Make 50% on Orders!

Would you like to make a higher profit on orders? Are you aware that thousands of salespeople are consistently making 50% on most of the orders they sell? They do so by being able to match unique products with the appropriate customers.

There is no industry more notorious for price slashing than this one. Customers looking for the cheapest price can always find some desperate salesperson willing to cut them a deal on something. In fact, there will never be a shortage of people willing to sell themselves short. Price cutting began long ago when someone did so as a way of competing with his or her peers. It helped them make up for a lack of confidence in their selling ability.

Professional distributors know that price-based selling is a losing proposition. It often results in sloppy service and creates a less than professional attitude. It evens destroys the creative nature on which the promotional products industry is built. To avoid falling into this type of selling, your goal should be to sell orders with higher margins, especially ones that approach 50%. Here’s how to do that.

1. Prospect the Correct Way

Successful prospecting is key to making bigger profits on orders. Try to steer your efforts toward customers who expect quality and service, not just cheaper prices. The most important part of the selling process is to make sure that you qualify everyone with whom you deal, so that you can weed out the ones primarily motivated by price. It’s also important to eliminate prospects who require bids on a frequent basis. Instead of wasting time creating bids, focus your efforts on finding buyers who have the freedom to decide what they are willing to pay for their orders.

Action tip: Start asking qualifying questions as soon as you meet a new prospect

2. Work with Good Suppliers

Time is of the essence in all the things we do. There is no greater waste of time than that spent beating suppliers down on prices. Many salespeople call several suppliers in an attempt to get the best price on one product. Never do this. Instead, place your orders with suppliers whom you trust and avoid price shopping. You can’t expect your customers to not “shop” you, if you do the same to your own suppliers.

Action tip: Interview suppliers the same way you would a prospective employee. When you find the ones you like, stay with them.

3. Learn your Trade

You must know what you’re doing to justify selling orders at higher profit margins. If you are ill prepared and unprofessional, and regrettably, too many people in this industry are thought to be so, you will have a harder time defending a higher price when someone wants to know why your prices are higher than your competitors. If you’re knowledgeable and confident in your ability to offer service and reliability, then you will easily be able to justify your higher rate of return.

Action tip: Find a mentor and listen to his or her advice.

4. Specialize in Certain Products

Some people operate with no absolutely no direction. They sell any and every possible product without realizing that they should be showing items that offer higher margins. Sure, it’s easy to sell simple products that require very little knowledge or effort. Since everyone else sells them, they are ripe for price-cutting. You can avoid this dilemma by offering products that require some thought to sell.

Action tip: Make a concerted effort to learn about new product lines when attending trade shows.

5. Make the really Big Money

There are several product categories offering much higher rates of profit than others. Let’s take awards, for example. They offer margins as high as 60%, and many distributors avoid selling them. By not attempting to sell awards, many salespeople are costing themselves thousands of dollars a year in missed opportunities, as well as lost future sales from annuities.

Action tip: Start selling awards by learning how they’re made, how to meet deadlines and who buys them.

Many distributors simply don’t know how awards are manufactured. In reality, most of them are very simple to produce and are sold like other promotional products.

Awards are made using a variety of processes including casting, etching, screen printing engraving, and lasering. A good supplier can explain these to you and make your job easier with the customer.

Some distributors think that awards are ordered only at the last minute. For fear of running the risk of missing a deadline, many people leave huge profits on the table. The truth is that most award orders are placed with plenty of lead time, so there is no reason to fear of selling them. Even when awards are purchased on short notice, there are numerous styles and varieties that can be produced within short lead times.

Awards are purchased by almost everyone. From large corporations to small mom and pop operations, any business with employees has the potential to buy awards. Most of the customers you are selling to now are buying awards from someone. You will be amazed at the number of award orders you will start selling to your current customers if you just begin asking about them.

The biggest margins in this industry are made on the sale of custom awards. They also are the least subject to competition. Once custom awards are sold, the majority of people buying them place re-orders with the person they bought them from originally. If you want to increase your return order rate, then start selling custom orders.

Speaking of custom awards, two of the most recognizable ones today are the Oscar® and the Emmy®. Larry Maloney, Vice President of Marketing for R.S. Owens, the company that produces both of them, believes that “distributors who sell custom awards consistently make margins higher than those who don’t. If someone wants to increase the amount of money they bring home, then they will make themselves into an award-selling specialist.”

If your goal is to work smarter and make more money, look at selling products from lines that offer the highest profit margins. If you want to join the people making the 50% or better margins on orders, then you need to focus on the sale of product lines that few of your competitors know about. Become a specialist and stop being known as a pen and pencil salesperson. Start today by selling awards!