Talk about money…sell more equipment.

Have you ever noticed salespeople that are strong equipment experts are often not your star performers? Why? It could be work ethic, drive, the love of the hunt, the ability to connect with people. Or, it could be that they don’t talk about the money until it’s too late.

If you can’t pay for it, they can’t buy it. Yet, too many equipment salespeople spend time sharing their brilliance of the technical details of the assets when the customer is simply not in a position to buy financially.

In a recent survey by EDA and Associates, 68% of equipment salespeople are hesitant to bring up the investment in the first 3 sales conversations.

Doesn’t make sense until you understand the reason: Fear.  Seems silly, huh. As smart and talented as your sales team might be, most equipment sales teams are timid to introduce the money conversation early. And this is mostly because they just don’t feel as comfortable having the money conversation. But here are 3 tips to guide your team in a financial conversation:

Emphasize total cost of ownership: Helping your customers understand that purchase price is only a piece of the puzzle is a sure fire way to win more often. Put together calculators that help educate them on the real financial impact of downtime, rental, or the efficiency gains form new technology.

Talk about budget impact. Many times larger organizations are limited in their purchase options because of the walls of their capex budget. Coming up with an unplanned five or six figures could be nearly impossible. But establishing a “life cycle management program” where for a simple monthly amount they could get their hands on new assets (and maybe a nice fat service or maintenance agreement) for an amount they can swallow into the monthly budget can turn a no way into a heck yes.

Sell a payment…every asset…every time. Not only does this open up possibilities for more sales, it can widen your margins. Often people are not “actively” in the market, until they understand that for a low monthly amount…they too can be in the new gear.

In a survey of one of the largest equipment distributors in the country, 19% of salespeople are “comfortable” having a financial conversation early in the sales process. Of that 19%…9 out of 10 have exceeded their quota annually each of the last 5 years.

Equipment purchases are up in almost every category today. Look at your finance partnerships and ask them to help you create comfort with the financial part of the sale. We’ve partnered with vendors this way for more than 30 years in all kinds of business environments and a happy to talk about this and other insights that make lending…uncomplicated.