Page 92 - 25148.pdf

80 • The 100 Greatest Ideas for Building the Business of Your Dreams

with the current levels of stock. Don't make it worse.' The benefit of improved stock
control for sales directors comes from increased sales caused by the better availabil-
ity of stock due to the new investment.

In actuality the benefits will be a mixture of the two, decreased stocks in some
areas and more sales in others. Perhaps the mixture is the right way to sell to the
managing director.

Don't forget that benefits have a personal edge. Selling a big productivity hike
to the person in charge of the people who will be let go as the result of your project
is probably not good tactics, unless you show that you and your company can bring
real help to him or her as they face the redundant staff and their loss of empire.

Keep asking the 'so-what?' question:

• My solution has this feature. So what?
• You will be able to make do with one truck less. So what?
• Your people will get more job satisfaction if they do it this way. So what?

It is the answer to this question, in relation solely to the person you are talking to,
that identifies the real benefit of your proposal.

Idea 52 - Qualification is a continuous process

There is a Chinese proverb that states, 'Before you decide where you want to go and
how you are going to get there, make sure you know exactly where you are now.' In
business-to-business selling you have to add, 'and make sure everyone involved
agrees'. Your requirement is to produce a template of the feelings and situation of a
customer who will buy from you. The process to do this is qualification. It is more
complex than qualifying a consumer prospect, but it is as important to do it in team
planning as it is to check that your prospect has a dog if you are selling pet insur-
ance.