It’s not really when you know how to do it. Unfortunately, many salespeople have a distinct weakness when it comes to even broaching this topic with a prospect. This weakness leads to compounded expenses in that the salesperson will typically invest time and resources on a prospect who will disappear at the first discussion of price. Many salespeople are aware of this fact so they deem it best to avoid the money topic all together with the hope they can persuade the prospect with an extended dog-and-pony show.
The entire sordid affair feeds upon itself.
The costs here can be enormous. I’m of the belief that a salesperson’s greatest asset is his or her time. In sales, time cuts two ways. First, investing inordinate amounts of time with unqualified prospects is a backbreaker. Yet, the larger loss here comes from Econ 101 – opportunity cost. That wasted time could have been spent with a qualified prospect; a prospect who could have become a customer. Worse yet, that prospect may have selected your competitor during that time.
How can you put a number on that situation?
I bring this topic up because you must be attuned to it during the hiring process. Unfortunately, many hiring managers harbor a similar money weakness. These managers are “put-off” by candidate who actually attempt to qualify compensation during the hiring process.
I admit, there are some candidates who are clumsy with this topic. There are others whom approach it in a poor manner (i.e. before qualifying the position fully). However, I always prefer a sales candidate who qualify this topic early in the hiring process. This willingness to engage in the money topic is the first sign that they will qualify money with prospects.
We have one customer who, despite our pleading, put a somewhat vague offer together for one of our sales candidates. The candidate accepted the offer after generally qualifying it with our customer. In the time leading up to his hire, he pursued the topic with our customer in more specific terms.
Our customer was somewhat disappointed with this approach. We have explained to him that this is good sales behavior. Our customer left some money-related items purposely vague and our strong salesperson is qualifying him to get to absolute clarity. This behavior is exactly what our customer will expect from the new salesperson as he qualifies prospects in his new role. Irony at it’s finest.
And yes, our customer has a well-developed money weakness.