The race is on.
The end of the year is near and salespeople everywhere are scrambling. Can you relate?
Chances are you can, and at this point in time, it’s game on to grab whatever you can.
Guess what? Your buyers know you’re scrambling and to them the end of year is like shooting fish in a barrel. It just doesn’t get any easier.
Buyers and purchasing agents know all they have to do is give the salesperson any sense of a hesitation in being willing to buy and they’ll get a deal.
Problem for salespeople is it goes beyond the buyer knowing deals can be made. In fact, it goes to how the buyer wants to ultimately craft a deal. Depending on what is being bought and the accounting standards used by the buyer’s company, there can be a huge number of options.
Biggest option available to a purchasing agent is dangling in front of the salesperson a willingness to place a large year-end order and then negotiate over terms such as when it will be paid. Depending on the accounting standards used by both the salesperson and the buyer, the options can be almost limitless.
For many salespeople, getting an order shipped or processed is all that is necessary for them to earn credit towards their yearly number. For many buyers, they don’t get charged with having purchased anything until it actually gets paid. When these two situations occur its Nirvana!
Don’t kid yourself. Purchasing agents know this and will use it to their advantage.
Where salespeople get burned is they don’t take the time to fully understand both sides of the equation before they agree to it. This leaves the salesperson in the position of making a deal that on the surface feels good to them, only to have it turn against their company.
Does the purchasing agent know this? You bet they do! This is what they’re trained to do.
The rule to follow is simple. Know well in advance how your company handles each phase of a sale from ordering to receiving payment. Failure to know this will result in every purchasing agent taking advantage of you without you knowing it until it’s far too late to do anything about it.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
