Break the Toy

Every product or service has its limitations – Find them to improve your sales

Well, it’s Christmas time and I thought I’d tell a little Christmas Story from long ago about a young child named Christy. Now Christy wasn’t your average 8-year-old. Yes, she loved to play with toys, but she had a unique talent for quickly breaking all her toys. If the toy had a lever, Christy pulled the lever until it broke. If the toy had a button, she pushed it until she could push it no more. She was enthralled by learning and uncovering every feature on her new toys. She also enjoyed taking her toys apart and understanding completely how they worked. Her only problem was putting them back together correctly, which resulted in a house full of broken toys. Unhappy with her own toys or after all her toys were broken, Christy would frequently start this process with her brother’s toys.

How is this story helping me sell? Read on. Let’s fast forward twenty years and Christy is now in her second job out of college. Selling agronomy products and services suit her perfectly. There are more products and services to push, pull and tear apart than she can accomplish in a lifetime. When precision ag came out, Christy was all over it. New software is like a Christmas present to her. There are options to pick from, tables to create, reports to generate, data to upload, download and Yes, she’s even figured out a way to break almost every program she’s given.

Within days, she finds out what the program will or won’t do. She finds out if it lives up to all the promises that were made by the software company that sold it. She finds the limitations, but most importantly, she figures out how to best use it on the farm with her customers. And this is what makes Christy so unique.

She doesn’t just take the software companies brochure out to a customer and regurgitate what she heard. She’s already plugged in a customer and their information, ran reports, played with the settings to make sure it’s usable and prepared herself for all the major questions a customer might have. If she finds a benefit that is being misrepresented or overinflated by the vendor’s marketing, Christy is quick to bring this to her customer’s attention. Setting this expectation ahead of time with her customers results in fewer complaints and fewer cancellations on programs. More importantly, it builds trust with her customers.

As a sales manager, if I want to know how a program works in real life on the farm or I want to evaluate how we sell it, Christy is one of the first people I call. Sure, I call the software company and check with them. However, they are producing a generic product that fits many companies or industries. Christy has figured out how this product works in our industry for our customers.

Did I mention how unique Christy is? Sure, I did. The reason is that as a sales coach on ride alongs, I have painfully sat by and watched salespeople sell a product they do not know how to use. The worst is not knowing the basic functions or the basic features/benefits. You’re better off not even pulling the brochure out if you haven’t done your homework. You don’t have to know every single thing before you position it to a customer, but you certainly should know; the basic features, how it is priced, how the customer will benefit from it and by all means the ROI on it.

Someday soon, you are going to be in a meeting and learning about a new product or service. It might even be software or better yet, new hardware. Think of it like Christy would and break it. Push every button, pull every lever, click on every button or function. Figure it out on the prototype or the free promo version from the vendor. That’s why they brought it. Don’t let them run the controls. Get your meat hooks on the product and try it out for yourself. You don’t want your first solo on a product to be in front of a customer. That’s when I hear the salesperson say, “Um, er, let’s see, which function shows me your data?” Before long, the customer is disinterested and the sale is lost.

In summary, Christy outsold her peers. Except for those that respected her abilities and sought out her help. She was more than happy to network and learn together as a sales team.

Special note: For those of us that didn’t grow up with computers and who might be a little fearful that you will break or ruin something if you hit a button or click on a function, click on it anyway! Quit waiting to be told how to use the program and just click on it. If you really want to feel comfortable, ask how you can get in a completely “Dummy” or “Test” mode on the program. That way, anything you do will not be permanent.

Another special note from your customer: We understand that it’s a new program and you might not know how to use it completely. Just quit telling us every five seconds that you don’t know how to use it! This often happens on webinars. Webinar software is not the easiest in the world to use. Often, I watch as the facilitator continuously stumbles around and explains their lack of knowledge of the program. Letting the audience know one time is sort of acceptable. Just remember, we joined the webinar for the content, not to hear you explain your lack of knowledge.

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