Sales Training Series #24

Insights from recent trainings

Welcome back to another Sales Training series!

These posts give you access to some of the key insights I give clients during our trainings.

Note: I intentionally keep the descriptions vague for privacy reasons.

---

What we’re covering in this post:

- Differentiating in highly commoditized markets

- Why “yapping” can work really well.. for some

- 4 Reframes you can use to defend against a Commodity and Prize Frame

- Examples of leverage points to Raise the stakes in a deal

---

Differentiation in Highly Commoditized markets

In my cartoon opinion, selling a consumer SaaS is more similar to B2C than it is to B2B for a few reasons:

• Low price points

• Transactional (Less importance on relationships)

• High velocity / volume

• only 1-2 decision makers

That’s pretty much B2C innit?

**This includes selling for an Enterprise Software company but having to sell into emerging markets / micro businesses instead of up market.

Chad note: If this is you, I wouldn’t get too comfortable in this role. I’d be looking to move up market ASAP because I believe these roles will eventually transform into account manager & e-commerce GTM motions (less commission and job security as a consequence)

—

I did a consult with an AE who is in this exact situation selling compliance solutions to emerging markets (1-50 employees) .. many of which are in the 1-10 bucket (micro-businesses)

His current close rate is 35%.. which isn’t bad.

He was perplexed at how his colleague has a 70% close rate while “breaking all the rules”

I asked:

“What do you notice she does differently in her sales meetings?”

>“She’s a total yapper.. she talks like 85% of the time.. it’s insane”

Ah… a yapper!

It’s always perplexing (and frustrating) to see a colleague crush it despite “breaking all the rules”

“WTF am I doing wrong??” is the root of the frustration.

More on that in a bit.

—

One of his biggest challenges is breaking out of the Commodity Frame.

Differentiating his products value in a highly commoditized space is challenging when you have many competitors with:

• Similar websites

• Similar features

• Similar functionality

• Even a few competitors with similar sounding company names!

**This should be a red flag for any seller looking to join a new company.

I asked him what makes his solution different than his competitors and he said it came down to quality of support.

That’s pretty much it.. everything else is comparable.

Chad note: Another red flag! The product you sell should be different in a few areas that are important to, or perceived valuable by your buyers!

So knowing all of this now is it any surprise that buyers are hitting him with tough Frames like:

“We’re looking for something cheap to help us with…”

“We need to get this done as fast as possible.. as easily as possible.. and as cheap as possible…”

“[Competitor] quoted us at [cheaper price].. why are you guys more expensive?”

“How are you different than X, Y, and Z? You guys all look the same to me”

Chad Maxim #162: Operating in highly commoditized markets put you at a disadvantage before even speaking with the buyer.

Most sellers make the mistake of responding directly to what the buyer says instead of the Framing of the buyers message.

Addressing a Frame is critical because Frames are how meaning is packaged.

So respond all you want to the content of a message.. but if the Framing is not addressed.. then your response will fail to Reframe the perspective / dynamic.

Related reading:

The Art of Reframing

Strategy #1: Reframe at all costs!

Let’s start by Reframing the top 3-4 things his buyers tell him.

+ Audio version of each reframe

Reframe 1

“We’re looking for something cheap to help us with…”

🤡: Well we’re definitely not the cheapest I can tell you that.. I think it would be really helpful to understand more about what you’re looking for and then we can see if can help you!

🐲: Okay.. I hear you.. unfortunately, we’re not the cheapest. Far from it actually we’re more on the premium side in our space. I can save you a lot of time and tell you that we’re probably going to be more than you want to invest.

^ Additional context: This is a more aggressive Reframe in response to the word “cheap”.. the reason being is that if I don’t reject this Frame, the label of “Cheap” will erode the deal terms & dynamics.