A study of 64 companies was conducted to ascertain what was the reason for dropping a supplier or vendor. Guess what? The number one reason wasn’t price. Have a look at the statistics: 8.1% of the time price was an issue. But what of the remaining 92%? It was startling to Sales Trainer discover that 70.2% of the time a supplier was dropped, it was because of delivery issues. The customer did not get their item in a timely manner, the item arrived damaged or the item was missing something. 9.4% dealt with the quality of the product received whereas 6.2% dealt with the service. The remaining 6% changed because their suppliers went out of business.
The third sales trainer issue deals with delivery. Prospects and customers have a very low tolerance for the reasons why you ruined their order. UPS strike, warehouse error, illness or medical emergencies are all your problem. Prospects and clients don’t want to hear your excuses because they don’t care.
One thing is certain. If you fail to deliver as promised, you will surely lose your customers. On the other hand, if you are there to remedy the client’s issue with the faulty delivery, you’ll gain clients. This is the quickest way you can take business away from someone whom you are competing against. Be there when they screw up their delivery.
Many companies are run poorly. They are disorganized, dysfunctional, and make all kinds of mistakes. They don’t have systems and processes in place like a FedEx does to prevent things from getting lost or resulting in delivery issues.
As a sales trainer, I can confidently say that many companies, particularly smaller companies, are run by the seat-of-their-pants. If you dig deep enough as a salesperson, identifying potential delivery issues is not challenging. It won’t be very hard for you to find situations in which delivery is an issue.
Delivery can be described as either properly done or not. Once you have analyzed and digested this information, you will clearly see that price isn’t as important as you may think. If I do not provide you with overwhelming proof to dispel the myth of price, then I have failed you as a sales trainer.
I’ve made it my personal mission as a sales trainer to provide you the information to grasp truth..