Writing the Winning Quote

Four sales people vying for the same account. One of them is you. How do you win the deal? Quick and thorough communication of your solutions though your presentation can make the difference. Presenting a powerful sales report, proposal or quotation is key to the success of your sales.

Respond quickly.
Speed is impressive. Customers reason that the salesperson who responds quickly is part of an organization that will also respond quickly to support its products after the sale. In many selling situations, the urge to buy fades when the customer moves on to other challenges. For example, new demands on the customer's budget soak up the money that had been allocated for your sale, or the customer literally forgets why he was so interested in your products and services in the first place.

Produce a professional-looking quotation.
I'm astonished at how many salespeople still produce hand-written quotations. Your most important brand is the company you represent, and your quote is your best chance to promote that brand. Include your logo and your company's unique selling proposition. You can even add an extract from your company history or mission statement. In the bland, impersonal world of price comparison, a professional-looking quote provides personality, inspires confidence, and may make the marginal difference that closes your sale.

Identify "focus" and "margin" items.
Every industry has a handful of items on which most purchasing agents focus. These items are the most popular, price-sensitive items that are often sold at or below cost. If your prices are out of the ballpark on focus items, your quote might not even be considered; if you're selling to a new account, great prices on focus items can get you in the door. Of course, if you only sell focus items, your company will go bankrupt, so you've got to know which products to price aggressively and which to price for profit.

Sell the benefits of margin items
Even when purchasing agents are involved, important purchases are often overseen by committees of solution-oriented executives who will evaluate your quote. Your competitors will probably focus their selling fire power on the products with which your customers are already familiar: the focus items. Since everybody's familiar with these products, it's easy to promote them. You really need to promote the ancillary items which improve your solution, and pay your commissions. Point out special benefits to margin items such as "Saves time by increasing system throughput by 5.5%" or "Can save thousands of dollars in future liabilities by adding an extra level of security."

Create innovative solutions through Menu Selling.
Most salespeople today sell a "system" of products that work together to provide the best solution. Why not offer several solutions in two or three quotes? (Customers will usually buy the one in the middle.) We call this Menu Selling: "Here's the best price on exactly what you requested, here's my recommended solution, and here's the very best you can get." Some salespeople go straight to their own recommendations, but that doesn't respond to the customer's request. With menu selling, your next question should be, "Which of these systems would you like to buy from me today?"

Use a picture.
With today's inexpensive digital cameras, scanners, and Internet downloads, it's easy for anyone to provide a picture of a key product on a quote cover page. Pictures help to fuel the customer's imagination and make your quote more memorable.

Put your phone number and e-mail address on every page.
Pages get separated and lost. Customers may have questions while reviewing page 5. Make it easy for them reach you.

Provide a convincing level of detail.
Most accounting systems provide a scant 40 or 60 characters to describe an item. That's hardly enough to identify the product, and not nearly enough to get a customer interested in a product. Too little information makes customers feel uneasy about their purchase. A good description generates confidence in you and in your products and services, and it also ensures that your customer understands what he is purchasing. (The only thing worse than losing a sale is having to eat the loss on a delivered sale.) Thorough descriptions also differentiate your quote. Remember the drop of "Retsin" in Certs? That little drop of vegetable oil is pretty insignificant to the customer, but hugely important to Cert's bottom line because it differentiated Certs from a thousand other mints.

Standardize your disclaimers.
A proper disclaimer on a quote tells customers that you're thoughtful. It can also increase your sales, and save a lot of grief in the future. For instance, computer buyers have a habit of saying, "It's your fault that I lost all my data because you didn't tell me to buy (pick one) a tape backup, anti-virus software, or a surge suppresser." A standard disclaimer on every quote can note, "For your protection, we recommend --."

Provide an Acceptance Box.
Give your customer a chance to say "Yes!" by including an Acceptance Box with your fax number at the end of the quotation: "I accept the terms of this quotation." This is a written way of asking for the sale.

E-Mail your quote.
Companies are finding that customers who won't respond to mail, voice mail, or faxes, will respond quickly to an e-mail. It's faster and more efficient than most other forms of communicating. The standard for e-mail documents is Adobe's Acrobat Reader, a free program that your customers probably already own, or can download from www.adobe.com. Just attach your quotes to e-mail as an Acrobat document.

Call for clarification.
The best customers are always impressed by thorough follow-up. I'm surprised at how many salespeople say, "She knows what she wants. I don't want to bother her." The slightest miscommunication can derail your sale. Plus, if you don't call back, you lose your chance to get "mind share" with the customer. If three or four competitors are vying for a sale, the frequent caller has the edge even if it's only to leave a daily voice mail with some new comment about the benefits of your products and serv ices. One successful salesperson says, "If they've made me go to the trouble of generating a quote, they owe me a response. Either they buy from me, or they tell me why they bought it somewhere else."

Ask for criticism.
Ask customers who don't buy from you, "What didn't you like about my quotation? Was there something special that might have made a difference or that my competitor communicated?" If you continually improve your quoting approach by adjusting for customer criticism, you will have a highly effective quotation format in just a few weeks.

Quote often.
It's often said that "Sales is a numbers game." The more your quote, the more you'll sell. Too many salespeople fixate on a particularly deal, and that prevents them from working on more deals at the same time. While it's important to maximize your effectiveness, there are many factors that you can't influence or even be aware of, such as: your competitor is the customer's brother-in-law or neighbor. Your best chance for success is to quote more often.
Quoting is only part of a complete sales automation system,
but if you quote effectively and often,
you're sure to increase your sales.

About the Author

Glenn Paul, is the president of qwikquote. To Visit his website see details below.



http://www.qwikquote.com