ARTICLES Problem Customers: Proven Solutions For Dealing With Price Grinders, Complainers And Other Tough Customers According to Josh Gordon, a magazine space salesman based in Brooklyn, New York, any salesperson can deal with any customer, even when the customer is one of the 20 most difficult. In his new book, Tough Calls: Selling Strategies To Win Over Your Most Difficult Customers (Amacom Publishing, $17.95), Gordon details the best responses to every type of challenging customer. The book is a revelation, according to Gordon, because virtually every book on sales is written from the perspective of the salesperson. "But selling is about clients, not about salespeople," Gordon says of the selling process. "I wanted to write about client behavior and turn the whole equation around." Gordon's book, based on surveys of nearly 200 salespeople, including Selling Power subscribers, identifies 20 different types of problem clients - from "grinds you on price" to "buys elsewhere due to company politics" - and offers specific strategies for selling to them. When selling to price grinders, the most common type of problem client, don't discuss price first, because the benefits of your product will get lost, Gordon cautions. "You never sell value when you talk about price." Whenever a price grinder discusses a competitor's price, you should "take it with a grain of salt," Gordon notes. "Maybe it's true, but maybe it's part of a negotiating position." As for specific sales strategies for price grinders, you could concede the lower price but ask for something else in return, like a bigger order. Once you do, you'll either get the bigger order or be able to sell at the original price, Gordon explains. And if you concede the price, you should also ask for an immediate sale. "Close on it by asking the question, 'If I can get you this price, will you buy today?'" Gordon recommends. For selling to a client who states company politics as a reason for not buying, Gordon has a number of innovative strategies, including making your product "travel politically" by tailoring its benefits to the client's concerns. If that fails, Gordon suggests creating the illusion that you're politically connected by having your boss call on your client's boss or even sending memos to the top personnel at the client's company, including the president. In addition to providing strategies for dealing with problem clients, Gordon's book also offers information about clients, based on his surveys. Among the most interesting findings: About one out of every six clients (17.4%) is a problem client. People who sell mainly to Fortune 500 companies encounter twice as many problem clients (26% vs. 13.9%). Financial service clients are more problematic than physical product clients (20.4% vs. 15.8%). Consultative selling breeds more problem clients than "closer" selling (21.9% vs. 10.8%). Experienced salespeople report a greater level of stress from problem clients than beginners (37.2% vs. 23.2%). Men and women salespeople find different kinds of problem clients to be the most stressful (Men: client who lies to you; Women: client who complains about everything). Problem clients can be good for business. (Companies with the biggest sales increase had 20.6% problem clients; companies with no increase had 11.9%.)
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