What buyers want to hear

In fact - and top performers know this - the buyer is the best friend you have in sales. They are the ones that say ‘YES' and sign the cheques. Whether the buyer is someone with the word ‘Purchasing' or ‘Procurement' in their title, or the general manager of a small business (or indeed, a local GP if you are a medical rep), the buyer rules. The question is, what do they want? What do you have to do to get in and see them? How hard is it to do that? And when you are inside, what do you need to do to get them to give you the nod? To the ambitious salesperson, the answer to that question is absolutely everything.

The Procurement Managers

Ben Swan, Procurement Manager for Food and Beverage, Sun International
Want to see Swan? Just pick up the phone. Surprising as it may seem to jaded salespeople, Swan and his department take the attitude that it is important to be on top of what is out there in the market. Anything, says Swan, might be the thing that puts Sun International ahead of the competition.
“You call and you will get straight through to me. I will speak to anyone and everyone. I understand that means I am going to hear some rubbish, but I may also find a real gem,” he says. “Procurement is a function. We are supposed to be sourcing new products. There are two ways to do that: to do our own market research and for salespeople to come in and see us.”
But what do you do when you've got the appointment? As you would expect, Sun International has rules about dealing with companies that have a BEE rating, that have a national footprint - or at least an ability to distribute nationally - or that have a strong source of supply close to a specific hotel location. There are hoops to jump through and requirements be met. Quality and a track record for instance, are of great importance.
But that's the stuff your company needs to be able to provide.
Here's what you need:
1) Be professional. To Swan, that means do your homework. “Some salespeople are very professional. But equally, I have had salespeople come in here and say “thank you for the meeting at Southern Sun” and I say well, you are at the wrong company. It is embarrassing for them and it makes me wonder why I want to deal with them because they don't even know where they are,” he says.
2) Show your understanding of the word ‘partnership'. “We have some suppliers that are really great to deal with, that understand our strategy and look after us. They know their business inside out and they know what we are after. But then there are other guys that are just taking chances, I see products that are dropped off in reception in a Pick ‘n Pay packet, with a business card attached, when the salesperson didn't even come up to see me. How am I supposed to get excited by that?” says Swan.
“You have to be a business partner. It must be win-win for both of us. I am not going to try to milk you to reduce your prices and put you out of business, but we must both grow and support each other.”
3) Be confident. “I want to see a good presentation on the product with information on how salespeople see it helping Sun International.”

The Price
But it probably comes as no surprise that central acquisition is severely price-oriented, and at Sun International, that is no different. Ultimately, price plays a big part. But before you start thinking that undercutting all your competitors by 20% is the way in, it is worth noting that price is relative. “Procurement's role in Sun International is to try to put the brakes on inflation and therefore minimise risk. With food price inflation in South Africa today, we put in place, for instance, a three month contract with a supplier that specifies the price.
“A good example is the oil we use in our kitchens. That has gone up by 40% and since it isn't a product you can on-sell, but a tool to cook the food, it just gets lumped into our food costs. Now, I could save a fortune on oil right now, buying cheaper stuff, but I am not allowed to compromise quality. We would end up using five times as much of a poor quality product and it wouldn't taste as nice,” says Swan.

Alan Scott, Group Purchasing Manager, Lafarge
How good is a salesperson? How long is a piece of string? That is the view of Lafarge's Group Purchasing Manager Alan Scott. “There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. I see some good ones and some that are appalling,” he says.
Scott says he takes a call from a salesperson around every ten minutes, and has subconsciously developed a simple methodology for sifting through them. “Firstly, I want to know that the salesperson understands the rules of engagement. Do they recognise that I am extremely busy? You're calling me and taking up my time; have you thought about how to stir my interest? I get very irritated by people that have no consideration for the rules of engagement,” he says.
“Secondly, since we are a big international corporation, are you sure you are our fighting weight? I often get calls from companies that would like to do our transportation, only to discover that they don't have any trucks. Ask yourself, before you even pick up the phone, what qualifies you to do business with us?”
That is SALES 101, you would think, and yet Scott's responses to our questions indicate that a lot of salespeople still need to learn it. Example: “... the difference between a good salesperson and a bad one is that the good salesperson listens before they make their final offer, where the bad tries to foist something on me regardless of what it is that I have told him.”
So what does a salesperson need to do? “Differentiate,” he says. “There is an infestation of salespeople for certain products, and I get 20 phone calls per day which sound like tape recorders because they don't know how to differentiate their product or service. Find a novel way to introduce that. Especially if you have competitors,” says Scott.
“Find out what I want. Sell according to my needs, not yours,” he says. “I want solutions, not products. And more and more, the big differentiator is: how much are you willing to invest in our business? Forget about dropping a product and collecting a monthly cheque. Those days are gone. Are we compatible, culturally and corporately? And since it is people that make things work, do I trust you? Will you be willing to compromise or are you going to always play tough? Since you are the person fronting your company, I have to assume that you are a reflection of your company's culture.”

The Doctor

Vicky Nannen, Clinic Manager for HealthWorx in Midrand
Nannen says that on the whole, the pharmaceutical sales reps that he and his doctors see are “professionally dressed and the way they present themselves is always professional. Reps tend to be on the ball, know their product and present it well.”
Which is of course, good news.
Sort of. Note the words “on the whole,” and “reps tend to be on the ball.”
In fact, some of the behavioural creases that Nannen has had to iron out over time are absolute no-nos, as far as he is concerned. “We really dislike reps coming here and forcing their way into other reps appointments,” he says. “We used to have this a lot: a rep from one company would book an hour with our doctors and two reps would turn up, often pitching totally different products. It is unfair to all parties because it lessens the buying time both the doctor and the first rep have together. We have made a point that this is serious, and we don't get it much anymore.”
“We also don't like reps turning up without an appointment. We expect to see two reps per day, who have an hour here with the doctors, which we think is a fair amount of time. But we don't want reps sitting around waiting for doctors in the reception area because it portrays the impression to the patients that the doctors are here to see reps instead of them,” says Nannen.
Nannen's recommendations to reps:
1) Always make an appointment, and be truthful about that appointment. Your appointment is for you only, not for others. Healthworx - and other clinics are likely to be similar - will give you the time, but you must be careful not to abuse it. At Healthworx, the appointment is a strict policy.
2) Bring muffins or juice. This may sound a little odd, but you have to understand how manic doctors' days are in a busy clinic. Time with a rep is often break time for the doctor and you can start off on the right foot with something simple like a juice and a muffin.
3) Be courteous. Have you ever heard of a rude doctor? These are ‘people' people of the highest order. They act with respect and they expect to be treated that way.
4) Organise a speaker. Whether your specialty right now is a treatment for osteoporosis or psoriasis, organising for an expert to come in and speak to the doctors on an evening is a great way to add value and show that you're serious about helping them to succeed.
5) Inform the clinic if you cannot keep an appointment. This is the ABC of ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. There are other reps that would like that appointment. If you don't turn up and don't cancel, you rob them, you rob the doctors and you earn yourself a bad name.