The "Column Fodder" Principle in Action
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 7:00AM I received this story from a client who had recently gone through a Solution Selling® workshop: What follows is a re-creation of the events that took place. The names have been left out to protect the successful.
“I was given a potential lead for a large customer by my CEO. I made the call and was easily able to get an appointment. I was excited about this meeting. Early in the meeting I was told that they had already been given samples and pricing from my competition - at least it was nice they were up front with me. What they didn’t know what that I was familiar with the “column fodder” principle. They wanted to know what I could do for them. After a brief discussion, I determined that they were going to use me to negotiate with my competitor. During our discussion I saw one of the decision makers writing in a notebook from my competitor, at that point I realized that I had nothing to lose so I decided to react with what they probably would not expect. I closed my notebook, put it in my briefcase and stood up. I thanked them for their time and said I didn’t want to waste any more of THEIR time as it seemed as if they already made their decision to go with my competitor. I said if they wanted to have a “fair” side by side comparison and look at our capabilities give me a call. I finished by saying that I didn’t want to be just another vendor they use, I wanted to be their exclusive vendor. Needless to say, they were stunned and asked me if I was really leaving. I turned, opened the conference room door and left. One person followed me and asked again why I was leaving.
Again, I explained that it seemed that they made their choice and I didn’t want to waste THEIR time.
Also, I didn’t want them using my capabilities and prices to leverage a better deal with my competition. He told me he respected my decision and asked if they put the project on hold and gave the time and access I need would I work with them. I said yes.They did. I did. And after we worked through an evaluation I made the sale. Did it go 100% according to Solution Selling® principles? No, not 100%, but I was able to use the concept to navigate through this situation to turn around a Column Fodder situation to reengineer their vision and win the deal!”
Epilogue: By understanding where the buyer is behaviorally and procedurally, we can make an educated business decision what to do. It may be difficult to muster the courage to walk out, but now I know the power of understanding and applying the Column Fodder principle to my advantage. I can’t wait for another one!
Reader Comments (3)
Similarities between product or service offerings are often the comfort zones that buyers use to justify their choices. By comparing based on perceived or real similarities, the buyer is actually playing it safe with their own (or someone else's) money? After all, who wants to make poor or foolish-looking decisions?
Placing a value on the differences and their purpose is where the fun begins. Aligning those differences with the buyers' goal or vision is no walk in the park but a few well thought out questions can help achieve the win-win we all want.
Shaun, Couldn't have said it better myself. Great observation about their "comfort zones". And yes, it ultimately comes down to the impact on them personally; Pains are personal to job title. For us to do the best job for them we have to understand their cost of continuing the current way so they come to self-conclusion about the value of our differentiators. Thanks for your comments!
THOMAS M. HANSBURY
In everything, including sales and/or business matters, it should always be a win-win for everyone. So, businessmen should be wise enough to make decisions. That was wise of you to make that move.
Bob Firestone
Sales Comebacks and Rebuttals