Why You Should Avoid a Profit-First Mentality in Sales
Shawn Casemore
Keynote Speaker, Sales Kickoff Speaker, Sales Training, Sales Coaching. ?? Enabling B2B Sales Leaders and Sales Teams to Achieve Unstoppable Sales?. ??Author of The Unstoppable Sales Machine.??
Late last year we decided to trade in my wife’s car. After some searching, we decided on a brand and model, and I reached out to a couple of dealerships to find one in stock.
Our local dealer had the exact car we were searching for already on order, so we finalized a deal and waited a few weeks for the car to arrive.
Since we do a lot of driving, I let the salesperson know we would likely put on another 4,000 km by the time our new car arrived, to which she responded it wouldn’t be a problem. However, if we put another 10,000 km on, it would lead to a $1,000 reduction in the trade-in value.
The day arrived to pick up our new car, and since I was out of town, my wife stopped into the dealership to make the exchange. When the sales manager saw we had put just over 4,000 km on the car, he told my wife they were going to give us $500 less than they had originally offered on trade.?
Long story short, my wife called me, I called the dealership, and I had a lengthy discussion with the sales manager. To my surprise, he believed this change to be fair.?
The sales manager was using a profit-first approach to the sale, looking for ways to maximize profit in the moment, rather than taking a long-term view of each customer relationship.
When you sell something that has a slow turn (for example, most people buy a car every two to five years), a profit-first mentality can seem lucrative.?
After all, the chances that you will be in the same job, at the same company, selling the same products when that customer returns to make their next buy can seem slim.
However, this short-sighted view can have long-term consequences.
For example, in the moment, I was ready to walk from the deal because he had changed our initial agreement.
But suppose I couldn’t walk and was forced to take it. What would be the potential impacts on the dealership?
In sales, a profit-first mentality is short-sighted and detrimental to your success over the long term.
Unfortunately, this behaviour can often be the result of interpreting “hit sales targets at all costs” pressures from above.
Instead, you need to take a long-term view of each prospect and customer relationship.
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When you do, you’ll not only sleep better at night, but you’ll enjoy the fruits of repeat customers, referrals, and even higher sales over the long term.
Best,
Shawn
P.S. I’m looking for people to post reviews of my books on Amazon. If you are interested in a FREE copy of either The Unstoppable Sales Machine or The Unstoppable Sales Team, send an email to [email protected] and I’ll explain the details.
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