[경영]고객들은 당신의 판매 전화에 돈을 지불하는가?

Would Customers Pay for Your Sales Calls?

by Scott Edinger  |  11:00 AM March 5, 2013

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/would_customers_pay_for_your_sales_calls.html

When I speak to audiences of sales professionals and ask, "How many of you sell value versus price?" everyone raises their hand. But my next question "So how do you do that?" is frequently followed by an uncomfortable silence. Many consider themselves to be value sellers but few are able to articulate what that really means.

In the simple economics 101 definition, value equals benefits minus cost: V=B-C. If you follow the logic of that equation, then, selling value means creating some benefit through the sales process beyond that provided by the product or service itself. My former boss and sales guru Neil Rackham has a simple test for this: He asks, "Would your customer write you a check for the sales call?" That is, did your salespeople do something on the call valuable enough for your customers to pay you for?

If they didn't, the only way you can profit from your sales operation is by reducing costs. That's why all my efforts to make sales teams more effective have focused on increasing not just the value of the offering but the value of the sales call itself. To do that I encourage them to move down the continuum from transactional to consultative relationships. Here's how:

Help clients see issues they hadn't considered. The best salespeople I've worked with do an extraordinary job of this. And they don't do it simply by lecturing the client about the problems they see. They do it through a process of mutual diagnosis. In these instances, the seller leads a dialogue with the client about her business, offering diagnoses as the conversation progresses.

Help clients examine issues they thought were benign, but aren't. When I interview clients about their sales relationships, they frequently tell me that they greatly value the ability of their reps to help them make a case for change. They do that by helping clients see the effect of a problem on the organization. A seller may help a client to see that a morale problem, for instance, which right now is only causing modest employee turnover, is having a tremendously negative impact on recruitment and productivity that will eventually become highly problematic. Again, this is not done through lecturing, but rather through the course of conversations in which seller and buyer explore the impact of a given situation together to determine the implications for the business. 

Help clients see opportunities they'd missed. Sales-training programs rightly focus on finding clients' "pain points." But great salespeople also know there's value in pointing out successes waiting to be exploited. Surely, creating value in the sales process is as much about raising the bar as it is about solving problems. In fact, untapped opportunity may be even more important as organizations seek to grow in this perpetually tough economic environment. Jointly discovering such opportunities through the course of back-and-forth conversation makes it less likely that a client will react defensively to something he perhaps should have already known and more likely that he will embrace both the opportunities — and the messenger that helped to uncover them.

Help clients address problems with solutions they hadn't considered. Of course, at some point your, products and services have to come into the picture. When they do, the best sellers position them, not as a series of features and benefits, but as solutions that address the expressed needs of the client. Positioning products and services as a solution is not a new idea by any stretch, but the key to creating value is to do so in a way that the client has not considered. I bought a new air-conditioning system last year. I hadn't considered upgrading the heat pump in my system. But with the help of the representative, I came to realize that the new system wouldn't lower my winter heating bills without one. The power of the a-ha moment here can't be understated when the client says, "I hadn't thought about it that way!" Few clients will know everything your offering can do or all its potential applications, so finding a way to uniquely address their expressed need is a powerful thing indeed.

Help clients connect with additional support resources. As the old saying goes, "When you sell hammers, every problem looks like a nail." But you can't win 'em all; not every client will actually be a good match with what you're offering right now. Still, that doesn't mean that you can't create additional value for them. Perhaps you can provide connections to others in your organization that could help a client think through a complex issue, or make referrals to outsiders who can get her what she truly needs. You'll still get the credit for helping the client — and this can help both of you over time.

At the end of the day, selling is about improving the client's condition with your organization's products and services. The sales professionals who understand how to do that — who help buyers find real value through the selling process using these methods — sell more and command a premium for their offerings.

요약

많은 판매 전문가들은 그들 스스로를 가치 있는 판매가라고 여기지만, 그것이 정말로 무엇을 의미하는 지를 명확히 말할 수 있는 사람은 없다. 경제학의 정의에서 가치는 혜택에서 비용을 뺀 값이다. 그렇다면 판매 가격은 제품이나 서비스에 제공되는 판매 과정을 통한 혜택을 창출한 것을 의미한다. 그렇다면, 당신의 판매원들은 당신의 고객들이 지불할만한 가치가 있는 전화를 하는가? 그렇지 않다면, 비용을 감소시키는 것이 판매 운영에서 수익을 창출할 수 있는 유일한 방법이다. 그렇게 하기 위해서는 거래 관계가 아닌 상담의 관계가 되어야 한다. 

 고려하지 않았던 문제를 고객이 보도록 도와라. 고객에게 설교하는 것이 아닌 상호진단 과정을 통해 고객과의 대화를 이끌어라.

 고객이 문제가 되지 않는다고 생각하지만 문제가 되는 문제를 검토할 수 있도록 도와라. 즉, 설교하는 것이 아닌 판매원과 고객이 함께 주어진 상황을 검토할 수 있도록 대화를 하라.

 고객이 놓진 기회를 알려 주어라. 판매 과정에서 가치를 창출하는 것은 문제를 해결하는 것만큼 기대치를 높여주는 것이다. 대화를 통해 기회를 모색하는 것은 고객이 이미 알고 있는 것에 대해 방어적으로 반응하지는 않을 것이며, 기회와 기회를 알려준 전달자를 포용할 것이다. 

 고객이 생각하지 못했던 해결책으로 문제를 해결해 주어라. 거의 고객들은 당신이 제공할 수 있는 모든 것을 모를 것이다. 그들의 니즈를 충족시킬 수 있는 것을 찾는 것이 강력한 것이다.

 고객을 추가 지원 자원과 연결시켜 주어라. 당신은 모든 것을 고객에게 제공할 수 없다. 고객을 도울 수 있는 당신의 조직 내 다른 이들에게 연결은 해줄 수 있을 것이다. 당신은 여전히 고객을 돕는 데 신뢰를 얻을 수 있을 것이다.

 판매는 당신의 제품과 서비스로 고객의 상태를 향상시키는 것이다.