Wired for Sales

Selling supplies to a manufacturing plant is nothing like selling a hammer at your favorite local hardware store. The major difference is that our strategy is a long-term and ongoing flow of interactions each building on the next. Let’s explore this a bit.

In most instances, the industrial sales cycle is lengthy, taking months or even years. Meanwhile, the sale of the hammer involves a single decision-maker, and the cycle can be measured in minutes. Industrial selling, when done properly, involves multiple decision-makers. Engineers, maintenance technicians, procurement teams, production groups, safety managers, and top executives all play in the relationship and purchasing behavior.

Each of these buying influences has different concerns. Whether it be technical compatibility, ease of maintenance, ability to impact production, financial feasibility, or operational efficiency, each person has a separate set of needs.

In the best of cases, industrial suppliers establish a solution-selling culture where individual products take a backseat to a customer-specific, tailored solution. This is difficult and because of the complexity, the industrial sales team must act as de facto consultants, guiding the customer through technical evaluations, ROI calculations, and integration planning.

Along with the complexity comes expense. Industrial sales teams often consist of salespeople, technical specialists, application engineers, and other skilled workers – all of which are expensive and time-consuming. Our consultative nature requires salespeople to become experts not only on the products but also on the way a customer applies them.

Based on customer needs, we sometimes research areas that do not turn into sales. Many of the best sellers in our market will often suggest a solution not provided by their company. I support this practice because it builds customer trust and intimacy, but no money exchanges hands. When a customer purchases a new solution from the supplier, industrial suppliers provide technical support and training, which often does not incur a fee.

Our pricing is flexible and often negotiable. Deals are structured around volumes, long-term contracts, and added services. Salespeople justify their prices with detailed proposals, case studies, and technical rationales. In the best of scenarios, the conversation is centered around value rather than cost. This process is tailored to the customer’s needs, based on an understanding of the solution’s technology, applications, and the benefits it provides.

I’ll sum all of this up in three short thoughts:

1 The sales cycle for our kind of sales is long. From the time we identify a potential customer till everything falls into place and the customer begins to make a significant, ongoing profit contribution is probably measured in years.

2 Throughout the process we expend a great deal of time, effort, energy, and expense. The costs of merely earning the right to quote some of the earliest opportunities cost more than the profits generated for a significant time.

3 The pricing is flexible, and to be of value to us as the seller, the customer must recognize and respect the value we provide. If the customer does not recognize the value we bring or is greedy in their negotiating approach, we may lose money even if we win the order.

Let’s ponder these points. The primary goal of our selling efforts is to build a long and profitable relationship with our customers. Most of us can identify customers who purchase a lion’s share of their needs from our organization. These customers depend on our products, services, and ultimately our brand of solutions as a tool for enhancing their organization. To grow, we need to find new customers willing to make this long and expensive journey.

At the same time, most sales teams struggle to explain precisely how or why these relationships developed. Given the three points mentioned above, wouldn’t it be wise for sellers to think strategically about achieving their goals? Would mapping out a process for your company’s efforts be worthwhile? How might you measure where you are in the journey? Could management train and/or coach sellers to accelerate the speed of customer conversion?

Sometimes being wired for sales means rewiring our thoughts. I have a simple three-question test to see how strategically your sellers think about accounts. Email me and I’ll share it: frank@riverhieghtsconsulting.com.