In sales avoid being boxed into a category box

In Sales strategy Tip: Avoid the three boxes, Bill Caskey from “Inside The Sales Mind” defines 3 situations you need:
- To avoid getting positioned into
- To extract as fast as possible from.

The Vendor box:

The prospect puts the salesman into this box and all the communication messages are:
- Considered as biased
- Getting filtered from all probable sales and marketing statements

Your quest is to become a partner or a trusted party instead of being considered as a vendor.

The Sales box:

Whatever the title is on your card: business development manager, partnership manager the potential buyer considers you as a salesman.
You are considered having only one goal: get a commission, make more money for yourself.

Again you need to gain their confidence and become a problem recognizer, a problem solver instead, a solution finder based upon your extensive experiences.

The Box Box

Your company sells goods that can be physically shipped.
These box packaged solutions can be appliances or shrink wrapped software that you sell by presenting and pitching them as a part of the solution.

Instead of showing the boxes, start by questioning and inquiring about their problems in order to find together suitable solutions (preferably with your boxes).

Now we think there are 3 other categories the interested buyer can categorize you into:

The Laggard Box

From the beginning it is clear the inquiry for a solution to your company has been made in order to have a second or third vendor for:
- Complying with the company procedures
- Enhancing the solution of the already known or selected vendor

You can feel the negativity from the first call or email about your company, products or solutions as your company is considered as a laggard with me-too or under performing products.

Still this can be the best position for selling, as you have nothing to loose, whereas the winner is:
- Completely ignorant
or
- Afraid of every move you take

Thus don’t let you down and go ahead with anything that could suit your case to win.

The Way Too Expensive Box

Your company has a big brand name or outstanding products or outstanding service levels compared to your nearest competitors, but that comes at a price.

The probable buyer puts you immediately into the box of way too expensive.

Thus now you need to show that the premium price they will have to pay, will give them a better:
- Return On Investment
- Total Cost of Ownership
- Level of confidence and trust (fear selling)

If you are in this category:
- Don’t show up in your Porsche or your gigantic 4×4
- Avoid expressing how great the last company sales conference in the Burj Al Arab (7 star hotel in Dubai) was.

The Winning Box

From start you feel that you present:
- The favorite or preferred solution
- The company they want to work with

You are the selected vendor without any sales process.
That’s exactly where the problem is: there still will be a sales process for your competitors.

Beware of the others as they know they have lost the first lap, but not the winning strike.
They will do anything to make you loose your probable customer by pricing, by additional services, by better advice, by better collaboration, by lower total cost of ownership.

Get yourself out of this winning box and don’t take this win for granted.

Get yourself out of the box
Thus the moment the sales process starts you should know the attitude of the prospect is towards your company or yourself.
Once you find out the box you are in, make sure to get out of your box as fast as possible by all means.
Become a partner, a solution finder, a trusted party, a relation using your extensive experiences with many companies.

In what box do you end up in most cases?
What do you do in order to get out of this box?