any aspect of your cleaning, refurbishing, preparing, or repairing process that outlasts the competition? Do the items you clean stay cleaner longer due to your special process? Do the effects of your restoration process last longer? 

4) Cost

What aspects of your product or service are less expensive than your competition’s? Is the up-front cost of your product or service lower or is the long-term cost lower? Use the advantage you have. If you have both, exploit the heck out of them. 

In what areas is your service saving money for the end user? Does your service replace workers? Are costs such as maintenance, licensing fees, and other expenditures associated with your product or service less than the competition’s? For example, is your annual service contract less expensive? 

How about operating costs? Are less time and maintenance required with your product? Does it take employees less time to complete certain tasks with your machine? Does it take less time to shut down your machine at the end of the day? Does the toner cartridge get changed half as much as with the competition’s product? Do other supplies last longer in your machine and thus require less time and maintenance? Come up with the average amount of time it saves and then assign a dollar value to it based upon the hourly wage of the employee completing the task. 

Is your product or service easier for customers and/or employees to use? Where does this save the customer money and/or headaches? Here you’ll present the tangibles (time and money) and the intangibles (stress, worry, anxiety, etc.). 

If these associated costs are lower than the competition’s, present them to the prospect to consider in addition to the up-front cost of the product or service. 

Note: If your product costs more in any of these areas, why is that the case and are you selling that as a benefit? Do you have the largest service organization in the industry? Do you have a guaranteed response time? If you cost more, there is a reason. Find it and start selling it as added value. 

5) Other Ways in Which Your Product or Service Is Superior

Does it have more bells and whistles, more options, or more flexibility? Is protection of investment somehow built in? In other words, is your product upgradeable, or do you have a trade-in program that allows the present technology to be applied to future technology? In what other ways is your product or service “better” than the competition’s? 

What problems are you helping your customers solve and how are you doing it better than everyone else? Ask your customers this question. Why are they using your product and what do they like best about doing business with you and your company? If you have customers that used the competition, ask what they like better about you. 

What else do you have going for you that the competition does not? Do you have the most experienced, comprehensive support team in the industry? Do you have a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee? Are you the largest company in the industry? Is your company more financially stable than any of your competitors? Do you have the most familiar name in the industry? 

Here are some additional product and service questions to spark more value-building ideas in your imagination: 

• Does your product have fewer moving parts, resulting in fewer things that can go wrong?
• Does your product or service operate differently, making it more efficient, more cost effective, etc.?
• Can your product be upgraded? If you come out with a new feature or function, can that be added to a product your customers bought a year ago, or do they need to buy the new model to get the new feature? 
• Does your product have features that make it more secure and less prone to theft or security breaches such as attacks by hackers? 
• Does your product or service have extra safety features that protect the consumer? 
• Does your product or service exceed industry standards? 
• Is your product or service endorsed by any prominent organizations? 
• Are there any well-known individuals or companies that use your product? Name them, with their permission, of course. As well, use a testimonial and have them on your user list. 
• Has your product or service received any positive press or won any awards? 
• Does your product or service have more flexibility than the competition’s? For example, do you have two types of calling plans while the competition only offers one? Do you offer free additional lines? Can you operate in several different environments with several different frequencies? 
• Is your product easier for physically, visually, auditory, or mentally impaired individuals to use? 
• What individual features on your product or service stand out from the competition’s? Do you have a particular feature that is twice as reliable as the competition’s? 
• Do you use a different technology from the competition, and how is that technology superior? 
• Do you offer more choice? Do you have a more diverse product line or does your product as a whole offer more options? Do you adapt your product to the consumer’s needs or does the consumer have to adapt his or her needs to your product because of a lack of options?  

Note: Your overall objective is to be building and selling value thus doing everything you can to avoid dropping your price. Occasionally you may have to budge a bit on price to get the deal done, but do it only as a last resort. 

Focus on the five areas we’ve just discussed and you will find the road of selling against the competition much easier. And that’s good as competition is one of the most difficult challenges we will face when selling. 

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