march2023 - 34

GO SELL SOMETHING
Selling Against Number One
Somebody is number one, and it is not always you.
It's how you deal with it that sets you apart.
By Alan Sipe, Contributing Editor
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
List the features of the competitive product
and compare your product to theirs.
List them all since knowing even the
smallest detail about the competition
can help you close a sale.
Next, decide and write down what
the benefit is of each of these features
from a user's point of view. Include in
your list both your benefits and theirs.
Remember that a benefit is what each
feature means to the user. Not what is
important to you, but to the person using
the product.
Often at the end of this exercise, you
will discover that feature-for-feature,
your product is equal to or even better
than numero uno. Perhaps they are No. 1
because they have three times as many
jobbers on the road than your brand or
they just do more advertising.
Since you are now an expert on
Ford's F-150 is the top-selling truck in the U.S., with 787,422 units sold in 2022.
I
know you have a truck full of great
products, but alas, each of those
products is not the best in each
product class. In each category or
subcategory, there is some manufacturer
with a better product or
one that is at least perceived as the
best. Whether it is an impact wrench,
screwdriver, pliers, storage, or hardtoe
shoes, somebody is No. 1, and it
is not always you!
When this happens, do you just fold
up your tent and not try to sell your version?
No way! You still need to make a
living. Look at the chart on the next page
from Kelley Blue Book highlighting estimated
pickup truck sales in 2022.
Not surprisingly, the Ford F-150
continues to be the No. 1 truck at an
estimated 787,422 units. In fact, the
F-150 Lightning was just announced as
the 2023 Truck-of-the-Year by Motor
Trend. Yet, when you look deeper, at the
second through eighth-ranked trucks,
these manufacturers sell 2,237,197 units.
Even though the F-150 is No. 1 in
units, it is only 26 percent of the total
truck market, leaving 74 percent for
everybody else. Even Cadillac has a
pickup priced over $100,000!
Let's talk about how to successfully
approach this situation and sell
what you've got when your product is
not No. 1.
First and most importantly, learn
everything you can about your main
competitor's product. Primarily
because the more you know about their
product, the better you can compete,
and secondarily when a prospect makes
some outlandish claim about No. 1, you
can graciously help them with the correct
information.
" I think if you look at the towing
capacity on a base F-150, the rating is
14,000 lbs, not 24,000 lbs. "
" It might sound nice that the XYZ
angle grinder has 16,000 rpms, but
actually, most grinding wheels are only
designed for under 13,000 rpms. "
34 Professional Distributor I March 2023 I VehicleServicePros.com
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Put your demonstration together in
logical order presenting your product
features and benefits in order of usage.
Build up to the big points as you go. This
way, you will get your prospect thinking
positively about your product on the less
important points. This helps when the
points where you may not be the product
leader come up, so you at least have a
good feeling started.
Where your product isn't the leader,
be prepared to disarm it. Let's say the
leading cordless impact wrench has
1,400 ft-lbs or torque, and yours has
1,000 ft-lbs. Theirs is $295, and yours
is $250.
The presentation might go like this:
" The 500 ft-lb units are mostly for
DIY users. As a professional, your selection
should be made based on the work
you do. Don't you think? "
" Since you work primarily on passenger
vehicles and light trucks, your
both your product and theirs, you can
put together a superior presentation and
close more sales.
Jonathan Weiss | Dreamstime.com
http://www.Dreamstime.com http://www.VehicleServicePros.com
march2023

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