What Percent of Businesses Will Pay 1 Cent Extra for a Pound of Gold Over a Pound of Lead

After decades selling everything from cookware to software that fully installed is 3/4s of a billion dollars, I am sure the answer is a smaller percent than you think.

In the market, today lead is $.80 per pound and the gold price is $18,592.00.

So, the question is what % of business will pay $.81 for a pound of gold?

The reason for the question is, so many selling organizations go into the market and shout that we can save you money.  If you just give me money now, I will give you something that will save you money tomorrow.

Yet, what the buyer hears is Wimpy’s famous promise “I will Gladly Pay You Never for a Hamburger Right Now”!

There is a lot going on here.  For the last 150 years buyers have learned not to trust sales persons.

Buyers are so tired of the “sales pitch” backed up by the hollow promise or guarantee, that the buyer stops listening within a few minutes or maybe a few seconds.

Buyers have a lot going on.  They need something more than a shiny object.  They have an important problem now or on the horizon or they would not be listening.

The buyer has a problem to solve and to the buyer the problem is real, requiring a real solution.

If the buyer knew everything they needed to solve the problem, they would be on Amazon placing an order right now, not locked up with a sales person they don’t trust.

The buyer has been burned so often and so completely that when presented with $.81 for a pound of gold, they often dismiss the whole conversation as another way to be burned.  Most of the time the buyer’s problem is not solved by whatever gold the seller has, so even if the story was true it would not fix what the buyer needs fixed.

So, if you want to really give the buyer gold for the price of lead or to solve a buyer problem worth as much as the gold, learn how to make it easy for the buyer to find the precious   solution.

1. Make it easy for the buyer to find the problem they have that we “really” specialize in solving.
2. Help the buyer research if you are the seller who understands the problem the way the buyer understands.
3. Give the buyer ways to explore (online, in person, references, blogs, etc.) how you will make the problem go away.
4. Set expectations for how a relationship between buyer and seller will work.
5. Be there when the buyer wants or needs to talk to someone focused on the buyer’s problem.
6. Have a Joint SOW (Statement of Work) process that will address business and technical issues to be sure both buyer and seller understand the problem, the solution, and the metrics the same way.
7. After the Joint SOW, preview for the buyer what their world will be like with the problem gone.
8. At this point both parties clearly see the value given and the value to be paid so the gold will not have to be discounted by $18,591.20.

Today the selling CEOs believe what they sell has great value.  Their sales person promises gold for lead plus a penny and both the buyer and the seller are disappointed.  Maybe the worst thing is that the buyer still has the problem and now they have a bad taste in their mouth.

Deploy these 8 steps to help both parties realize the true value given and paid for.  Make the process easy, buyer friendly and integrity based, to form a partnership that will last even as the price of gold and lead change.