The cost of doing nothing!

How often if ever do you bring up in your sales talk the cost to the prospect of doing nothing? -Houston

Frequently. You have freedom of choice but not freedom of consequences. -AZBroker

My guess is that I bring up the cost of status quo around 10% of the time. The reason is I rarely extend myself into a conversation unless I'm fairly sure the person has weighted that, is sitting on a nail that hurts and knows the cost of not doing something different.

Once upon a time I spent maybe 50 - 70% of the time talking about the cost of doing nothing and lots of other considerations AND that kind of comparison did bring in some business. BUT over time my records showed - my wife and I keep very detailed records - most of those people eventually quit ordering.

Short term income didn't equal long term income in those cases because they didn't continue ordering monthly. Over the past three or four years we've done more screening and disqualification and the outcome has been less immediate dollars BUT more month after month ordering including case lots.

That's how we continue to work as the old cliche goes "if it's not broke don't fix it."

MitchM -MitchM

Here is a mundane comment about your question; In B2B this may be the only real benefit. I assure you, the end of this reply will not be so mundane!

I mean, come on, if you have 5 copiers in your office and I am trying to sell you copiers how am I going to offer much of a benefit? Every copier has similar features for about two decades now. They all make copies ... and I cannot increase efficiency, so .. what then?

Now I don't sell copiers any more, haven't for 15 years, though I know friends who I talk to who are still in that industry. Anyway, money is money, technology is technology, copiers with collators and stapling are just copiers with collators and stapling.

What is the advantage then of reviewing your 5 copiers one year before the end of a 5 year contract? Imagine that your car cost twice as much to run today as it did when you bought it. If your copier cost 2.4 cents a copy for toner and service (parts and labor) plus the lease in the beginning of the fifth year, and you could sign a lease where you need only pay 1.4 cents you would save a penny a copy. Now assume your company does 10,000 a month on each machine ... the total volume would be 50,000 ... at a penny a copy savings that is $500/month.

Now assume that lease rates went down. Say we could payout the old lease roll that money into the new one and with the lower rates reduce the payment slightly. Bottom-line? A savings of $500/month. That is $6,000 in one year.

The cost of not doing it is $6,000. That does not hurt. What is great about this approach is; they were not looking meaning there is ---- NO COMPETITION ----. Imagine a large minority of your sales calls without competitors!?!?!

Believe me, the answer to your question is the simplest one in the whole world;

Once again, direct selling MLM is not the same as B2B Sales at all. Therefore, Mitch's statistics are useless to anyone who is involved in B2B selling. The reality is very simple, selling is about how we can show the prospect benefit through buying our product or service, the cost of not taking action is sometimes intangible but it is sell-able.

As a last comment, the Life Insurance business is one that it is an intangible, when it comes to the cost of not taking action. If you sold such and where sitting with a young couple who had a child, though there is no tangible benefit from having it, what would happen if they were both killed and left a child? Do they really want that child to go through the pain of life without?

Peace of mind is a benefit. The cost of not buying insurance is that your family would live without if you, the bread winner, was to die. I cannot see how you would sell without telling the buyer the truth and, painting pictures, oft called story telling, this is the best way. -Gold Calling